Last night I had the privilege of going through each of the Colleyville Woman's Club Holiday Home Tour houses. They are stunning! All decked out for the holiday's. If you haven't bought your ticket, you would LOVE it! It's totally worth it! See below for ticket details.
Home Tour is this Sunday, December 6th
11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
You can go to Panache Magazine to see additional pictures of the below homes. Look in the most recent issue.
Chris & Tiffany McKinzie Home
Several years ago when Tiffany and Chris McKinzie were living in McKinney, Tiffany drove through Colleyville. She returned home, and told her husband they were moving. They began designing their 4,000-square-foot home around a favorite set of antique doors and around the needs of their young family. While they are busy young professionals, Tiffany, owner of Tiffany McKinzie Interior Design Inc., and Chris, owner of a hedge fund and private equity company, value their family life above all else. The design of the home was inspired by an English farmhouse Tiffany saw in a book, but the 1800-era antique doors that are set into the doorway leading from the foyer to a small sitting/reading room provided much of the design of that part of the house. The crown molding in the sitting room and foyer reflect the scalloped pattern on top of the doors as does the archway set into the doorway itself. On the other side of the foyer, Tiffany has combined utility and art in her office. Instead of matching cabinet knobs for each door, she has used different Edgar Berebi knobs, all set with Swarovski crystals. The walls look like patterned silk but are actually hand-stenciled on a glazed background by talented local area artist Annie Omar. For Christmas, Tiffany will complete this room with a spectacular woodland-themed tree.
The McKinzie home is filled with a collection of European antiques and reproduction pieces. Travertine stone floors, light textured walls and open-beamed ceilings set the stage for antique Italian crystal chandeliers, hand-carved marble fireplaces, wonderful old paintings and comfortable period-inspired seating.
Above all, however, the McKinzie home has been designed for family use. The nerve center of the home is the kitchen with its over sized granite island and large breakfast/dining area. The back hallway houses the children’s homework center. The playroom that opens off this hall provides a gallery for the children’s framed art work, pieces their mother has saved since they first began to bring home treasures from pre-school.
The regal Tudor-style home of Blake and Kelly Eckols is really a warm family home, built with the needs of a growing family as its center. The dining room to the left of the entrance features red walls and window treatments that Kelly made by combing netting over lush dark red fabric. Across the foyer, the study window is another of her works of art. She combined textured and embroidered silks with black feathers, heavy trim and beads.
The massive kitchen with its black granite island and mottled granite counters is open to the family room. Televisions are placed in every room so no one is left out of good viewing. There is even a television over the ovens in the kitchen. Beyond the family room, a large bar/game room provides a perfect place for parties. All the main rooms in the downstairs open onto the pool area with a large outdoor living area, with a TV there, too.
The master bedroom has windows that line one entire wall, but Kelly has designed billowy blue silken drapes that tie in the middle during the day, but close to a room-darkening fabric wall at night.
Perhaps the most special bedroom is that of the Eckols’ infant twins. Above the matching cribs are huge crowns draped in a gauzy fabric defining the sanctuary of the prince and the princess. The regal gold window treatments were crafted by their mother.
When the Eckols decorate for the holidays, they love anything that glitters or shines. A massive 14-foot tree decorated in red and silver in the living room sets the scene for a plethora of decorations that grace the rest of the home.
"It’s all about family!"
Painted above the arched doors in the family room, these words articulate the values of the DePaolo family and the home they have created for their family of seven.
Set on the edge of a small lake, the home features soaring ceilings, large rooms and a lavish use of fine woods and stonework.
The entrance hall opens to a warm, wood-paneled study on one side and a large dining room with arched pocket doors on the other. Rather than a formal living room, this home has as its nerve center a warm great room with a pecky cypress ceiling, huge fireplace and lots of comfortable seating open to an adjoining kitchen and an oversized breakfast room.
