1963 House & Gardens - House of ideas, built in Inwood Oaks, Houston, Texas - part #1

9/29/2025 01:54:00 PM

Through the carved wood doors, you enter an enchanting courtyard adorned by a blue-tiled swimming pool that dramatically reflects the main façade of the house. Built of redwood and lime-washed brick, its four great columns and the deep, raftered overhang of its pitched roof eloquently express a spirit of welcoming shelter. From the front door, at the left of the pillared porch, a covered walk leads past the entrance gates to a self-sufficient pool house with a big deck that overhangs the water. The glass doors at the right of the porch open the master bedroom to this private outdoor world.

Designed by Roger Rasbach and decorated by H&G, our House of Ideas was planned for a hypothetical young couple with two children in their early teens. But as our young family grows and matures, the house around them is designed to change, too-adapting itself to their new ways as pliantly as a form-fitting skin of supple plastic.

Today the house reflects the realities of contemporary living. The plan recognizes, for instance, that today's family wants a dining room even though two out of three meals might be served almost anywhere else in the house. It recognizes the importance to a growing family of a second kitchen. It takes account of the facts that father more often than not brings work home from the office, that mother's day includes half-a-dozen activities that do not fit serenely into living room or bedroom, that doing the laundry still requires a certain amount of space and that in ten minutes or less two children can become a crowd. These facts have in- spired new ideas for the use of space, new kinds of rooms-like the party pantry, the leisure room, the studio-office-that can play many different roles today and still others tomorrow.

To meet our hypothetical family's present needs, the house has three full-time bedrooms. But in later years, as Mr. Rasbach points out, it might well become a five-bedroom house or later still, be reduced to one bedroom. For instance, the two children's rooms on the upper floor, might become a bedroom and study for one college student, or the floor might be closed off entirely. The studio- office with its adjoining bath is admirably located to be used as a nursery for a new arrival or as a bedroom for an older relative. And the pool house, both now and later, might be many things to many members of the family: a dressing room for swimmers; a children's playroom where electric trains and such might be left undisturbed for weeks at a time; a party room; a guest room; a private apartment for an older son; head- quarters for visiting grandchildren.

The house is also designed to take time in its stride. Its mechanics and equipment are as advanced as current technology can provide. The materials it is built of, however, and the finishes specially created for it were chosen specifically because they look mellow while still brand new, but will age gracefully. There are no contemporary clichés to date the house as the years pass, but there are dozens of timeless details that add to its individuality-the handcrafted hardware designed by Mr. Rasbach, the decorative tiles by sculptor-ceramist Martha Mood, the massive hand-carved doors.

This is a house where a family can live as they please today, tomorrow, twenty years from now. And because of that, it is a house that is destined to become more deeply rooted in their affections with every passing decade.

From one end of the living room in our House of Ideas, space flows without interruption across the entrance foyer to the dining room. Yet each of these three areas is clearly defined by changes in ceiling height and floor level, and by a series of four glazed wooden posts that duplicate those outside in the courtyard. The living room floor is 6 inches lower than those of the rooms around it, and its set-apart atmosphere is further emphasized by the arrangement of three loveseats in front of the fireplace an irresistible invitation to genial conversation. The walls of the room, like those throughout the house, are finished with a subtle blend of H&G colors in this case Pastel Citron glazed with Mushroom. (Over a flat base of Pastel Citron a paint glaze tinted with Mushroom is applied, then wiped with a rubber comb so that some of the contrasting color shows through.) Drawn across the sliding doors that open to the pillared portico are two sets of sheer curtains one Pastel Citron, the other Butterscotch on two electrically operated traverse tracks. Thus the push of a button can give the room any one of three different color effects. There are no lamps because all the lighting is built in-four recessed ceiling lights plus two swivel-bowl fixtures focused respectively on the fireplace and on a painting. All operate on dimmers.