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tap into our reserves," says Anne Tucker, a former league president and previous curator of photography for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Tucker has been on the league's House Committee since the mid-1980s when it opened. "This building is my baby," she says. The interiors hadn't been updated for 40 years. "Over the years, it never quit being beautiful, it just got worn," says Tucker. Many of the original design elements w e r e c h e r i s h e d by members — in particular, the blue silk Scalamandré fabric covering the B a l l r o o m w a l l s , gifted four decades ago by a member who had the fabric custom-made in Italy to match her aquamarine eyes. The Ballroom's iconic blue walls appeared in society pages throughout the years as the backdrop for hundreds of wedding receptions, galas, and charity balls, making E stablished in 1925, the Junior League of Houston will commemorate 100 years of good works next year, and the much- needed overhaul of the members' house is a part of this milestone occasion. "We've been saving for the renovations for more than 30 years, so when the time came, we had the money to do it and didn't need to the building one of the most recognized venues in Houston. Those walls were not only beautiful, they became an invaluable marketing tool. While the Tea Room and other areas of the house make a sizable steady income for the local League, the Ballroom is the single biggest revenue generator for the membership's many charitable causes, including the DePelchin Children's Center, which was just given a $2 million Centennial Anniversary gift. Renovating the Ballroom was an important business decision; done right, the facelift would give the Junior League of Houston an edge over other event spaces, including such bastions of traditional elegance as River Oaks Country Club. The House Committee tasked Ann Wolf and Ashley Holden to come up with something even more head-turning and identifiable for the Ballroom than those stunning turquoise silk walls. As Tucker says, "People should be able to instantly recognize the Junior League of Houston from a single photo." Typical wallpaper would never do in this situation, so the designers enlisted noted New York mural artist Anne Harris to paint an original work. The idea was inspired by the dazzling naturalistic murals commissioned in the '20s and '30s by famed French interior