1963 House & Gardens - House of ideas, built in Inwood Oaks, Houston, Texas - part #2

9/29/2025 10:09:00 PM

The magnificent space of this second living-room at the back of the house and its wall-to- wall, floor-to-roof view of the garden are, in themselves, conducive to relaxation. Since in a room of this size even the most brilliant colors are rarely overpowering, we chose a bold combination of Tangerine, black and white. An antique oriental trunk makes the brilliant coffee table. The rest of the furniture is simple and easy to care for (all the upholstery is vinyl) but not so informal as to mark the room "for teen-agers only." The soft pinky tone of the redwood wall and ceiling was achieved by applying one coat of white-pigmented paint stain, then rubbing it lightly with a lint-free rag. Four swiveling bowl lights in the walls near the ceiling flood room with light at night.

From the balcony, that runs the length of the room (disappearing behind the chimney), you can get the full sweep of the transparent wall. The glazing, like that used throughout the house, is shatter-resistant acrylic plastic that makes sliding doors lighter in weight and screens the sun's rays to retard the fading of indoor colors. Between the two huge weathered beams that support the roof is a series of six skylights that balance the light from the window. The room is divided into three areas by three matching striped rugs one for the piano, one by the fireplace and one for a game table and chairs in the opposite corner. Between the folding doors to the family breakfast room and the doorway to the foyer is a bar cabinet on wheels that may be rolled around to any part of the room or out to the paved terrace. The same lime-washed, rough-faced bricks used on the exterior of the house built the huge chimney, above right. The fireplace, tall and powerful, has a circular back, a copper shield at the top of the opening and a bow-front hearth. Hanging under the balcony by doorway to foyer is "Burning Bush," a handwoven tapestry in red and black by Jan Yoors.

For a family who loves music, there is a sound center, right, at the far end of the room, opposite the piano, that offers the most advanced and precise equipment for listening and recording. Built into the first cupboards: speaker, record changer, heavy-duty professional turntable, multiplex stereo FM radio, control center, record storage; in the lower sections of next two cabinets: tape recorder, tape player, more record storage. All of these compartments plus the speaker at the far right can be closed off by doors so that only the niches for books, TV and objets d'art are visible. In addition to two speakers for this room, there are ten other listening stations throughout the house, each with two speakers.