When I did this room, it was a surprise for my husband,” Barbara Adams said of her cozy ski-lodge room, a den off the formal living area.
“I decided I would make some little spot in this house that we could close off and pretend we were out in the woods. There’s nothing extraordinary in the room – it’s just surrounded with family memories.”
Barbara and Larry, an attorney, lived in Lake Highlands for 18 years before making a move they thought would be permanent to Washington, D.C., seven years ago. When they left, they sold their Dallas home and their ski condo in Crested Butte, thinking they would be spending most of their time on the East Coast.
They ended up staying in D.C. for four years and six months before Larry’s career brought them back to Dallas.
“By the grace of God, Larry found this house,” Barbara says. “He was driving by as they were putting the sign out. He called me in Washington and told me to go to the airport and get on the next plane.
“I flew in the middle of the night, got here in the morning, looked at the house, signed the papers, got back on the plane, got home and drove carpool. We really felt like the house was meant for us.”
Barbara has spent the last two years making the house into their home. Recently she started a business to help others do what she’s done with her home.
“’Bloom Where You’re Planted’ is a neat thing for me now,” Barbara says. “Even if you’re not in your ‘forever’ house, it means going in and taking things that are important to you, displaying them nicely and using colors that make you feel good and warm.”
Barbara has this house decorated beautifully, (it was on the Lake Highlands home tour last year) she’s already making plans for the next one.
“We’ve decided we’re not buying any more furniture that won’t go into a cabin,” she laughs.
In the meantime, Barbara is busy growing where she’s been planted.
“We live on the jogging path, and it’s especially nice when the leaves are out. We thought when we moved to Dallas, we’d be back in the cement, and then we found this great house with all these trees.
“We were very fortunate.”
