So, you want a beautiful Lakewood Dines and Kraft vintage home, but you don’t want an interior that looks like you’ve stepped back in time. Have we got an Inwood Home of the Week for you! This is, without a doubt, a shining example of the best of both worlds.
The façade of 7006 Lakewood Boulevard looks almost exactly as it did when it was built in 1930. In fact, Donovan Westover, our go-to guy at Preservation Dallas, sent me a photo of the home from way back when. Sorry, but these old black and white photos won’t enlarge. You can see how little has changed, and indeed, why tamper with perfection?
The 2,400-square-foot Lakewood Dines and Kraft home has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a powder bath. It was originally built for Mr. and Mrs. W.T. Limerick. Mr. Limerick was in management at the North Texas Gin Company (cotton ginning, not the booze). He must have been in high cotton, as the saying goes, to have built a house on Lakewood Boulevard.
You know how hard I am to impress, and when I saw this Lakewood Dines and Kraft reinvented for a modern homebuyer, I got a bit light-headed. As much as I love a vintage home, I want all the bells and whistles of sleek modern living on the inside.
The front door tells you this is not your average Lakewood Dines and Kraft, not by a long shot. While I’m not sure I’d have put that door in, (I’d have kept people guessing a bit longer), it does the trick by telling you something different is about to unfold once you cross the threshold.
And, it does, immediately. The powder bath is right there in the foyer and WOW! So many people don’t pay attention to a powder bath, but it’s such a great place to go wild, and did they ever! It was renovated last year. The woodwork was painted my absolute favorite bright Kelly green, and fantastic Voutsa’s Ballets Russes wallcovering adorns the walls. If you are considering wallpaper, this house is a lesson in what to choose.
Try and make it past the gorgeous red, white, and blue living room — I covet that sofa — and the stunning black marble fireplace, so you can bask in the dining room. Martinique’s Jungle Palm Wallpaper covers the walls. This pattern has quite a history. It was created by designer Don Loper in 1942 for The Beverly Hills Hotel and still graces the hallways and Fountain Room walls. It has reached icon status in the interior and set design worlds. If you saw The Aviator with Leonardo Di Caprio, it was in a bathroom scene. Who wants gray walls when you can have this?
“The kitchen is a dream,” Dave Perry-Miller listing agent Nancy Johnson said. It has everything a serious cook craves. The marble waterfall island has a built-in Wolf microwave and warming drawer. There’s an oversized stainless steel Elkay sink, a six-burner Wolf double-oven gas range, and of course, a built-in Sub-Zero refrigerator with a glass door, wine cooler, and ice-maker. I especially love the Miele coffee bar. After you make me a latte, we can relax on the covered back patio just through the custom French doors.
So, that’s just the first floor. Tread lightly — the staircase sports a Missoni runner that leads you past an original stained glass window. Again, that mix of modern and vintage is done so well in this home.
Brace yourselves. The sizable master bedroom with plantation shutters has an incredible walk-in closet. I mean incredible. A mosaic Ann Sacks tile floor, custom “push to open” cabinets and drawers with lighted interiors, and glass shelving will take your breath away. This is one of the most beautiful closets I’ve ever seen. If there were a wine fridge, I would be hard-pressed to ever leave it.
This fabulous mix of the best vintage and modern styles is within walking distance of White Rock Lake, in an excellent school feeder pattern, and in Lakewood — a wonderful neighborhood.
All this for $1.175 million? Better hurry!
Karen Eubank is the owner of Eubank Staging and Design. She has been an award-winning professional home stager for more than 25 years and a professional writer for 20 years. Karen is the mother of a son who’s studying music at The University of Miami. An ardent animal lover, she doesn’t mind one bit if your fur baby jumps right into her lap. Find Karen at www.eubankstaging.com