Reflective of the value the DePaolos place on their family, each of the bedrooms reflects the tastes and preferences of its inhabitants. The focus of the master bedroom is a bed so high that it requires a stepstool. Done in dark reds, golds and warm browns, this room provides a welcome retreat for parents of an active family. Guests in this home are treated especially well as they have a separate 2-story guest house complete with sitting room and kitchenette.
Opening off a brightly decorated playroom upstairs, the children’s rooms mirror their own ideas. The boys’ room, done in red, white and blue is definitely masculine. Because the DePaolos realize the importance of sleep-overs, they had a full-sized bunk bed constructed. The young ladies who live in this house tend to prefer pink, but one daughter has chosen pink with black and white zebra prints. The younger pairs her pink with soft greens and white with doll bedding to match.
Kim DePaolo decorates for the holidays with her family in mind. She puts up five trees but perhaps the most special is laden with ornaments she has received since childhood.
While Kim has done most of the decorating design herself, she thanks Diane Tucker, a local artist, for the painting over the doorway, and Donna Christy for fabricating the draperies, pillows and bed coverings.
For those who are tired of the demands of a large house and yard but want to live in Colleyville, a patio home may be just the answer. Cambridge Homes has designed a neighborhood of homes with a minimum of outdoor space and a maximum amount of privacy. Furnished and decorated especially for the Colleyville Holiday Home Tour, this home has been built for energy efficiency with amenities common to much larger homes. The public rooms feature crown molding, graceful arched openings, distressed dark wood floors, coffered ceilings and more.
Designed for entertaining and defined by lots of light, this house is centered around a large formal dining room/great room/kitchen. These rooms are separated from each other by a series of pillars and arched openings. Large windows line one wall of the great room and overlook a long patio and garden area. Built-in cabinets and alcoves flank the large stone fireplace at the far end of the room. A large, semi-circular deep red granite counter separates the kitchen from the living space. Two large skylights supplement the many recessed lights and the row of pendant lights over the island.
In the master bedroom built for a king, a large cornice and cabinets flank the space provided for the master bed. A windowed alcove overlooks a garden area; a glass door opens onto a covered patio with its own fireplace. Beyond the well-appointed master bath, a huge walk-in closet allows enough space for the most dedicated clothes collector.
"With six children, you need a lot of room to splash!"
When Debra Baum describes the oversized diving pool that anchors their back yard, she could be describing her blended family’s nearly 8,000-square-foot home.
Not only is the pool designed to accommodate the family’s needs, but every room in this dramatic house reflects both Old World charm and the tastes and needs of an active family.
The formal entrance of this home combines a careful blend of grandeur and warmth. The custom hand-made cypress door set in cut-stone arches opens onto a foyer with a winding staircase and grand piano (the same wood is repeated in the kitchen and in other parts of the home). Soaring windows in the formal living and dining rooms overlook a fountain set in front of the oversized "L" shaped pool. The gourmet chef’s kitchen, breakfast room and the large adjoining family room open onto the patio and pool area. The wine room does not hold a wine collection, however, but has been converted into a perfect American Girl hide-away for the youngest Baum daughter. For Christmas, it will be home to an American Girl tree.
Each of the Baum daughters’ rooms has been decorated to reflect their wishes. Third-grader Brooke wanted a Paris theme, so her walls are painted to resemble a Paris café scene. Bailey, 13, favors purple and a "Faith and Hope" theme; Alexa, a senior at Colleyville Heritage High, lives in the Colleyville room, a haven of red, black and white and CHHS pride.
Debra’s favorite room is the master bedroom. While it is an elegant retreat for the couple, it is also their favorite gathering place. The Baums and their youngest daughters like to cuddle on the bed and watch movies on the drop-down theater screen. The room also opens to the outside pool area.
Danny Baum’s collection of sports memorabilia as well as a plethora of photos of their oldest daughter, a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and former Mavericks dancer, adorn the walls of the game room. Debra decorates lavishly for Christmas, but she pays special attention to the traditional decorations her family treasures.