Convenience Big Store: Houston designer builds a cozy vacation home near Matagorda Bay

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A vacation home filled with 'favorite things'

I recently visited the Matagorda County vacation home of Houston interior designer Sandy Lucas and her husband, Richard, a cozy place on the Colorado River where Richard likes to fish and Sandy has learned to relax.

It's modest in size, just 2,400 square feet, but every inch of it is beautiful. It's filled with comfortable and durable furniture and finishes, but also with some of Sandy's favorite things. She loves green and there's plenty of it, from painted wainscoting to window shades, and she used one of her favorite tile patterns in the kitchen. You'll get a peek into her home in my story that published recently.

This newsletter also brings you a story about a prestigious preservation award given to the Eldorado Ballroom, a building that once was the heart and soul of Third Ward and is experiencing a revival after falling on hard times for many decades.

Diane Cowen, Home Design reporter

diane.cowen@houstonchronicle.com

Architecture + Design

The Matagorda County vacation home of Houston interior designer Sandy Lucas.

Photo by: Claudia Casbarian/Julie Soefer Photography

Houston couple finds unexpected joy in Matagorda Bay vacation home

Sandy and Richard Lucas built a modest vacation home on the Colorado River in Matagorda County to make Richard's fishing trips more relaxing. They both enjoy the home — for many reasons.

The Eldorado Ballroom at Project Row Houses in Third Ward is pictured during a Community Open House on Thursday April 6, 2023.

Photo by: Sharon Steinmann, Staff Photographer

Eldorado Ballroom restoration earns prestigious national award

The Eldorado Ballroom building at Elgin and Emancipation in Third Ward has received a prestigious 2023 Modernism in America Award from Docomomo US.

Outdoors

Young birds, like this northern cardinal, are molting their feathers this month. They will gradually discard old, worn feathers for fresh, new plumage. Photo Credit: Kathy Adams Clark. Restricted use.

Photo by: Kathy Adams Clark, Kathy Adams Clark/KAC Productions

Houston's songbrids rough coat part of feather molt

Songbirds are going through feather molt, during which they'll discard old, worn feathers for fresh, new plumage. Feathers are dead parts that do not regenerate and must be discarded.

A Good Read

Beyonce fans, Ayden Campbell, left, Andrea Odom and LaQuishe Wright pose for a photo wearing silver on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023 in Houston. When Beyonce asked fans to wear silver to her Renaissance concerts, they began scooping up silver clothes and accessories online and in stores.

Photo by: Brett Coomer, Staff Photographer

Chrome for Beyonce: Houstonians dress in silver for her concerts

Beyoncé encouraged fans to wear silver for Virgo season, which ends before her concerts. But Houstonians will be shimmering at her Houston shows at NRG.

West Texas sisters and bootmakers Lizzie Means Duplantis and Sarah Means are set to open their third Miron Crosby story in the the historic Lamar-River Oaks shopping center.

Photo by: Courtesy Of Miron Crosby

Miron Crosby moving boot store into former River Oaks Bookstore

Miron Crosby's new, brick-and-mortar home will occupy 1,576-square feet and is currently being redesigned by Javier Burkle of Burkle Creative and Maplewood Group.