Another Ike Tale: The Grey Gardens of Galveston

Another Ike Tale: The Grey Gardens of Galveston

 

And now – on a much lighter note.    Maybe we should call this, how the luckiest few had to deal with Ike.    No, it’s not heartbreakingly sad like the Live Oak trees, or Bolivar Peninsula.  And no, no one will cry over this story or should for that matter.   If you did, I might have to have you committed!    After all, this is just a story of an excess that most of us will never have nor would even want.  But still, it might be of interest to some of you:  what happens when a wonderfully designed house is no more?  

A few years ago, Veranda did a cover story on a beach house in Galveston that I positively adored.  It was designed by the great – the absolute greatest of all Houston designers - Ms. Babs Watkins.    The house was delicious, all in aqua:   aqua linens, aqua toiles, aqua ceilings and even aqua painted wood floors!   Looking at the house was like looking a candy store – so delectable it was!   Watkins was at the top of her game here.  The job was large with six bedrooms and bathrooms and it could have turned out badly – a house done entirely in aqua?  Whoever heard of such a thing?    In fact, this cover story spawned a new trend in all aqua beach houses, many of which Veranda put on their summer cover, year after year.  But none of the imitators could ever come close to getting it as perfect as Watkins did.  Her unerring eye and knack for picking the most beautiful and desirable antiques is legendary in Houston.   With Watkins’ furnishings and all the finest linens and toiles, this beach house was unlike most ever seen.  It was very casual, yet in a romantic and sophisticated way – how many beach houses have  French trumeaus over their antique limestone mantels?  For years The Aqua House remained in my favorites file – in fact, it never left it.    

 

A painted 19th century butcher’s table used as a console.

 

So, while perusing the real estate listings last year, I almost fell over when I recognized the most perfect Aqua House was up for sale.  The best part of the sale was, of course,  all the new photos of the house to pore over!   And even better, a Virtual Tour accompanied the listing.  Nirvana.   The house  eventually sold – just in time for Hurricane Ike.  I wonder if the new owners were able to even sleep a night in the house.  It is here, today, almost a year after Ike, still languishing empty and neglected – a sort of sad, upscale Grey Gardens of Galveston.   I’m not sure why it hasn’t been repaired – it all seems like minor, superficial damage, certainly nothing on a par with the slaughter of the Live Oaks going on uptown.   But, still, the house has been left to the elements – something that on the beach should always be avoided.   Maintenance is a must in the salt air.   A loyal Cote de Texas reader happened upon the Aqua House and took new pictures for me.    To read the original story of this once wonderful house, go here.

 

 

 

The way it was:   all linen and toile in aqua, seagrass and seashells, slipcovers and trumeaus.   The Babs Watkins designed house was first featured in Veranda in 2004.  It had been built as a weekend retreat for a Houston family with five young children.   The large family quickly sold it and then it came up for sale again last summer.  The beach house was first sold fully furnished – not even one ashtray left the house – therefore, amazingly, it looked exactly the same, despite the wear and tear of four years.

 

From the real estate pictures - four years after Veranda’s photo shoot and another family later, the house, amazingly, looks exactly the same.  

 

 

From Veranda – beautiful Hinson toile and tufted detailing.   The chairs are 19th century. 

 

Charming pompom fringe hangs over the beautifully tufted chaise in aqua linen.    The walls are cream, the trim is a light aqua, the floor is pine, with a washed aqua paint.  

 

From the Real Estate Virtual Tour – even the Crane sculpture remained through the first sale.   Here you can see the custom made pool table.   And notice how the ceiling is painted in the soft aqua too.

 

During the first sale, the entire contents of the house remained intact.   During the second sale this summer,  the custom made pool table, with aqua felt, was the only furniture that remained in the house.   The chandeliers remained, but everything else was excluded from the sale.   What a pity!  In this picture you can see the taupe and cream striped fabric that Watkins used on this side of the large living room.  

 

  This oversized and awkward banquette with ottoman is my least favorite item in the house!   The banquette, built in, of course remained in the house after the second sale.  The dining room can be seen on the other side of the kitchen.

 

The dining room -  a beautiful wood table mixed with casual yet classic Lloyd Loom chairs. 

 

 

A small library off the foyer – Watkins used two main fabrics downstairs, the Hinson aqua toile and a taupe and cream stripe, both shown in this room with its wonderful cabinet filled with shells and pictures of shells. 

 

  

From Veranda – my favorite bedroom, though even that choice is hard, there are so many adorable bedrooms in the house!  Here are twin French iron beds with a peach linen toile and matching curtains.  Notice the mini pleat edge on the duvet and shams. 

 

 

                                                                

Last summer, the house was perfectly manicured and freshly painted.

