Louise Kemp's Stunning Preston Hollow House

Several months ago Dallas designer Louise Kemp let me snap these pictures of her fantastic Preston Hollow house for a story pitch I was making to Modern Luxury. The story's finally out, but as stories go sometimes, there wasn't as much room as I would have wished to show her work.


So I pulled my favorite pictures off my camera for you to see here.


This is one of my favorite shots in the house. The large painting, a "doodle" by Karl Haendel, is a great foil for the antique French chair needlepointed by Louise and her mother, well-known designer Mary Cassidy.


The chair's design was inspired by a cubist painting. Isn't it amazing?


The house was renovated recently by architect Ron Wommack who, knowing how much Louise loves to bring the outdoors in, knocked down walls and replaced them with glass wherever he could.





This unicorn head (isn't it great?) is a 19th century plaster piece that Louise's parents brought back either from Europe or John Rosselli's in New York during the late 70s or early 80s, she says. Her father was Dallas antiquarian Jim Faulkner who owned antique stores in Dallas for decades.


This is the back room where Kemp's teenagers hang out (there are some vintage video game machines on the opposite side). It has a great boutique hotel feel to it.




Architect Wommack completely glassed in the entry of the house. Not surprising, Philip Johnson's Glass House is one of Louise's biggest design influences.


This antique chair looks smashing next to the gray concrete wall, doesn't it?



Simply sublime.





More gorgeous antique pieces from Louise's father's antique store. I'm crazy about Brunschwig's tiger velvet upholstery used in restrained ways, as it is here on the chair seat.




A simple vignette of rustic pots and tropical plants, along with birch color wood and pale travertine floors.