Architect and designer Eddie Maestri lives in a neighborhood of spacious modernist homes, many of them perched on a bucolic lake where geese, ducks, and turtles roam free. It doesn’t really feel like Dallas, and that’s partly why he fell in love with it. “I went on Trulia and typed ‘mid-century’ and ‘waterfront,’ not expecting to find anything, and then our house popped up,” he says. “I had never heard of this little pocket of Dallas and I was immediately obsessed. We had been looking for the right home for years.”
The “pocket” Maestri discovered is in Preston Hollow in North Dallas, one of the only areas of the city where one can find homes from the 1960s and 1970s built by renowned architects like Frank L. Meier and Philip Johnson. (Meier built Mary Kay Ash’s famous round mansion; Johnson built a colonnaded concrete estate for Henry C. Beck Jr.)
Maestri and his husband, Adam Moore, had been living in Lakewood, in a property they designed before welcoming their twin boys, who are now eight. Soon enough, the couple realized they needed more square footage and a bigger yard. They considered purchasing one of the grand 1920s residences that line Swiss Avenue in East Dallas, but as lovers of midcentury-modern architecture and furniture, they decided to wait for something better suited to their sensibilities.
When the Preston Hollow house—an L-shaped 1971 construction with ultra-high ceilings, white terrazzo floors, generous outdoor verandas, and water views—appeared, they just had to have it. “It felt like it was meant to be our home,” says Maestri, who founded his eponymous studio in Dallas over a decade ago. “It was out of our range, so we ended up selling our weekend home to buy it.”
Finding the perfect nest may have taken considerable time and effort, yet decorating it was a joyful task. “I wanted the house to have a cheerful and happy vibe,” says Maestri. “It’s eclectic and filled with unexpected details that catch your eye.”
Drawing inspiration from two of his favorite places, Palm Springs and New Orleans (where he grew up), Maestri created an atmosphere that is both clean-lined and exuberant. In the kitchen, for example, he fashioned an island out of a bright yellow console with arched legs, topping it with a marble slab shaped like a surfboard. The floors were covered in geometrically patterned porcelain tiles, and the walls feature a bold wallpaper printed with lemon and seafoam circles. Elsewhere in the 5,000-square-foot home, Maestri paired vintage midcentury pieces the couple has been collecting over the years with contemporary furnishings from brands like Jonathan Adler and Anthropologie . “This home is able to incorporate all the pieces we love in a way that feels like they finally all belong together in one place,” says the architect and designer. “It’s like they were always meant to fit here.”
The 5,000-square-foot home is in an exclusive pocket of Preston Hollow in North Dallas that has a cadre of modernist homes. “We painted the brick walls white and kept the roof brown as a nod to the original cedar shingles,” says Maestri. “Black-and-white cabana drapes and a valance were added to dress up the entry and give it a Palm Springs vibe.”
The living room’s white terrazzo floors, as well as the rocks around the fireplace and the walnut paneling on the walls, are original to the home. Maestri designed the curvaceous sectional sofa on the left, pairing it with two vintage armchairs upholstered in white vinyl, which belonged to his grandmother. Two Extraterrestrial floor lamps from Global Views add gloss and glamour.
“We opened up this wall between the kitchen and living room, but wanted it to look as original as possible,” says Maestri. “Shelvings and built-ins were removed and remade smaller to make room for the opening.” The vintage Studio Craft wood drafting table is from Live Auctioneers in Los Angeles, and the illustration prints were found at a brocante in Toulouse, France.
In the kitchen, pops of yellow brighten up breakfast. The island base is an Arcade console by Martin and Brockett in Los Angeles, topped with a Carrara marble slab meant to resemble a surfboard. Steel-and-wood barstools from Nuevo add to the retro vibe.
In the breakfast nook we see a vintage Heywood-Wakefield table—a wedding gift to Eddie’s grandparents in the 1950s—paired with vintage schoolhouse chairs found at a thrift store. The floors were redone in Borghini tiles by Horizon Italian Tile . The ceiling was painted in Farrow and Ball ’s School House White, full gloss.
The couple spent years looking for the right property, and they finally found it in Old Preston Hollow, a section of Dallas that has modernist homes and a small lake. In the dining room, Maestri paired a minimalist burled-wood table from Jonathan Adler with eight moderne-style blue chairs from Elbra. The sculptural Formakami pendant is from Lumens .
From top left, Eddie Maestri, Adam Moore, Elliot, and Ethan (and Lucy the Lhasa-poo) have breakfast in one of the home’s spacious verandas. The antique mirror wall at the back was added “to accentuate the space” and to reflect the views of the lake right outside, says Maestri.
“We replaced all of the doors and windows and made them floor-to-ceiling,” says Maestri of the 14-foot-tall sliding doors. “And we changed out the canvas awning to a black-and-white stripe, a recurring theme in the house.” The couple replaced all of the existing concrete pool decking with artificial turf, and covered the porch and terrace in Pascal tiles by Concept Surfaces .
Sherwin Williams’s Cilantro paint was used to refresh these powder room cabinets, which still feature original hardware. The wallpaper is Eye Of The Beholder by Flavor Paper .
“This family room is where we relax, watch movies, and hang out,” says Maestri. “It’s one of only three rooms with eight-foot ceilings, so we painted them in Farrow and Ball ’s School House White Full Gloss to reflect the light and make the space feel taller.” A vintage rattan sofa with brass details, an oblong coffee table from RH , and a comfy yellow chair from West Elm help set the laid-back, SoCal vibe of the space.
This guest bathroom opens into the family room, where we see the back of the vintage rattan sofa and a game table with white wishbone chairs. “We loved the old feel of this bathroom when we first looked at the house, so we decided to keep the existing countertops and swivel chrome toothbrush holder and build upon those details,” explains Maestri. “We dressed it up with a crystal–and–polished nickel pendant by Visual Comfort , new mosaic tile floor by American Tile , and Los Angeles Toile wallpaper by Flavor Paper .”
The primary suite’s chandelier, which was fabricated by Blueprint Lighting in New York City, was a custom design. The sleek four-poster bed is from Room & Board . “The steamer trunks are vintage and were collected from local antique stores,” says the designer. “We use these to store winter items and old clothing we do not want to part with.”
The primary bathroom was reconfigured to create a more open look and feel. “We were very lucky that the original white terrazzo floors went under the walls, so we did not have to patch them up when we removed the wall that ran through a set of ‘his and hers’ bathrooms,” says Maestri, clarifying that they combined two bathrooms to make a larger L-shaped one. Cole & Son’s Royal Fernery paper covers the walls. The origins of the wooden chair are unknown; it was won at a local charity auction.
A rosewood dresser found at 1stDibs , a white plaster table from Crate & Barrel , and a vintage leather stool create a clean-lined yet cozy look in the home’s primary closet.
“Ethan is obsessed with dinosaurs and Japan,” says Maestri of one of his twin boys, whose room is seen here. The art on the wall, which features a tiny green dinosaur and is set against a Japanese-style indigo wallpaper from Etsy , is by Mione Plant via Maestri Gallery (a gallery started by Eddie Maestri to showcase his love of design, art and “all things modern and unique”).
“Dino-obsessed Ethan is wearing a dino mask we got at Universal Studios in California, and Elliot is spraying him with a water gun,” says Maestri of this photograph, taken by the home’s lakeside pool. The pink sculpture Gary the Gator is by Texas artist Jeffie Brewer.
“We love how the backyard has a California vibe,” says the architect and designer. “The black- and-white awning and balcony reminded us of staying at one of our favorite poolside hotels, the Beverly Hilton.”
