Kiss An Angel Good Morning in this Russwood Acres American Ranch

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Our Inwood National Bank House of the Week at 5528 Springmeadow Drive is one of the finest examples of an American ranch remodel I’ve ever seen. It’s also down the street from one of the most beloved American country music stars of all time, Charley Pride. Pride has lived in this beautiful private neighborhood for over twenty years. David Alan Coe also called it home for a while, and of course, Jordan Spieth is just across the way in Preston Hollow.
Russwood Acres is of those pockets of Dallas that hasn’t suffered from the teardown trend. This is largely because it’s a stable neighborhood of quality-built ranch homes.

No architectural style is more classically American than the ranch home. Its popularity was at an all-time high at the beginning of the 1960s. In the late 1990s it rose once more as ranch homes were affordable for younger buyers and older buyers wanted the accessibility of the single-story style. Fast forward to 2017 and these homes are not just popular again, they’re also hot properties for remodelers.

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“There are a lot of people doing fix and flips on a smaller dollar level in Dallas, or they are doing brand-new builds,” owner Ricky Rees said. As a real estate investor, Rees knows a few things about what works and what does not work. “There are not many original family houses that are one story, and most new construction tends to be two stories,” he said. Rees and his family live in the neighborhood, and when the opportunity came along to purchase this 6,019-square-foot sprawling home built in 1967, he and his wife knew just how to transform it.

They did the expected modern open-plan, family and kitchen layout and replaced every existing window in the home. They also did the unexpected. Notice almost every window has a picture-perfect view — with a bit of help. For instance, the Japanese Maple outside the kitchen was specifically planted to be framed perfectly by the window.

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With a little juggling of space, five bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a powder bath were created. The guest and master suites are in the west wing of the home. French doors open directly onto the backyard patio from the master so you can have an early morning or late night dip in the pool. That is if you can tear yourself away from the luxurious master bathroom with another great view behind the Duravit soaking tub.

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The east wing is kid territory, with two bedrooms connected by a Jack-and-Jill bathroom and one bedroom with an ensuite bath. The remodeling lesson here is that putting kids at the opposite end of the house is a seal-the-deal selling feature.

“My favorite part of the house has to be the upstairs playroom addition,” Rees said. It’s accessed from the kid’s wing, and skylights make it bright and airy. It’s also large enough to guarantee toys will never make their way to the living room, and once you have teenagers, you’ll seldom see them — another great feature!

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I have to give a special shout out fellow stagers Paige Kuchler and Bonnie Basham of Look Interiors. They did a spectacular job of making this house feel like a home. A lot of investors and remodelers don’t see the value of staging, but Dave Perry-Miller listing agents Megan Stern and Shannon Morse persuaded Rees that it was a crucial part of the process. “I realize now people might have a hard time understanding where furniture should be placed with so much open space,” Rees said. “I’m a complete staging convert now.”

Stern and Morse have this flawless American ranch listed for only $1.549 million.

“The neighborhood is wonderful,” Rees said.

You don’t get much car traffic. It’s close to the Preston Royal shopping center, which is about to get an Eatzis, a Shake Shack, and an independent bookstore. And don’t forget, you just might run into the neighborhood’s Grammy Award winner at Central Market, or hear him singing “Kiss An Angel Good Morning,” if the wind is just right.

Karen Eubank is the owner of Eubank Staging and Design. She has been an award-winning professional home stager for more than 25 years. She’s been a professional writer for 20 years. Karen is the mother of a son who’s studying music at The University of Miami. An ardent animal lover, she doesn’t mind one bit if your fur baby jumps right into her lap. Find Karen at www.eubankstaging.com 

Karen is a senior columnist at Candy’s Media and has been writing stories since she could hold a crayon. She is a globe-trotting, history-loving eternal optimist who would find it impossible to live well without dogs, Tex-Mex, and dark chocolate. She covers luxury properties and historic preservation for Candys Dirt.

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