Heath Holiday Home Tour is Today! Don’t Miss These Great Estates!

There are some amazing homes with incredible views in Heath, folks! The annual Heath Holiday Tour of Homes, which benefits the 2013 senior class at Rockwall Heath High School,  lets you check out some amazing homes in this spectacular small town.

The tour is today (Nov. 30), so if you want to attend, head over to Rockwall Heath High School to pick up your tickets. Want to go for free? The first person to shoot me an email gets two passes on the house!

Kristi Horton’s home is on this year’s tour schedule, and she graciously answered a few questions for CandysDirt.com.

CandysDirt.com: Hosting a home tour sometimes requires ample preparation. What did you do to get your home ready?

Kristi: I’m an interior decorator and my mother is a decorator for my parents’ furniture store in Louisiana. We love decorating and I love hosting friends at the house.  This presented a perfect opportunity to apply those decorating skills and resources and to prod my husband, Garon, into doing needed home maintenance!

CD: What is the most defining feature about the home? What do you love most?

Kristi: We were both raised in 100-year-old homes and specifically designed the house with that architecture in mind, which includes painted siding and antique brick, wood-trimmed and divided-pane windows, country simple interior trim and spacious porches.  Consistent with the historical home design, salvaged building materials were used wherever possible, including wood flooring salvaged from Buckner’s children’s home and antique dressers converted for a bathroom vanity. The doors and hardware were salvaged from old homes to give the house a historic appeal. We love the simple country feel of the place and hope that it conveys a warm and inviting feel to those who visit.

CD: I hear your home has a pretty interesting story about how it was built. Care to share it with our readers?

Kristi: When we purchased the place, there was a 40-year-old, 1,500-square-foot old farm home in the middle of 15 acres.  We renovated the farm house and lived there for four years (while our three kids were young) while saving money to add on. Wanting to be good stewards (others might translate that as just being cheap!), we couldn’t bring ourselves to destroy all of the old house.  So, in 2000 we added on the majority of the “new” house (including the two-story portion) with a portion of the old house still standing and attached.  New rooflines and creative design fairly disguise the “addition” and create a combination of old and new! (CD: And there’s a barn, too! CUTE!)

CD: Heath is a unique community. Did you choose to move to Heath for a particular reason?

Kristi: As our oldest was reaching school age, we prayed for God to guide us in making a home where we could best raise a healthy family in a community that reflected our values.  We believe that God led us to this community and we are blessed by the people, the size of the community, our church, the beautiful hills and pond near our house, the lake, the schools and the opportunity to work with and for our friends in a local business.

It is a rare quality to live in a small community of good people near a lake and big-city amenities with the beauty of rolling hills and combination of rural feel in an urban setting.  Heath is that unique place of rare quality!

CD: So, why should people purchase a ticket to this year’s home tour?

Kristi: Living in a time when it is rare to stop by and sit on a neighbor’s front porch and chat, the Heath Holiday Tour of Homes gives a neat opportunity to look inside and see how and where people live in our community.  The variety of styles of homes and decor is entertaining.  And, the proceeds benefit a great cause — the Heath Hawks Senior Class!  Go Hawks!