Best of 2021: This East Dallas Dome House Went From Hobbit to High Style

[Editor’s Note: While the CandysDirt.com team takes a hot minute this holiday season to recharge the ol’ Energizers, we’re serving up our very favorite stories from 2021. Enjoy!]

Nikki: Happy Holidays to you and yours. As we all pretend to chill out this holiday season, I’m doing the same. But don’t worry, Dear Reader, here at CandysDirt.com, we got you. Grab a light blanket or possibly a sheet (because it’s warm!) and snuggle up for one of my favorite features from 2021.

It was the year of the Geodesic Dome, at least in my world. I wrote about not one, not two, but three. That lineup included this particular dome that wasn’t even for sale. It was just way cool, over in East Dallas, and owner Michael Russell was kind enough to show us the “afters” while we supplied the “befores.” Enjoy.

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Back in 2015, Michael Russell decided that after 13 years in his super cool Midcentury Modern it was time to move on.

That Midcentury Modern was so cool, in fact, it just recently sold again and we featured it. In the feature, we called out the mega-deck out back, and guess what? Russell built that himself.

It’s no surprise that this time around, it was gone in a second, but Russell said even back in 2015 they listed Thursday and it was sold by the weekend. Over asking price even. But hey, cool is cool.

Back in 2015 when the MCM was no longer his, Russell decided to take a breather from homeownership and settled into a rental in Uptown. Well, that didn’t last, so he headed out to again find a killer place to call home. He said he’s not into any specific style of home really, he just likes something unique. And that’s what he loves about his current house.

It’s a geodesic dome!

When he first saw it, it had been flipped and he said the remodelers made some “interesting choices,” he said.

At that point, it was just sitting on the market so he brought his friends by to see what they thought. And then some more friends. Was he crazy? This was a cool house, right? One friend dubbed it the Hobbit House and it stuck.

Russell decided to make an offer and it was accepted. Now, the Hobbit House was officially his.

He grew up in Arkansas and remembers one very similar geodesic dome house just a few streets over. Maybe that was the appeal. Maybe it was being back in East Dallas. Or the incredible greenbelt out back. No matter what it was, Russell moved in.

Originally, Russell only intended to stay for five years. He snagged a great conversation starter of a house for a reasonable price and just assumed after a few years he’d head on down the road to his dream home.

Well, maybe this is it. He said he really can’t imagine moving at this point, and in this market, he gets approached all the time.

As we talked, he glanced out his backyard from his home office and saw the greenbelt and all the trees. He said the view alone is worth staying put. Though he called it Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom back there. There are owls and possum and once he even saw a coyote. The next day he had his fence guy out for a 7-foot top-off.

Inside, he said he’s corrected a lot of the previous shortcuts and made it his own touches. There’s a big open space downstairs that makes his house perfect for hosting, which he has done quite frequently — before it was frowned upon, of course.

The other thing he loves about his dome home? It’s just a surprise inside. He said there are neighbors that stop by and had no idea it’s a two-story home. And they’ve lived on the street forever.

Russell’s house at 5026 Groom Lane is not for sale. This is just a sweet little follow-up to our Geo-Dome Story. Do you have an interesting house? Tell us about it!