REAL ESTATE REPORT

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way of elevator rather than dematerialization, to a futuristic third floor. (Home tour guests will travel upward by stairs — sorry.)

That’s where you’ll find the main living areas: the master bedroom, office, dining room and entertainment rooms. Floor-toceiling windows, when the electric blinds are up, reveal treetops — the DART rail peeking through them — a pond, rows of bamboo and a clean line of gray and ecruhued homes.

Artwork ranges from a bold chromogenic print to a sculpture that resembles a balledup page of paper to delicate wire wall art, and there is enough of it to fill a little museum.

Down one floor, by way of concrete stairs outside, are an outdoor pool, al fresco kitchen and dining area, and an indoor office. The bottom floor features a rectangular koi pond, with one pond-side bedroom whose glass walls no doubt make guests feel, as they sleep in its plush bed, surrounded by forest. Also down here, in a spacious wire cage, is a chicken coop housing about a dozen birds.

“It is all part of the recycling, sustainability thing,” Cheatham says of the chickens. They produce eggs and, more importantly, they eat scraps.

Participating in a home tour can be arduous. Homeowners have to ensure the property is in prime condition and entrust their palace to representatives of the LHWL. That does not worry Cheatham a bit, she says.

“I have been on a lot of house tours, but I’ve never been on one that’s as well managed as the one these ladies do. I think they do equally as good a job in deciding how to spend the money they raise,” she says. “I guess I felt like it would help the tour for us to be on it.”

Personally, she also wants to show off Urban Reserve to those in Dallas who don’t know it exists.

“I figure a lot of people in Lake Highlands — in Dallas— wouldn’t come over to this neighborhood otherwise,” she says.

The LHWL comprises 100 active and 197 sustaining members. Since its formation 44 years ago, and largely due to the annual home tour’s popularity, the group has awarded more than $1,138,000 worth of scholarships to LHHS students and more than $532,300 to other education and neighborhood improvement organizations.

Sonya Noruwa, a 2006 graduate, received a $4,000 scholarship that jumpstarted an education at Texas Woman’s University. Today she is in her last year of law school at the University of Houston. “The scholarship impacted my life,” she says, “because my parents paid for everything out of pocket; being that I was first in my family to graduate from college, it was important to them that they pay for me to go to school and finish successfully. This lifted some of the immediate weight off their shoulders and allowed them to save and keep helping me for years to come.”

Sarah Dossou, who spent a stressful period attempting to emigrate from war torn Togo, Africa, says the scholarship was a dream come true —“Am I dreaming?” She exclaimed when she received the news in 2012. It allowed her to pursue her goal of becoming a nurse by way of the otherwise unaffordable nursing program at Texas

Women’s University. “When I help people, I feel my own strength,” she says, explaining her career path.

Those are a but a couple of examples; hundreds of students and parents each spring gather at the LHWL award ceremony, and many are overcome with gratitude and excitement at the opportunity presented by the organization. According to scholarship applications, the recipients often have been through terrible hardships — the loss of a parent or sibling, immigration from war-torn countries, poverty, homelessness, disabilities or illnesses, to name a few.

“This is what we have worked for all year long,” LHWL’s Susan Solomon said after the May 2014 presentation. “When you hear the stories of these students and all the things they have overcome, it makes the months of preparation worth it. We are so grateful to everyone who contributed their time and money for these students. We feel so fortunate to be a part of their success story.”

The 2014 Holiday In The Highlands Home Tour

The tour takes place Friday, Dec. 5, from 10 a.m.–3 p.m. and 6–9 p.m. The twilight hours were added last year after the daytime home tour was canceled due to ice. The evening hours were popular, so organizers decided to keep them.

The tour includes four homes: 9425 Estate Lane (Kandy and James Smith), One Vanguard Way (Diane and Chuck Cheatham), 9276 Cliffmere Drive (Tiffani and Steven Mackenzie), 9332 Forestridge Drive (Stephanie and Ben Jeffery)

The Holiday in the Highlands Market, a home tour companion, is open Thursday, Dec. 4, from 1-4 p.m. and Friday, Dec. 5, from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Highland Oaks Church of Christ, 10805 Walnut Hill.

Tickets are $15 when purchased in advance from a member of the LHWL or by emailing lhwlhometour@gmail.com.

Tickets purchased at the door of any home on the tour are $20.