Architectural

BOOK REPORT

By CLAUDIA VEGA

Beautiful, tranquil, home

Four interior-design and decluttering books to inspire a spring clean

What is it about spring that makes us want to roll up our sleeves and get to cleaning and beautifying our homes? The fresh air, the warmth of the sun and bright hues budding into life inspire us to get to work and freshen up our homes. These four great titles can help manifest your interior inspirations in home updates, spring cleaning and design makeovers.

ORDER THESE GREAT TITLES ON BOOKSHOP. ORG OR AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE. SHOP LOCAL AND KEEP READING.

Design A Healthy Home L e t leading sustain ability architect Oliver Heath give you all the practical solu tions you need to transform your space for physical and mental well-being. Inside the pages of this home-decor book, you'll discover how to detoxify your home by making small changes. It includes 100 tried and tested, research-based design ideas to support your health and well-being in even the smallest of spaces.

Plus stylish, fun and affordable home design tips based on the latest research in sustainable, biophilic design. Spectacular Modern Homes of Texas: A Stunning Collection of Fine Residential Design

Dallas resident Jolie Carpenter Berry’s latest book showcases a stunning collection of inspired, innovative and unique modern homes imagined and designed by Texas' top interior designers,

architects and builders.

Spectacular Modern Homes of Texas is the newest installment in Signature Boutique Books’ Texas-centric collection. Berry created the series in 2003, and she continues to inspire readers with highly curated content.

Love People, Use Things: Because the Opposite Never Works How might your life be better with less? In Love People, Use Things, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus move past simple decluttering to show how minimalism makes room to reevaluate and heal the seven essential relationships in our lives: stuff, truth, self, money, values, creativity and people. They use their own experiences, and those of the people they have met along the minimalist journey, to provide a template for how to live a fuller, more meaningful life.

Living in Color: Color in Contemporary Interior Design Step into a rainbow of color and design and tap into the growing trend for injecting color into home décor with this elegant, thoughtful selection of interiors in every shade and hue. Organized by color, from the purest white to the deepest black, plus the hottest pinks, oranges, and reds, and the coolest greens and tranquil blues in between. Living in Color explores and celebrates the current trend for vivid accents and vibrant transformations of our domestic spaces, whatever their size and wherever their location.

In The Old Days

GROWING UP HERE IN THE MID-20TH CENTURY

Compiled by RENEE UMSTED

Homes in Preston Hollow have changed over the

decades. Some older, smaller houses are being sold, torn down and replaced with modern structures that span the whole lot. But some remain.

As residents move and the environment shifts, it’s helpful to know what the neighborhood used to look and be like. Here are some descriptions straight from people who lived there.

Sybil Finberg stands with daughter Georgann Finberg Lieb in front of their home on Prestonshire Lane. Photo courtesy of Georgann F. Lieb.

Prestonshire Lane

Georgann “Gee” Finberg Lieb moved to Preston Hollow from Highland Park in 1951, when she was 4 years old. From the house they built on Prestonshire Lane, Lieb says she could almost see to Hillcrest and Walnut Hill because there were so few homes. By the time she was a student at Preston Hollow Elementary, the population of the neighborhood had grown, and there were houses on every lot.

Her house was pretty typical for the time and area, she says. It was a one-story house with four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a large backyard with patio and a fenced area for their dog. There were cosmetic variations among the nearby homes, with different bricks and colors, but structurally, they were all about the same.

Lieb’s family also employed a maid, who had a oneroom annex with a kitchenette by the garage.

They sold the house after Lieb’s father died in 1976, but it still stands.

“It doesn’t look a lot different, although the landscaping is definitely different and the color of the brick is different,” she says. “Otherwise, it looks a lot the same.”

Georgann Finberg Lieb stands with her father, Francis A. “F.A.” Finberg. Photo courtesy of Georgann F. Lieb.

Janice Wolff stands in front of her home on Chevy Chase Avenue in May 1969. Photo courtesy of Janice Wolff.

Chevy Chase Avenue

“I live in the original house where we lived until I was seven. My parents kept it and leased it out and now I have come full circle. I’m one of the few remaining original houses on Chevy Chase.”

