Date Your Remodel

Bella Vista’s designer Tiffany Fulmer advises clients on choosing materials that will look gorgeous, stand the test of time, and be an asset if they decide to sell. Trendy may be attractive for now, but Fulmer suggests focusing on functionality over fashion. (The same wisdom might also apply to dating, but we’re no authority.)

Her bottom line:

“In ten years, you don’t want people to walk in your house and feel like they’re in a 2012 time capsule.”

With that in mind, here’s how to get lasting value out of your remodel:

Layout

Avoid soaring 2-story ceilings. They’re bad for air circulation, energy, decorating, and especially for resale. High ceilings look grand, but people who have lived with them are usually unimpressed.

Flooring, Walls, and Ceilings

Choose classic looks and materials. Wood floors are durable and have always added value. Many ceramic tile styles also have a long style window, of around 15 years. On the walls, trendy wallpapers, faux paint finishes, and heavy textures are in vogue now, but they all have the potential to date your home quickly. In fact, some faux paint finishes and textures are going out of style already.

Bathrooms and Kitchens

“Beyond certain prices, the cost differences in faucets and fixtures are for creative styles, and those styles may not endure,” says Fulmer. Instead she suggests investing in beautiful tile work, but avoiding hot trends like glass tiles. Customer Suzy Renz adds, “We liked glass tile, so Tiffany advised us to use it as an accent in the bathrooms. It looks gorgeous and can easily be taken out and replaced by the buyer.”

In the kitchen, a popular trend is large islands with integrated refrigerators, ice makers, wine coolers, and cutting boards. While these products add function, Fulmer says they don’t always add value at resale.

Lighting

The #1 feature when you resell is lighting. It’s what buyers demand, and it’s not a passing trend. Put more of your remodeling budget into flexible/green lighting systems with under-cabinet lighting, gorgeous, but classic fixtures that complement the style of the home, and dimmers everywhere. You’ll enjoy your home much more, and if you’re not there in ten years, a generous buyer will be happy to take your place.

lakehighlands.advocatemag.com

VIDEO

Visit lakehighlands. advocatemag. com/video, or scan this code with your mobile, to watch this month’s cover story topic in action.

Editor Christina Hughes Babb’s story (p. 26) is about the part cycling plays in our neighborhood culture and about what we have to learn before Dallas becomes a bikesavvy city.

Kessler Parkway, Dallas

In the story’s accompanying video, Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist David Leeson takes us on a time-lapsed, visual ride up the Santa Fe Trail, which connects to White Rock Trail.

Do you have a story tip or a question?

EMAIL CHRISTINAHUGHES BABB chughes@advocatemag.com CONNECT advocatemag.com/social advocatemag.com/apps lakehighlands.advocatemag.com/photos advocatemag.com/newsletter

Rezoning issues

When we posted on the Lake Highlands blog about Winston Capital’s submission for rezoning to build a 350-unit townhome or apartment community at the White Rock DART station at Northwest Highway and West Lawther, the majority of commenters, with varying levels of ire, expressed concern that our neighborhood already houses its fair share of apartments. %

Hate the idea because the White Rock area “already has too many apartments” % tHink it’s a bad idea because of the flood plane, are concerned about the destruction to the creek and lake, or fear the increase of “unlicensed fishermen” % tHink a DART station is a bad place for a multifamily development or doubt people will want to live near a DART station %

Point out that living near DART actually is a perk, or that density and transit-oriented developments are the way of the future % a ccuse those opposed to the development of being NIMBYs (not in my backyard) %

Don’t care because it’s not in the RISD school district

Who says gardening can’t be fashionable? Roses are all the rage in this spring’s hottest colors: Tangerine, coral, hot pink and more. Indulge your inner fashionista with heat-hardy roses to compliment your wardrobe, home decor…even your favorite pair of shoes. If you have a favorite color, we probably have a rose to match!

Q&A: Sally Rodriguez

She is a coordinator for the Dallas Park and recreation Department’s planning, design and construction division, but Lake highlands resident Sally Rodriguez is also, unofficially, the department’s historian. It’s a job she stumbled upon, much like she did the hundreds of aerial photos and historical renderings unearthed over the years as rodriguez has combed through closets and file cabinets. Two years ago, she compiled her White rock Lake finds into a book, and for the next few months, rodriguez will share further historical images of neighborhood parks and recreation centers in the pages of the Advocate

Did you play in Dallas parks as a child?

I grew up in the L Streets, and McCree Park was just across Plano Road. I probably spent more time in the creek than actually in the park. I also spent a lot of time running around Flag Pole Hill through the cedar trees with my friends, as most kids probably do.

You managed rec centers and parks for years before moving to city hall in 2001. At what point did you become the department’s historian?

What I tell people is the first year I was here, I was in a position no one had ever had before, so besides learning the trade, I started looking in closets. It’s amazing what you can find in closets. I was looking for something in the large flat files. That’s where they have all the plans laid out flat on large pieces of paper. As I was digging through, I found a very large aerial of White Rock Lake from 1942. No one had ever seen it. Some of it is just finding things people had forgotten were in the files. I was looking for something in Hamilton Park, and I found a hand-colored rendering of the pavilion there that is now being restored. That still happens — I’m going for one thing, and then I end up finding something else.

Do you dig constantly?

I work with the architects in the back as they do restoration projects, and I go and find backup material for them. One of the things that everybody in the back knew about was these aerial photos. The first Christmas I was here, when it was really quiet, I found a three-drawer file cabinet full of aerial photos. They were used by the park planners, put in plastic sleeves and drawn on, very much like today’s planners use GIS [geographic information systems] on the computer. But what the aerial photos do is tell stories of communities as they develop.

Do you have a favorite part of Dallas park history?

My favorite topic is White Rock and the Civilian Conservation Corps [CCC]. After having attended several reunions of those alumni, I have a very soft place in my heart for them. The history of our country passed through them. Most of them were poor, the Depression hit them very hard, and this was one of those ways out. A lot of them got the education they needed, the training they needed, and a lot of them then went into World War II. I have met a lot of three-Cers who were also Pearl Harbor survivors, and if you go to our state and national parks and look at the work they did, it’s still around and it’s still very meaningful. You know, there’s just not very many municipal parks that have CCC work in them. It’s mostly state and national parks. So we have a real treasure in that we have a lot of structures at White Rock.

Your favorite park is White Rock, I assume?

Yes. It’s part of everybody’s story. I remember the first time I took my daughter to ride bikes around the lake. I remember “submarine races” — for anybody my age or older, that’s what we called parking at the lake. I learn stuff when I got out and do presentations, like the number of people who met their sweethearts at White Rock. The history of White Rock kind of transects people’s lives if they grew up in the area, and that’s why White Rock is so beloved.

—Keri Mitchell