Update: I’m now told that this house has been leased. See, you were too late. But I’ll be the agents have a few more up their sleeves.

6315 Deloache Avenue

I think it must be pretty obvious by now what kind of house I like. It is tucked away, almost hidden from the street.  It gives it somewhat of an enchanted forest feeling, which beautifully matches the interior of the house.  I am not talking about unicorns and fairies, but cozy clutter. Lots of plants, patterns, and decoration. I must say though… the room with the table that appears to double as a giant Monopoly board makes me nervous.  I spy, with my little eye, 17 crosses hanging on the wall. Is this the Bible Belt or what? Check out this house on Sunday from 3 to 5! Set you back: $1,649,500 Preston Hollow.

4352 San Carlos Street

Well, just the other day I went on a walk with my wonderful roommate, and we did our usual judging of every house we walked by… as well as every person. We passed by this little gem and we both fell head-over-heels in love.  It is adorable in every way shape and form. The perfect symmetry of the hedges and windows, the hanging tree protecting the lawn from the brutal Dallas sun, and, of course, the huge windows adorned with green shutters.  If Sam and I were single (that is, if we did not already have a ‘unit’ that we are married to), we would be putting the moves on this one! Maybe we are just faithful because we are poor college undergrads! 4352 San Carlos Street for Ebby Halliday open Sunday from 2:00 to 3:30. $1,160,000.

4533 Bordeaux Avenue

Vaulted ceilings! Need I say more? I love this home because of the vaulted ceilings (obviously), big windows, black shutters, columns, and southern plantation vibe, but… this family seems to have a fetish for the color red. “Red rum, red rum,” except in this case “red room”. Don’t like red? Sherwin Williams is offering 25% off. Take a look at this on Sunday from 1 to 3, 4533 Bordeaux Avenue, shown by Allie Beth Allman and well-priced at $1,099,000 in Highland park.

To get a better taste of Lake Highlands, check out this article I wrote for D Home: Neighborhood Spotlight: Lake Highlands

3704 Stratford Avenue:

This home is right up my alley. I am a recently transplanted Highland Parker, originally from New York, and this reminds me of the homes I grew up around. It is tucked away from the street behind a natural setting of trees and bushes. Everything is kept simple yet beautiful, from the architecture to the interior decoration. Even the pool area. If you are a person that likes to be close to your favorite restaurants, friends, the grocery store, and so on, but when you are home you like to feel a million miles away, this is the home for you.

3512 Euclid Avenue:

Mi piacerebbe visitare l'Italia un giorno di questi! Translation: I would like to visit Italy one day. For now, I will just visit this Tuscan style home right in the heart of the Park cities, and you can come too! Between 3:00 and 5:30 on Sunday, August 2nd, Briggs Freeman has the pleasure of giving an open house for potential buyers and real estate lovers (or real estate voyeurs). I hate to pick favorites... but this is my favorite. You have to see this one yourself so put on your Sunday best, grab your umbrella, and get on over to Euclid Avenue. Faccia come se fósse a casa sua (Translation: Make yourself at home). Better yet, don't just make yourself at home, make it your home!

3524 Wentwood:

This traditional University Park home has three of my favorite things: hardwood floors, saltwater pool, and a large second floor deck. I would happily give my left kidney to live in this home. Unfortunately, I think the cost runs more around two kidneys, a liver, and a leg, but it's worth it!

Question: do folks who live near the Preston-Forest water tower get a reduced rate on their Dallas County taxes? I’ve always wanted to know why that wasn’t buried?

I sashayed into Christie’s luncheon with Anne Igelbrink, she being head of decorative arts for Christie’s Great Estates and a lass who really knows antique furniture and accessories. I was a bit late — what else is new, I was oogling another house. To be perfectly honest, while I love all things Christies, I couldn’t miss seeing THE HOUSE at 5030 Park lane,  since the great Sherry Hayslip decked it out. (Peggy and Laura were timely and have info on the luncheon here.) This is a must-see, and I had seen the home about a year ago when I wrote it up for D Home. I understand it was built by Denny Alberts, the man who lured Dean Fearing to his Ritz development,  who also met the love of his life mid-way through building 5030. Tuscan Villa meets California cool, wish I had snapped a shot of the wine/bar room off the formals. It’s also 8500 plus square feet, on 1.06 acres in the Honeypot, and only $5,995,000 (bargain, reduced from $7.25M) listed with Briggs-Freeman mother-daughter team Joan Eleazer and Layne Pitzer. The duo also have 1851 Turbeville Road listed…  for $27,500,000. Sound familiar?

