I was lucky enough to spend this mother’s day with my mom and dad at their house.  My mom says it has been 15 years since we were actually together on a mom’s day.  Hard to believe time goes that quickly.   We used to live on opposite sides of the coast, but we now live with in two hours of each other, which makes it a lot easier for a quick day trip. 

My parents live in a small, Texas town about 2 hours from Dallas.  Their property is very interesting, with 2 historic buildings and a new, main residence that sits on a hill-top and has amazing views on all sides.  This is the view from the balcony behind the guest room.

The quest room where we stay is in the main house (there is a separate guest house with additional bedrooms).  It has a really nice feel: fresh, airy and welcoming.  I believe the toile fabric is from Schumacher.  It is a light green and cream color.

The powder bath down the hall is one of my favorite rooms.  It is beautifully put together.  It has lovely wallpaper, interesting sconces in dark, pewter iron with a couple of discrete crystals.  The sink basin sits in a great wood cabinet that was converted to hold a sink.  My mother has two long towel bars with antique towels on them.  Most of the towels she has collected from trips to the antique market at Round Top.

My mother has done a great job of ‘collecting’ items with character for her home.  This chandelier over her island was purchased in Houston.  It had hung in a historic hotel which closed it’s doors.  Having a retail store, I see a lot of chandeliers but I have not come across anything with the patina of this one.

Their home is full of original art- oils, watercolors and sketches.  Most of the art is from western artists and depicts landscapes, horses and cattle.  My favorite painting happens to be one that came from Brazil.  It’s colors are so vibrant.  It is probably not something I would have chosen for myself, but it is one of those paintings that just draws you in.  I don’t know the artist or the background, but you can see the intensity of the color in the picture below.

At the bottom of the hill on their property are two interesting out-buildings.  The first is a small, historic home which was on the property when my parents purchased it years ago.  They renovated the home and received the “Bosque County Historical Preservation Award” for their efforts.

My parents lived in this old farmhouse for about 9 months while they built the house they live in now.  It is the quintessential farmhouse with white siding, metal roof, windmill and deep front porch.

Across the street (but part of the same property) is an old gas station.  No one in town can recall when it was built, but most people say the early 1930s.  My father remembers stopping there when he was about 6 years old in the early forties.  You could buy gasoline, a loaf of bread, and rumor has it, boot leg liquor out of the back door if the shop owner knew you. 

My parents purchased this parcel of land from Foster Cherry, who lived in Austin.  Foster inherited the land from his parents.  Foster Cherry was, at one time, the Chief Attorney for John Connally, who was once the Governor of Texas, as well as Secretary of the Navy under John F. Kennedy and Secretary of the Treasury under Nixon.

My mom and dad restored the gas station, which was still in good condition.  The gas pump to the side is not original.  When my parents undertook the renovation of the property, a local friend gave to them an old gas pump that had been on her property and had belonged to her grandfather.  The pump was rusted and in quite bad condition.  The pump was sent to a restoration company in Lake Whitney for repair and now it looks brand new.  Unfortunately, the pump had to be placed behind plexiglass due to high levels of theft and vandalism.  You can see the bright color (which is supposed to be similar to what it was originally) and the attention to the character and design of the pump.  You don’t see that in today’s industrial-looking, functional-only gas pumps.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing these photos from a small town in Clifton, TX.  Hit the ‘subscribe’ button for this blog to be notified of  future interesting home and design stories.