Dallas - Highland Park Homes

Definitely one of my favorite places to go where I can quickly take in a wide array of homes of all different styles all well executed is a drive through the swanky Dallas neighborhood of Highland Park. I almost always make this a quick escape whenever I come to Dallas and each time I make my quick swing through I am never disappointed.

The first thing that caught my attention on this summer's trip was the amount of construction going on! It seems that nearly every third house had some construction project of some magnitude going on from a small bedroom or bathroom addition to a tear down and a new 20,000 sf estate being built!

The other thing I always love is the diversity in styles from a formal Italian Villa to a prototypical Dallas Hill Country Estate of course featuring that creamy Texas Limestone. I could spend hours absorbing the various styles and the plethora of details that make up those styles. To me that is the best part. I can snap several hundred photos in this quick pass through this Disneyland of residential architecture.

One of my clients introduced me to the neighborhood on my first trip here back in the mid 80's including an introduction to designers Loyd Taylor and Paxton Gremillion of the famed studio Loyd • Paxton http://loydpaxton.com of Dallas.  I love the size and high quality of this accessible neighborhood. As opposed to so many neighborhoods with homes of this quality this neighborhood for the most part is ungated so its wonderful to just drive or better yet walk all of the streets and soak in the architectural flavors. It would be like taking Encanto here in Phoenix and doing it Texas style - big!!! I have loved coming to Dallas ever since!

This most recent trip was compliments of my good friend Colin Snider of Bentwood Luxury Kitchens http://www.bentwoodkitchens.com/flash/ who brought me out to tour their showrooms and plant. Wow - fantastic work and what great people running the company. The care, quality and variety was wonderful to take in. From their fabulous Jack Arnold line of kitchens and cabinets to some of their more economical lines, they address a nice diversity of levels of cabinetry for the needs of a wide array of customers. Stay tuned on this and get ready for some exciting news from Candelaria Design and Bentwood Luxury Kitchens in the weeks and months ahead.

The city of Dallas is great and of course has many fabulous restaurants from barbecue to steak houses you can never go wrong in the Bid D! The economy of Texas is booming - with no state income tax it is amazing what happens - maybe I should do a tour and blog of Detroit as a contrast..... I highly advise you take the time to come check Dallas out and make sure to take that little jaunt through Highland Park.