Back Down South

Their gallery wall is a collection of trinkets from all their travels. The picture of red & gold dress is a sketch of Allyson’s mother’s coronation dress that she wore when presented during Fiesta in San Antonio, Texas in 1975-ish. The over-sized porcelain lamps belonged to Christina and Maricarolyn’s great-great Aunt whom they believed had impeccable taste.

The deer mount is Christina’s first shot and first kill. “We have named him Hank, and he is the man of the house.”

Chinese Calligraphy Paintbrush with Jadeite Handle – hunted down in Round Top, Texas.

The blue, green, yellow floral painting was a gift to Maricarolyn, found at Round Top Antique Show.

Another object hunted for at the Round Top Antiques Show – the brass pineapples.

The bar is an old armour that they installed lighting in to showcase our obsession with barware. The silver goblets were a gift from an estate sale. The etched Mexican wine glasses and hand-blown, beer glasses were purchased in Cabo San Lucas. The Martini glasses and champagne flutes were purchased in a pinch before an improptu NYE gathering.

The mini liquor bottles are a “vintage” collection bequeathed to the bar by Christina and Maricarolyn’s dad.

Built in’s with various books, picture memories and knick-knacks. “Also where we sit, sip coffee and watch the news every morning.”

Hop-Scotch down the hall “because Allyson is the best, most fun roommate ever!”

“The closet came to be one afternoon when my mom was in town and I was lamenting about the size of the closets in ‘this old house’. One particular frustration I was having was that I felt as though I was not wearing as many of my clothes as I should be, simply because I could not see them. As I am sure most every girl can relate, we had been creative with storage for shoes, jewelry, special occasion pieces, etc. But that often meant they were in boxes way up high in the closet or stored under beds…out of sight, out of mind. As ideas tend to escalate quickly with me and my mom, we soon began to lay out what merging my bedroom with Maricarolyn’s and transforming what was my bedroom into a “walk-in closet” would look like. We thought it looked pretty good, so with a quick call for MC’s approval, the re-arranging began. A few rolling racks, jewelry bars, and an ottoman later…we had ourselves the closet room. It also didn’t hurt that Maricarolyn and I can share clothes, so although our pieces were kept separate, we were really able to combine our wardrobes into a space where we could see most all our options at once! We think it’s brilliant and it certainly makes getting ready in the morning a little easier!”

The old door was found at an antique store and now serves as a display for Marcarolyn’s necklace collection.

Photo of Bill Cunningham: Taken by Caroline Fontenot (hey, that’s me!) on a trip to NYC. “Mr. Cunningham is a legendary street photographer whose passion is capturing the fashion that really comes to life on the street and off the runway. When I saw this picture, I thought what great inspiration to have in the closet room…to be encouraged and challenged to get dressed every morning with the idea that you just might capture the attention of someone so keen on fashion. After all, as Mr. Cunningham says: ‘fashion is the armor to survive everyday life’… and I agree.”