Jim Williamson of ID Collection On Design, Best Barstools, and Guests Who Are the Life of the Party

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bar stoolsNewbie for all ye summertime readers: we will be sharing Jim Williamson of ID Collection’s fun blog musings as we pump him for latest design trends for our homes. This week he writes about cool bar stools — you can never have enough. Also, I like sturdy bar stools that don’t knock peeps over, ‘specially after a little imbibing.

Speaking of imbibing, Jim talks about THEE famous Williamson/Maxwell Fourth of July party, which I all but missed thanks to social fireworks at an earlier event. It’s not the kind of thing I feel comfortable talking about in print, but let’s just say Diane DuVall Rogers of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s and and Lea Anne Laughlin of Harwood’s Bleu Ciel and I closed the Dallas Country Club apres fireworks. But I would not ever let a Fourth fly without seeing my buddies on Commerce, so  I pointed the CandysDirt-mobile to Fair Park. Besides, I was wearing red, white and blue Pucci, fireworks debris and some of my dinner. I popped in, had a drink, chatted with the only guests left, the neighbors, and totally missed the girl passed out in the second floor bathroom. Yep, it was a great party — read on:

Candy & Diane DV

It’s time to get real up in here and give you the lowdown on what has been going on since we last spoke. First, we had my birthday. Yay! Another year older and wiser, but hopefully, I’m still just as fun. I think the fun part might be doubtful but certainly hopeful. I kept it low key with dinner at Kitchen LTO with just Max since we had just finished hosting the annual 4th of July party. More on that in a minute.

I’m going to give my birthday dinner a solid “OK” because it didn’t exactly live up to all the hype. I suggested maybe they should go smoke some of the good stuff and then check the flavor of the risotto. Now dinner last night at another restaurant, Cane Rosso, was an “A-OK” experience, and not because of the food. It was good, but the guy who prepares the pizzas was something else. Max was there, so he can agree. Pretty stunning. So I am going to call this week’s post, “I may have left my heart in San Francisco, but my eyes are definitely on Italy.”

In design news, I was pleased to announce that the new collection of barstools from R. Jones has arrived. The new collection was designed by Charlie Kane, who makes sure the barstools are equally as attractive from the front as they are in the back, which is how most of us view them anyway. The collection consists of seven designs, which are priced the same for either counter or bar height. I like when things are easy. We also installed some beyond beautiful wall covering from Arena Design. Seeing his designs in a large installation—we are talking 100 yards of hand-printed and colored shagreen goodness—you can really see the artistry behind Rusty’s work. I paired the cool greenness of the wall covering with some new George Smith pieces upholstered in a deep emerald green velvet and some deep purple chairs in a linen by Casamance. It turned out even better than expected, if I do say so myself.

In pop culture news, Jenny McCarthy says she wants her face to move when she is 60. Fascinating news, people, and it’s obviously a slow news week for celebrities behaving badly. Who am I kidding? They are always behaving badly. But 60 is probably a good age for her to think about since that should be about the time all the fillers and Botox she has now will wear off. I’m not being hateful, I promise. I think people should take care of their skin. In fact, I am going in for a silk peel and some refreshers from Dr. Ho this weekend because I did see my face move, and it was in a downward direction. This is not acceptable to me.

Now on to the recap of the annual and now infamous 4th of July party. What we thought was going to be a party of just a few, based on all the last minute cancellations for lake, beach, and trips overseas that caused Max to shake his foot at around 100 rpm, turned out to be a party of many. It was a “whose who” event, as in I was asking, “Who is that? And whose husband do you belong to?” I was just glad everyone was having fun, because that is what the party is about. It’s a chance to see friends you haven’t seen in a while, enjoy some great food (thanks Terry Lynn Crenshaw and crew), and have a drink or two. Oh yeah, and enjoyment of the fireworks is encouraged, but I have yet to get to see them.

There was no real drama, except for the girl passed out in the second-floor bathroom. I mistakenly thought she was the wife of another guest because all I could see from the third-floor landing was the back of a head in the doorway. I called for backup, which also included the husband. It was only after we turned her over that we discovered this was not his wife. Oops! I am going to file that one away with the time I asked a client, “When are you due? It must be a girl because you are carrying her so high.”  She was not pregnant, not amused, and I have never seen her again. Honest mistakes.

See, it was quite the blast — house- swap, wife-swap! I got home after going very slowly through Deep Ellum, which was crowded with party peeps, hopped into bed with my red, white and blue dress still on (thankfully) and told my on-call hubby, Happy New Years Honey!

That’s how fun the Fourth of July went down this year!

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Candy Evans, founder and publisher of CandysDirt.com, is one of the nation’s leading real estate reporters.

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