Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1387796
I 'm seeing more and more stunning design projects coming to fruition — projects that began during COVID-19, as we all spent more time at home together and realized our homes might not be adequate to house the family comfortably. Or, there were areas that could be more functional (kitchen!), and up close, in the glare of daylight, things might have seemed a bit shabby. Homeowners and designers dug in. We're now photographing Houston houses and weekend homes for future issues of PaperCity that are reimagined and refreshed, and that function beautifully for holidays and long weekends. Others looked at their homes, saw the projects, and ran away. I went to Round Top, where I'm soon to break ground on a parcel close to the town of 90 citizens. It's become a Herculean task to find a historic property in this enclave, ever since COVID appeared and drove people from Houston, Austin, Dallas and even L.A. and NYC to find a bucolic getaway. I want to be a Moke ride away from the town's great restaurants — Lulu's, Royers Cafe, The Garden Co. – Feed & Firewater, Teague's Tavern, Mandito's and postprandial cocktails at Ellis Motel (no, it's not a hotel, silly; it's the town's watering hole). With Elon Musk rumored to have purchased property nearby, there might soon be charging stations next to the hitching posts. And that's the beautiful dichotomy of Round Top. Just a few miles from Round Top, in its own idyllic countryside, Pete and Bailey McCarthy also ran away … to their farm in Bellville, which was fortuitously completed in 2018 by Curtis & Windham Architects and designed by Miles Redd, Redd Kaihoi. See pages 58-67. They named it Goodthyme Farm and built full- scale commercial hoop houses implementing sustainable-farming practices and growing vegetables and produce for their Houston restaurants March, Rosie Cannonball, Montrose Cheese & Wine, and Goodnight Charlie's. In other design news, Texas Design Week Dallas is September 20 – 24, 2021, with the opening day and evening of Kips Bay Decorator Show House Dallas on Thursday, September 23, and the PaperCity Design Awards honoring Kips Bay on Friday, September 24, at Virgin Hotels Dallas. Designers appearing for salon talks, book signings, and cocktails (with more names to come): Alessandra Branca, Ken Fulk, India Hicks, Celerie Kemble, Douglas Friedman (@thefacinator), Corey Damen Jenkins, Aldous Bertram, Christopher Spitzmiller. Book your hotel and head to Dallas. For TXDW tickets, go to texasdesignweek.com; for Kips Bay Decorator Show House Dallas tickets, go to kipsbaydecoratorshowhouse.org/dallasplanyourvisit. Holly Moore Editor in Chief holly@papercitymag.com HUNT SLONEM 10