Name: Kerri & Luke
Location: Lakewood — Dallas, Texas
Size: 1,400 square feet
Years lived in: 8 months — rented
Amidst the historic neighborhoods tucked away in east Dallas, Kerri and Luke have embraced their early 20th century home in a space that continues the tradition of southern hospitality updated for their 21st century guests. All at minimal cost.
The space is a celebration of Kerri’s chic finds from Goodwill and Craigslist — the sources for almost all of the furniture. An avid Apartment Therapy reader, Kerri has found inspiration through her travels in Africa and showcases suitcases and trunks ready for that next trip on a moments notice. Their apartment is warm, bright, cheerful, and perfectly cluttered — a challenging look to pull off when you own hundreds of books. Luke's DIY floor to ceiling bookshelves that encapsulate the dining room are the envy of any book lover. See something you would like to check out? Scan the book out on the computer and it will send you an email when it’s due back!
Apartment Therapy Survey:
Our Style: Vintage eclectic. Secondhand chic.
Inspiration: Traveling has been a big source of my inspiration. I find myself most comfortable vacationing in places where having an "eclectic" living space is a financial necessity, not a design attempt. There's something warm and inviting and authentic about it, and this is definitely a vibe I want my home to exude. Lastly, it wouldn't be honest of me not to give a shout out to both Apartmenttherapy and HGTV for giving me great ideas about how to put all the things I love together.
Favorite Element: African elements in the living room. We both spent a lot of time in Africa and wanted a “travel vibe" that wasn't cheesy.
Biggest Challenge: Finding enough wall space for all our books; maximizing unused space around the doorway to the dining room and creating a "dining room library."
What Friends Say: They can't believe how much bang I got for my buck. It's cosy but sophisticated. That they would know it was our house.
Proudest DIY: The custom built-in bookshelves that Luke designed and built himself. (Wood from Home Depot)
Biggest Indulgence: Our mattress!
Best Advice: Go with what you feel comfortable in. If you get excited about a color or a chair or a piece of art, then it's probably YOUR color or chair or piece of art. Spend time browsing and don't settle for something just to fill a space. And never think that you have to spend a ton of money for your house to look great.
Dream Sources: I grew up admiring my grandmother's antiques and have a serious obsession with all things old, specifically stuff from the 20s-40s era.
Resources of Note:
PAINT & COLORS
- • Dining room accent wall: Behr, Ryegrass
• Brown in spare room: Glidden, Cinnamon Spice
• Kitchen: Glidden, Vintage Yellow
LIVING ROOM
- • Blue chair: Craigslist
• Yellow coffee table: thrift store in Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas — repainted with Vintage Yellow by Glidden
• Computer desk: Great-grandmother's
• Blue suitcases: Lula B's Antique Mall
• Old trunk: Craigslis
DINING ROOM
- • Bookshelves: Luke's DIY Home Depot project
• Houndstooth bench: Canton Flea Market — recovered with thrifted fabric
• Monk art: Goodwill
• Black buffet/hutch: estate sale
• Red Mid-Century chair: Lakewood Consignment Studio
• Accent wall: Behr, Ryegrass
Thanks, Kerri & Luke!
Images: Micki Howl
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The colors and patterns are just perfect!- The bird cage on top of the dining table is an interesting touch. Is there a bird cage trend I should be aware of?
Love this house. Nicely done! The bookcases in the dining room are pretty awesome.
Not only am I dying of envy for your library, I love that you don't sort your books by color. Lovely place.
The dining room/library is so great. I am envious - in a good way. :)
Love, love, love the bookcases! And all the great vintage finds.
I loooove the bookshelves - and the Nancy Drew collection!
great house! gave me lots of ideas.
wish the pictures would have been in order though. seemed like we jumped from the living room to the kitchen, then eventually back to the living room.
can i just say that i gasped (yes gasped!) when i saw this pop up today? as a 3-year dallas resident, i have been waiting for your house tour ever since i saw your bookshelves featured!
you've inspired me to go thrifting this weekend!
Okay, sorry for being repetitive, but I too looooooove the bookshelves!
Now that we can see the kitchen--WOW
It seamlessly blends with the rest of the house--and its a rental? Great pics too.
Way to go Dallas! Even my spare Danish Modern heart warms to this collection--setup makes it feel authentic--not staged.
Those book shelves! *sigh*
Those bookshelves are great! They're exactly what we're looking to do in our home. Can you provide a brief DIY how-to?
Thanks!
