Convenience Big Store: Venezuelan family plans new home around art

Here's a modern home designed around its Venezuelan art collection

My beat — writing about architecture and design — is a constant reminder of how diverse Houston is. One story focuses on a Venezuelan family who built a home in the Memorial area, modern style and revolving around their growing art collection. They'd bought the home originally on the lot and lived in it several years before building their dream home, with plenty of room for entertaining indoors and outdoors.

Their heritage is reflected in beautiful rugs gifted to the couple from the wife's father, and their art collection is made up of work of Venezuelan-born artists, several of whom live in the Houston area now.

My newsletter also includes a story about the growing market for homes costing $10 million or more. My colleague Marissa Luck writes that while it was rare to see several homes in that price bracket for sale at the same time, it no longer is, and the increase in Houston is the biggest in the country,

Diane Cowen, Home Design reporter

diane.cowen@houstonchronicle.com

Architecture + Design

Photo by: Claudia Casbarian/ Julie Soefer Photography

Memorial family designs dream home around Venezuelan art

Alejandra Rincon and her family bought a Memorial area home and thought about what their dream home would be like. They finally built a modern house that's a showcase for art and great furniture.

Bay Blue is Minwax's 2024 Color of the Year.

Photo by: Minwax

Minwax's 2024 color pick, Bay Blue, inspires a sense of renewal

Minwax, America's top-selling stain brand, has named the blue-green Bay Blue as its 2024 Color of the Year.

This River Oaks French-style mansion sold for over $10 million after being on the market for just a few days in March, according to HAR data.The new owners plan to significantly renovate the 1990s-era mansion.

Photo by: Houston Association Of Realtors

Houston attracting more 'ultraluxury' homebuyers paying $10M+

Historically it was rare to see several homes trading above $10 million in Houston, but that's starting to change, according to Houston Association of Realtors and Compass Real Estate data.

Outdoors

Cooper's hawks can be seen in neighborhood backyards where they feed on songbirds and small mammals. Photo Credit: Kathy Adams Clark. Restricted use.

Photo by: Kathy_Adams_Clark, Kathy Adams Clark/KAC Productions

Here's how to tell a sharp-shinned hawk from a Cooper's hawk

Here's a guide to identifying two common predators, the sharp-shinned hawk vs. the Cooper's hawk.

A declining pine can attract wood-boring insects, like termites, so brown pines should be removed.

Photo by: PATRIC SCHNEIDER/The Examiner

Texas A&M expert offers tips for drought-damaged trees

Our trees are stressed from the drought this summer, especially those that were weakened by the freeze, says Matt Weaver, regional urban forester for Texas A&M Forest Service.