I could so live here…

“Preston Holler is one of Dallas’ finer and most expensive neighborhoods where many of the swank streets are lined with mansions that make Beverly Hills look like the damn ghetto.”

You’ve got it right on, Mama! And margaritas on every corner.

3916 Marquette is the stunning home of Dallas Star’s ice hockey defenseman (and now free agent)  Sergei Alexandrovich Zubov, his wife Irina and two children. This Dallas palace was purchased in 2006 and the Zubov’s went to town decorating;  the perfectly finished-out interiors would make a Czar or Czarina give up the throne for good. There are five bedrooms, six and a half baths, a keeping room, wine cellar, den, study, media room, steam shower, outdoor covered loggia, dipping pool, kitchen. We know that Sergei is not a small man, hence the double shower in the master bath. With the family off home-hopping between their New York and Florida abodes, 3916 Marquette can be yours for a mere $4.1 million.

Agent: Jamie Adams, Prudential Fine Properties: 817.226.4920.

Can you just imagine writing a check that hefty?

The builder got all red in the face. I’m a deacon at my church, he told me, I don’t look at “porn”.

$2,450,000.

Agent: Ralph Randall, Dave Perry-Miller & Associates, an Ebby Halliday Company: 972.733.9613

“The property is zoned commercial,” says agent Nancy Harmon of ReMax, “live here,  then go commercial — open up a bed and breakfast. ”

Or simply enjoy the 3350 square foot home, built in 1943 and remodeled where it counts in the baths, kitchen; four bedrooms, four baths plus grounds-sweeping patios and decks.  Ebby agent Robin Moss Norcross, who knows Lake Highlands better than her own mother, says 9243 Church Road was one of the first homes in the neighborhood.

“The Vernon family lived there,” says Robin, “and they raised a house full of boys, all of whom went on to become quite successful.”

The land was originally owned by Mrs. Vernon’s family, and forever there was nothing else in the vicinity except for raw land and and trees.  Now, you must drive through a town-home development to access the home.

“They are completely blocked once you are inside this oasis,” says Harmon.

One of the Vernon boys raised in this house: John Vernon, a prominent Dallas attorney who grew up to marry modeling guru Kim Dawson’s daughter, Kim, now a physician at Medical City Hospital of Dallas.

KRLD radio personality Ernie Brown recently moved from the West Village to a new “stately Brown manor”  WAY up in Frisco — Shoal Creek Villas — so close to 121 you can see the highway from his second floor. But for Brown, it’s well worth the drive.

“It’s the quietest house I’ve ever lived in,” he says, “it took me two weeks to know that no noise is normal.” The house was so quiet it was keeping him up at night, in fact. You would think he wanted to be closer in to his job, like he was when he lived five minutes from the KRLD studios at Mockingbird and Central.  In fact, that was TOO close to work for him — Brown says he’d often go to a sandwich shop just to mentally prepare himself for work. Or wake up.

So here’s the bachelor pad, a two story, 2800 square foot home he picked up in the mid $300’s. Smart buy: Brown’s surrounded by homes that are more expensive, including the one next door listed for $424,000. For a bachelor, the house was in great shape. His kitchen stove was so spotless I asked if anyone ever used it.

“I paid a cleaning woman to come by three weeks ago, and she cleaned so well I haven’t used the kitchen since, didn’t want to dirty it.” Typical guy!

Brown admits he has no decorating vision, so feel free to pitch in some ideas. I asked him if he was going to keep the existing wall color and he gave me a look I’ve seen hundreds of times: “why wouldn’t I?” He’s got a new king-sized bed (cost a fortune) in the huge master, a red dining room, a library with shelves for his many books, two bedrooms upstairs including the “nursery” — one room he will have to paint to cover up the baby room stencils, and a game room where his computer paraphernalia is all set up. (I was impressed that Brown relegated the computer stuff upstairs — my son would have had it in the middle of the great room.) But outside, it’s party central: outdoor kitchen, bar, grill, kegerator, and spa. Brown’s all set for some fun in the sun and when it gets too hot, he and his friends can do jack-knifes across the street at his community pool. $150 a month covers the pool, and all lawn maintenance in the front of his home. This is his third home, and the biggest change of all. But Brown got a great deal and a lot of bang for his buck up in Shoal Creek Villas.