LOOOOVE the bookshelves!!!!!
The really impressive thing here is that a) it's a rental and b) they've only been there 8 months! As others have said, the bookcases are great, but really the whole place is superb from top to bottom.
It's also refreshing to see a bathroom that isn't cluttered with stuff. My only suggestion would be to get a nice liquid soap dispenser rather than using the one from the supermarket. You'd be surprised what a difference it makes.
Thanks so much for the comments!!
Saradan- regarding the bookshelves...
They're not actually authentic "built-ins", but they are built to fit precisely and attached to the walls with just a few L brackets.
He took the basic design concepts he learned from assembling pre-made furniture (IKEA, Target) and developed a plan that would work with the dimensions of the room. He googled a few DIY articles about types of wood (he went with white pine) and widths of cases, etc., measured the room, bought lumber, cut the lumber in our backyard with a borrowed circular saw, assembled the cases, and "mounted" them with a few brackets so that they had a little more stability, even though they really didn't need it. The shelves were hung with a Home Depot bracket and clips set, which were mounted to the sides of the cases.
The backs of the cases are open and we painted the wall behind them white so it wouldn't be noticeable.
I know that's not a very technical description, but hopefully it helps!
To have bookshelves that wrap around and over doorways is my dream. Well done!
Would you please tell me what are the colors you used on the living room wall and that scrumptious golden color on the bedroom headboard wall? Beautiful, and inspiring!
I love the drop-leaf table in the kitchen, but I immediately thought, "What's the point?" when you have a lovely dining room table already.
Personally, I'm all about storage ... I would outfit that nook in the kitchen with some kind of additional storage. That's just me though -- I just don't understand why people put small tables in kitchens when they have informal dining rooms that would be perfect for everyday use.
All that said, you have a lovely home. I definitely picked up a few ideas. Thanks for sharing!
Do you think the bookshelf over the door would work with normal 8ft ceilings? I'm considering something similar in my house but I'm afraid it will look claustrophobic with a lower ceiling...
the trunks... drools
LOVE IT!
love the trunks!
Those bookshelves make me swoon.
@nerdnik- I don't know about them, but even though I don't eat in my kitchen most of the time, I have a table in there for food prep because while I have sufficient cabinet space, I have limited counter tops for prep area
I love your house and just like everyone else I am gaga over the bookshelves. What software do you use for your book checkout? I have a ton of books and would love to manage the borrowing that ultimately happens. Thanks.
I LOOOOOOVE SEEING LOCAL PLACES ON HERE!! YAY TEXAS! YAYYYY DALLAS! What an adorable house! Love the bookshelves, of course, and the dining room set up is fantastic too!
Love the house. Very confusing ordering of the photos by AT. What is the "spare" room mentioned in the paint colors? Why no colors listed for the bedroom or living room? is the room with the bed their bedroom or the spare/guest room?
So am loving your home! In advance, a "thank you!" because I will likely send the dining room library idea to my carpenter friend - as well as the bookcases that bookend the fireplace. What a lovely home you have - and so inspirational for me :D
The checkout software is called "Delicious Library" and works on a Mac with a webcam. You literally scan each book and it automatically uploads the book title, picture, and info into the system. It will also email the borrower to remind them to bring it back to you. Yes, we are booknerdtastic. :)
The bathroom... the bookshelves... the colorful kitchen rug. So lovely and homey and inviting!
Lovely home! We lived in Dallas for two years (2007-09) just north of Lakewood. I had SUCH a great time scouring craiglist there.....it's a rich place for seconding.
I'm having a tough time with this one. Yes, the bookshelves are nice but the trendy touches such as the butterflies, bird cage, frames above the bed) feel self-consciously placed. One viewer above felt it didn't looked staged. Interesting how we all have a different take on things....
I, too, love the bookshelves, and the paint colors are great. You manage to have a lot of stuff without it looking crowded or busy, which is something I am struggling with right now. Also, where did you get that great sectional couch?
really well done. love the art, the books, and especially fond of the Mark Twain sculpture.
it's official - one of my top five favourite homes. love it! I also rent and the library solution is ingenious.
Just a comment on the 'staged' or 'not staged' remarks. If my house were being featured on AT, it'd be staged insofar as I'd give it the clean of a lifetime before anyone came!!
Love the bookcases! And the set of Nancy Drews! Really interesting colors.
Thanks!
Very cozy & inviting. I didn't like the calendar in the LR, though. The bathrooms tile color is outdated, but you made it work. Very pretty.