 

 

  

The beach house is actually on the bay side, facing a canal.  It stretches over three lots – one lot is the pool house pictured here.    So, what does the house look like today – almost a year after Ike?  The neighborhood received some damage – many houses’ ground floors were heavily damaged.  Yet, life in this very exclusive neighborhood has gone on.  There is a lot of building activity happening there now.   A Cote de Texas reader visited the still empty Aqua House and snapped these pictures:

 

 

Today.   The owl which is used to scare away seagulls with their mess is barely scaring anything today.  The landscaping looks bare but it does appear someone has top pruned, always a no-no.

 

Whoa.  The front side of the house with the pool house on the left.  What a difference a year makes.  Besides the green palm trees, it looks like a desolate moonscape.

 

 

The back side of the house, empty and lonely looking. 

 

The pool house and the infinity edge pool, green instead of blue. 

 

I wonder what the neighbors think?  I’m surprised the homeowner association hasn’t stepped in.

 

  

How it was last summer – the infinity edge pool overlooks the canal that leads out to Galveston Bay.  The house comes with a boat dock, of course, just barely visible at the very right of the picture.  

 

  

Now:   the screens are all falling off the ground floor porch.

 

  Now:   the pool house drawers blew away in the storm.

 

The pool house – how it was last summer.   Notice how fabulous the bench is, a painted French antique that would be at home in the finest mansion, much less a pool house! 

 

    Now:   all the beautiful hardware, neglected and left to the elements, is corroding.

 

 

 

Today, all that remains of Watkins fabulous interior – a chandelier, the sconces found throughout the downstairs living area, and the custom pool table.  What a shame that Watkins wonderful design is now dismantled!    I wonder where all those antiques went?  Seems such a shame to break it all up.    I’m sure the former owners would disagree with me – but I’m speaking strictly as a great fan of Watkins work.

 

The banquette and ottoman remained – my least favorite part!   And the dining room chandelier stayed. 

 

 

Looking back towards the empty living room and kitchen.  I wonder if the new owner will keep the aqua floors, trim and ceiling?    

 

 

  

Today:    a shot from outside looking into the foyer – the photographer didn’t go inside the house of course!    The sconce, with the bulbs in place, seems so Grey Gardens. 

 

Then:  the charming foyer – as Watkins designed it.  The antique crystal sconces juxtaposed with fun vintage pink flamencos.  This painted French caned bench sports a pink and white toile.   A view into the small library, shown before.   Just beautiful!  I love this house – I can’t help it, I just love this house!!!!

 

 

   

Watkins took so much care to pick out each fixture.   The lanterns, once in a wonderful green, are now all rusted and trashed out looking.  I wonder what she would think?

The Aqua House makes me think of all the other wonderfully designed houses that sell, how the design is broken up and destroyed forever – with only photographs left to memorialize them.   Do you know of a house you once loved that is no longer the same?  Sally Quinn felt that way about Grey Gardens.  She loved the house it once was so much that she resurrected it.   To read my story of  Sally’s work, go here.  I wonder if the Aqua House will find a Sally Quinn?

Read More

Modelos Diseños de Dormitorios Matrimoniales

Modelos Diseños de Dormitorios Matrimoniales

A veces nos resulta un poco complicado al momento de diseñar el dormitorio. Es necesario saber que el dormitorios, a parte de ser un espacio muy íntimo, se convierte en un espacio de descanso en la que pasamos más tiempo, donde favorece el descanso y la calma. Algo más que debemos considerar es la cama, color de pared, color del techo, el espacio, los muebles, la alfombra y algunos accesorios más que podrían incluir dentro del diseño del dormitorio.
Los dormitorios matrimoniales también unifican los intereses de la pareja, y su aspecto no puede ser ni muy masculino ni muy femenino, sino que debe llegarse a un criterio intermedio, para que así refleje la personalidad de ambos.

En esta ocasión quiero compartir con ustedes algunos modelos o diseños de dormitorios amplios para matrimonios; que encontre en internet.

Imagenes de cormitorios modernos: kibuc.com

Read More

Georgia Tapert House Tour

Georgia Tapert House Tour

You might remember that I profiled Georgia Tapert and her lovely home and store a few months ago. Well, now you can see more photos and read more about her interesting life on New York Social Diary. I love Georgia's home because it is uniquely personal and filled with items she found on her travels and pieces given to her by her mother that are now mixed with her fiance's furniture. Definitely check out the story and her fabulous shop Georgia Tapert Living the next time you are in Soho!

Read More

A Sad, Sad Tale of Ike

A Sad, Sad Tale of Ike

 

Last August I took you on a photo tour (here) of this historic neighborhood in Galveston, Texas – a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico, a quick 50 miles from Houston.   The trees were as amazing as the houses, maybe even more so.  A house can always be replaced; a tree – it’s not as easy.