— Janice Wolff

Tulip Lane

“My folks bought our home at 6539 Tulip Lane in 1958 for $38,500. It was between Thackery and Tibbs. I went to George B. Dealey for my 7thgrade year and then to Franklin and Hillcrest.

My great uncle Fred Florence donated the property on the Northeast corner of Hillcrest and Northwest Highway that abuts the Hillcrest Memorial Gardens for Temple Emanu-El to build the synagogue. We began attending temple after its completion in 1956.

My mother and brother (my father passed in 1985) lived in the house until October 1995 and upon her passing, I inherited the home. My husband and I moved from Arlington (after some remodeling) in September 1996. We lived there until May 2017.

We married in the backyard of that home in 1969, and for our 50th anniversary, the gentleman who bought our home, tore it down and rebuilt a modern abode in its place allowed our family to go in and take photos of the yard where we married. I miss the location, but still have the memories, and I do not miss the taxes.”

— Hope Wolins Levine (edited for brevity)

From left: James “Jim” Finberg, Pauline Finberg and Georgann Finberg Lieb. Photo courtesy of Georgann F. Lieb.

Norway Road

“I grew up on Waggoner until 1959 when my parents bought a house on Norway for $27,000. The house backed up to St. Mark’s, so we did a lot of exploring in and around the school. I loved playing in the culverts and big field. We never had central AC, so I grew up sleeping with a fan… still sleep with a fan! Finally got window units in my teens. There were lots of kids in the neighborhood, so we formed a club called Club No. 9. We collected dues and performed plays at Headmaster Hartmann’s house since his daughter was part of the club.

My mom could whistle so loud with her pinkie fingers you could hear it for blocks. We knew to come home when we heard that whistle. We sold the house in 2009 (made a pretty good profit, too.… Ha!) and of course, it was torn down to build a McMansion.”

— Pam Bayless (edited for brevity)

ACCESSIBLE TEXTILES

HOW A DALLAS COMPANY CONNECTS SMALL RETAILERS TO INDIA

Story by RACHEL STONE | Photography by EMIL LIPPE

ANYONE WHO’S BOUGHT

BEDDING from Walmart, Target, Kohl’s, Costco or Belk most likely has touched Preston Hollow resident Arun Agarwal’s business Nextt USA. "Every two seconds a sheet set supplied by the company is sold,” according to marketing materials.

Agarwal’s new venture, Expo Bazaar USA, connects whole salers and makers in India with small-business retailers in the United States.

Expo Bazaar USA launched in March and is a technology and logistics company connecting Nextt USA with Expo Digital India, the trade center Agarwal started with Rakesh Kumar and Dileep Baid in India.

The idea to make Indian exports easily available to small retailers had been rolling around in Agarwal’s head for years before he decided to make it a reality after the pandemic started.

The new company employs a proprietary technology platform where retailers can order goods online, but it’s not just a jumble. All the products are curated for the American market by some of the same buyers who procure goods for big retailers via Nextt USA.

“We hired a very sophisticated merchant team who works with the sourcing team in India,” Agarwal says.

They also do photography, set design and digital storytelling to market the products for American buyers.

The focus on independent retailers here and manufacturers in India benefits small businesses in both places.

The platform “will give single-point access of unprecedented scale to Indian sellers and U.S. business buyers,” according to a media release.

“It’s a digital marketplace that’s supported by brick-and-mortar on both ends,” Agarwal says.

In Dallas, the company is headquartered in the Design District, where Nextt USA has been located since its founding in 2004.

The Agarwals moved to Preston Hollow several years ago when their daughter, who is now in college, enrolled at Ursuline Academy.

“We are opening doors to the magnificent diversity of India and are creating a curated collection of distinctly Indian merchandise. We are also opening another door to welcome business from across America, providing access to the diversity of Indian products and heritage. With manufacturers working closely with artisans, we will be showcasing a massive assortment of products across multiple categories and sub-categories in this segment,” Agarwal says. “We are dedicated to creating a social, cultural and financial impact on the lives of artisans, small manufacturers and suppliers from India and building this robust supply chain network empowering independent U.S. retailers.”