Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1465756
J ason Lenox and Matthew Taylor first moved to Oak Cliff 20 years ago, back when the area wasn't considered nearly as desirable as it is now. "We bought a house on the golf course for next to nothing," Lenox recalls. "And we had a community of neighbors and friends that made it a great place to live." Their house on Stevens Park Golf Course was just around the corner from Kessler Woods, a modernist development that broke ground in 2005. They drove past it almost every day, watching as high-dollar houses went up, designed by some of the city's most acclaimed architects. "We dreamed about buying a lot and building there one day," says Lenox, owner of Anteks, a small design firm specializing in rustic interiors for lodges, cabins, and ranches. Years later, he and Taylor — a well-known hairstylist with Charlie & Co. — purchased the last available lot in Kessler Woods. "It was always the coolest one, because it sat up high and overlooked the neighborhood green space," he says. "It was a rare opportunity in Dallas to have a view." The couple's longtime friend Joshua Rice designed their new house from the ground up, in addition to the interiors,, working closely with builder Bart Gardner of Gardner Custom Homes. At just a quarter of an acre, the property is quite small and unusually configured, bumping up against a meadow dotted with wildflowers and juniper trees. "That greenway just made it look like their land went on forever," says Rice, who designed the 2,500-square-foot house to face the view. Landscape architect Christa McCall of Paper Kites Studio won an award from the American Society of Landscape Architects for her use of native plants to integrate the house with the meadow, and limestone slabs to create private elevated seating spaces and outdoor rooms. "It's rare to be able to design a little jewel box like this, because everyone, especially in high-end design, always wants big, big, big," Rice says. The house might be considered modest in terms of square footage, but it feels spacious. Skylights and clerestory windows bathe the KESSLER WOODS HANDCRAFTED BY REBECCA SHERMAN. INTERIOR DESIGN JOSHUA RICE. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE CHRISTA MCCALL, PAPER KITES STUDIO. PHOTOGRAPHY STEPHEN KARLISCH AND ROBERT TSAI. JOSHUA RICE DESIGNED A JEWEL BOX OF A HOUSE FILLED WITH ARTISAN DETAILS AND COLLECTIBLE FURNISHINGS FOR CLIENTS JASON LENOX AND MATTHEW TAYLOR. IN 81