 

 

 Galveston’s beautiful East End National Historical District – August, 2008.   Towering, majestic Live Oak trees cast large shadows on the manicured lawns.

 

 

 

Live Oaks and oleanders – Galvestonians favorite landscape.

 

These Live Oaks have grown so large, the house is barely visible.  

 

 

The large limbs grow twisted from the constant harsh Gulf winds.

 

We even went inside one of the century old beauties (here.)  This house, owned by friends, is full of linen slipcovers and seagrass.  What’s not to love?

 

Last summer after Hurricane Dolly practically destroyed South Padre Island, my family vacationed on Galveston Island instead, just a quick hour away from Houston.  Of course, Hurricane Edouard chased us back home a week early, just in time to greet the fury of Hurricane Ike.   It wasn’t exactly a great summer for the Webb Family, but we have nothing to complain about.  Ike was horrible to Bolivar and Galveston.  Horrible.    Katrina may have gotten all the publicity but Ike was just as terrible.   I digress.   Before Ike and Edouard, when I was all carefree and thrilled to be in Galveston,  I took you on a photo tour of the historical districts – notable for their century old houses that survived the Great Storm of 1900.   After that devastating storm, survivors rebuilt the city and planted thousands of Live Oak trees.   Grown from just a tiny acorn, those Live Oaks have flourished, creating lush canopies over Galveston's streets and offering cool shade from the stifling summer heat.   These majestic trees cast large shadows over the lawns and concrete and add an undeniable air of romance and southern charm to the older neighborhoods.  Where these areas were once neglected and all-but abandoned, they are now teeming with life and activity, having undergone intensive revitalization.   Awarded for all the hard work with the National Historic District designation, great effort and care has been taken to preserve the character and authenticity of the neighborhoods.    Today, these historical district are now the most sought out places to live on the island.

Last August, I drove up and down these verdant streets, taking photographs of houses - some so obscured by the Live Oaks, they could be barely be seen.   Each house, one after another, was more beautiful than the next.   To find a favorite was an impossible task.   Galveston’s East End and New Orleans’ Garden District look very similar and share many characteristics – architecture, the Live Oaks, but hurricane destruction may be the most obvious one.  What Katrina did to New Orleans, Hurricane Ike did to Galveston – except it didn’t happen on the 24/7 news channels.   Some of the worst damage caused by Ike was subtler than Katrina’s and it wasn’t immediately obvious.   Yes, there was a great mess and many houses were destroyed.   Boats landed on highways, miles from their slips, as if people had driven them there like cars.  Landmark beach shops on piers that hovered over the Gulf were entirely washed away – shocking those of us who had been their customers since we were children.    But, the debris was quickly cleaned up.   Houses were fixed and rebuilt.   Lives changed, but life goes on.  

 

 

The dense canopy of Live Oaks shades the streets and the yards – creating a Southern, mysterious, and romantic atmosphere.

 

Yes, buildings and houses can be restored after a hurricane.   But how do you replace something that is over 100 years old; something that grows from tiny to huge – a process that takes decades, not just a few months or years?      You can’t just replace some things overnight, it is out of man’s control.     You see, to understand the real damage of Ike, how Ike truly destroyed Galveston, you have to understand this:    all these gorgeous Live Oak trees with their wide reaching canopies that give the East End – and the entire island of Galveston - its most beautiful natural resource, after the beach,  are now all dead.   Dead.    Killed by the salt spray brought on by Ike or by the subsequent fungus that drove in the final nail if the salt didn’t kill them first.

 

 

 

Broadway, the once beautiful boulevard that welcomes all visitors – dead tree, after dead tree, after dead tree – as far as the eyes can see.

 

It’s hard to even write this, much less think about it – surely to see it and live it must be utterly heart breaking.   If you don’t go visit, if you don’t witness it first hand, did it really happen?     Forty one thousand, yes, you read that correctly, 41,000 Live Oak trees were killed by Hurricane Ike last September, and they are all coming down.  The only Live Oaks getting a reprieve are those that have 30 percent new leaf growth – anything less, is history.   Eighty percent of the tree canopy in Galveston is gone.   I haven’t seen it yet.  I’m pretending it still looks like it did last summer.    It’s really hard to imagine that in one year – all those gorgeous Live Oaks are now dead.   Driving around last August, happily trying to capture their beauty for you – it never occurred to me, not in a million thoughts, that in one month – all those trees would be dead.

 

To truly understand the oddity of this photograph – you must realize that Live Oaks do not lose their leaves during winter – they remain green and leafy all year.    Thus, a Live Oak is rarely, if ever, seen without its leaves.  The only time a Live Oak looks like this, is if it is dying.  

