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Holiday Decorating
Time to Change When Times Change
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Holiday decor tips with Heights blogger, author By Betsy Denson betsy@theleadernews.com
When Heights resident Anita Joyce says her greatest talent is buying, she’s being very modest. A blogger on her site Cedar Hill Farmhouse, Joyce came out with a book, French Accents: Farmhouse French Style, in September and her design aesthetic has been featured in a variety of publications like House Beautiful and Country Living. “I wanted to go into art and interior design as a kid,” said Joyce, who instead pursued a degree in engineering on her father’s recommendation to go with a practical career. After her first child was born with Down syndrome, Joyce said her heart was not in her day job anymore. But even while devoting a large part of her time to family, she needed a creative outlet and after teaching photography and working in a furniture store, she started her blog, which has since expanded into a lifestyle and design brand. Joyce is inspired by all things French and by her farm
At the top, decorate with Christmas trees inside a “green house”. Above, add greenery wreaths to newel posts.
Contributed photos by Anita Joyce One holiday decorating tip from Anita Joyce – decorate with cloches by filling them with bird nests or other finds around the house, and top them with greenery wreaths.
near Round Top. She said she likes to show people manageable projects – “elegant but doable.” There are also items for sale on her site, like mercury glass ornament garlands and pillowcases made from piles of hand embroidered towels
she recently purchased. “I sew and I paint things and that’s the extent of my DIY,” said Joyce, who notes that her blog is different from a lot of others because there’s not a lot of DIY. Instead, she offers easy ways to decorate. “I’m the queen of how to do things quickly,” she said. Since Joyce’s blog was so popular, her book’s publisher came to her and she put a pitch together. Of her book, one recent Amazon reviewer said, “Anita’s approach to French decorating is easy, charming, and down to earth.” For the holidays, Joyce offers some easy ways to spruce up your décor. 1.) Tie a Ribbon Round
the Old Oak Tree – or something Joyce said that she buys ribbons and then ties them around the things in her home that she already owns like candlesticks and lanterns. She will also make bows with them for decoration. For a tutorial on how to make a bow, see her You Tube tutorial: Making a Bow with Cedar Hill Farmhouse. This year, her inspiration is the show Outlander. “I actually ordered tartan ribbon from the UK,” she said. 2.) Use what you’ve got Joyce said that the holidays are the chance to call attention to the beautiful things you already own. That way, you don’t have to worry about storage. That could mean adding accents to the dishes in your hutch or to an existing wall decoration. Joyce has a long wooden dough bowl and has filled it with moss – and sheep. She also has used a lot of cloches and changes the display depending on the season. 3.) Go natural In addition to the moss in her dough bowl, she cuts greenery from her yard to add to the house. “I’ll get cedar branches, and put that on the mantel,” she said. She’s also put discarded bird’s nests in her cloches. Of course, you can also use artificial greenery to make an impact. “I put a lot of bottle brush trees in a mini greenhouse,” she said. “It creates a great effect.” For more ideas, visit http:// cedarhillfarmhouse.com
INSIDE. Find out what the experts have to say about buying or selling this holiday season. Find it on 2B
Photos coutesy of Nash Baker On the left, the Clock Tower in past times and on the right, the Clock Tower in today’s light.
By Cynthia Lescalleet For The Leader The time to renovate and repurpose has struck several times at an 1894 vintage former factory and warehouse property long-known for its clock tower – and more recently appreciated for its bakery café as well. A portion of the main building renovated recently as Clock Tower Studios has earned a 2016 Good Brick Award from Preservation Houston, among other design accolades. The project converted 23,000 sq. ft. of space on the second floor of the main building into nine open-plan studio offices. There’s also a nifty, one-of-akind apartment in the clock tower. Located at 611 22nd St., just east of Shepherd Drive, the property has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1983 and has protected landmark status in Houston. Those records list the factory’s chain of use, from producing mattresses when built, to textiles, Venetian blinds, foam insulation, printing materials and more. Nomination materials also describe how previous remodeling had not been particularly sensitive to historic qualities, such as when wooden windows were replaced with aluminum ones and a side entry breached the tower. Meanwhile, heavy use and roof leaks had contributed to the building’s neglected condition and deterioration. But not its demise. Structural Stewardship Efforts to restore and repurpose the interconnected structures and ancillary buildings has been a phased undertaking, says Jonathan Grenader, manager of Heights Clock Tower LLC. He’s one of the second-generation owners whose parents’ bought the property in 1966. As architects, his wife, Nonya Grenader, and their son, Sam Grenader, have hands-on roles in the transformations.
She says the property’s possibilities have long been on her radar. She was mulling over rehabbing plans as a graduate student in the ‘90s at Rice University’s School of Architecture, where she currently teaches in addition to her practice.
Last spring, as work progressed on Clock Tower Studios, frequent customers of the bakery watched with particular interest, recalls Jonathan Grenader. In fact, several of them were among the first tenants to sign up for the new space.
The Clock Tower before the remodel.
A self-described modernist, Nonya Grenader nevertheless remains a fan of the property’s “beautiful idiosyncrasies.” The simplicity of the original mill building, changed and expanded over time, has also brought intriguing outdoor spaces between the structures, she says. “The building has a story to tell, and with each (renovation) phase the story unfolds,” she says. “The challenge is to bring it all together.” Time to Reboot First up, in 1989, was the conversion of a smaller building by conceptual artists known as The Art Guys, who had leased the space for a studio and “world headquarters.” The real transformation kicked off in 2003 with the conversion of another building into a four-pack of large work-live lofts. In 2006, a similar project turned the Art Guys former space into a loft for another tenant. In 2008, meanwhile, renovations to a 9,250-sq.ft. section of the main factory building accommodated Kraftsmen Bakery.
The open-plan units, completed in May 2015, retain many of the original structural elements, such as (restored) hardwood floors and exposed trusses, and they vary in size based on the original structural underpinnings. One interior hallway is a walk into the past since its wall is an exposed section of the original building’s exterior. Remodeling had simply added on new space in front of it. Light-filled and deliberately large, common areas can double as gallery space or accommodate spillover from the units, Grenader explains. Meanwhile, several original elements have new uses. Century-old fire doors, for example, hang on display and salvaged flooring reappears as wooden furnishings. Even before working on the Clock Tower Studio project, Sam Grenader has had an appreciation for Houston’s dwindling roster of older properties. They offer character, he says, but also have constraints that require attentiveness. That restored properties See Do-Over, P. 3B
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