 

For the past year, Galveston and many different forestry organizations have been conducting surveys of all the island’s trees.  Originally they tried to save as many as they could,  attempting to leech the salt out of the root systems.    Nothing worked.  In fact, statistically, the Live Oaks were considered somewhat hardy against Ike, 40 percent survived.   In comparison - all but 12 percent of the island’s magnolias and pecans died after Ike.   Sycamore, mulberry and river birch were entirely wiped out at 100%.    The island’s flowering symbol – the oleander proved strong, 60 percent survived.   Palm trees won the prize though – only 8 percent didn’t make it.  

Despite the heroic efforts to salvage as many trees as possible, the dying and dead ones are now public hazards – in another storm, with their damaged root systems, they could become hurtling projectiles and most would end up crashing through roofs, causing untold death and destruction.  They need to be cut down before another big hurricane comes, and quickly.   FEMA is paying  for the tree removal – if – if they are cut down before September 12th, so the rush is now on. 

 

 

 

Galveston will never look the same in my lifetime, but my grandchildren will one day enjoy the cool shade from a Live Oak in the East End.

 

   City workers are seen leeching salt from the ground in a futile attempt to save the Live Oaks. 

 

To remove large Live Oak trees like these, the cost starts at over $1,000.  Many of Galveston’s residents are in the lower income bracket and could never afford the cost of the tree removal without the government’s  help – so Galveston is frantically trying to comply with the September 12th deadline.  There is now a mad rush to get all 41,000 Live Oaks cut down on FEMA’s dime.   Desperate to save their own trees, residents are calling in, claiming to see new growth.   The cut-off for a death sentence is if there is 30 percent new growth, but very few oaks have gotten the reprieve.   11,000 of the Live Oaks are on public lands, and the remaining 30,000 will be cut from private property.  Visitors to Galveston are well familiar with the towering trees that line Broadway - the grand parkway onto the island.  These grand Live Oaks and the colorful flowering oleanders evoke deep emotions in both the citizens of Galveston and its tourists, many of whom have visited the island each summer of their life.    In order to relieve the emotion and anxiety – it has been decided that the Live Oaks lining Broadway -  a symbol of Galveston almost as strong as the Gulf of Mexico - will be cut down last, after the tourist season is over.

 

 

Last month as the first tree was felled by FEMA – this resident was photographed wiping away tears – after all, her father had planted the tree from a tiny acorn.   One person left this note on a tree scheduled to fall:   “Thanks for keeping us cooler and cleaner and standing without complaint for years and years.  Goodbye.”

 

 

  Driving onto the island on Broadway will be a shock to tourists used to seeing all the green and leafy Live Oaks and flowering oleanders.   These trees will be cut down last – after tourist season is over – in a effort to relieve anxiety.  

 

 

What a disaster.  

 

 

It’s like there was a fire, yet the houses were not burned.

 

 

The Live Oaks are dead, but the palm is healthy and thriving.  Galveston is planning to replant Live Oaks – citing the fact that 60% of the Live Oaks withstood Ike’s fury.  Palms on the other hand lost only 3 percent of their ranks.

 

 

Just to give you an idea of Ike’s  physical destruction, this debris is on the seawall.  The beach is at the right.  The tattoo parlor stands, as does the palm.

 

One of the stranger sights were the boats lined up on the main causeway leading into Galveston.  It was as if someone had driven them on the road.

 

 

Just north of Galveston is Bolivar Peninsula – an area filled with beach houses, as you can see here right before Ike hit.  Bolivar received the worst of Ike’s wrath.  It is a true human and animal tragedy that happened there that night.  

 

A week after – nothing much is left between the two houses.  In Houston, we are lucky – 50 miles away, we just have to deal with wind gusts and rising water and no electricity, nothing like what these poor souls faced.   We are praying that this season will be a Hurricane-Free summer. 

 

 

And finally, last year, I wrote about our own Water Oak tree (here),  how it had gotten sick and today, despite all our efforts, it’s future is still unknown.  I lamented the loss of one tree, albeit a gorgeous, tall, sheltering tree and the primary reason we chose to buy this lot in the first place.   It’s hard for Ben and I to imagine what it will be like if we have to take it down.   The subject of the tree upsets us both greatly and it is something we avoid discussing.    But, it’s just one tree.   What pain the homeowners in Galveston must be going through as they watch their leafless trees cut down this summer.  The Historical Districts are going to be so different now, so bare, so naked, so bright without the shade and shadows cast by the tall Live Oaks.   I know that I, and probably most people do too, take our trees for granted, expecting them to be here forever.  But trust me, it can change within one short month. 

Read More