Vin Villa Wrought Iron Doors, Hinges & Torchieres

I think I mentioned these doors before, but I thought you might want to see them installed.  Everything is custom; hand forged as always.  The hinges are super awesome; they are made to look like grape leaves with some grape clusters... all very much 3D.  The pulls are "VV" for Vin Villa.  The torchieres actually light up... all totally cool... it was a blast to design, and our guys had so much fun putting it all together.

Vin Villa is on Pelee Island, Ontario.  Located in the middle of Lake Erie, south of Detroit Michigan, it is the southernmost inhabited land mass in Canada.  Clayton Walls' great great grand father, William McCormick purchased a 999 year lease, from the Indian trader who owned it 200 years ago.  It is where Vin Villa, Canada's oldest commercial estate winery was founded in 1866.  There are two 18' x 60'  underground wine cellars constructed of hand laid limestone on the site that is currently being reclaimed and refurbished as part of a master plan to construct a facility that will eventually hold fund raisers for charities.

written by: Izabela Wojcik

Wrought Iron Drive Gates

I have been so busy lately that I have not had time to keep up with the blog; today I found a really good reason to.  This is just half of the two sides of the drive gates we are currently making.  All custom, all fabulous!  The guys have been working non-stop to get these finished up for the client; every single scroll was forged to a tip and scrolled by hand.  The gates were designed by Richard Drummond Davis, who is a wonderful local architect.  We decided to use larger material sizes; not easy to forge out, but it's wort it.  Can't wait to get the finished photo; they will be so impressive!

Magnolia Fireplace Screen

I'm sure that I have said this more then a few time before, but we love clients who come in asking for beautiful and unusual things, like Bonnie Cole from Duncan Design Group.  She and her client stretched their imagination to the next level and came up with an awesome idea: a stylized magnolia fireplace screen.  We used solid copper to create the flowers and wrought iron for the magnolia twigs.  The screen is very three dimensional, which adds charm to the space, and this screen is a charming little piece for sure.

written by: Izabela Wojcik

Park Cities Home Tour shows off five homes with character

As seen in the Dallas Morning News:

Park Cities Home Tour shows off five homes with character

11:02 AM CDT on Thursday, April 1, 2010

BY CHRISTOPHER WYNN / Staff writer

Can a red Radio Flyer wagon gracefully share the living room with an antique Steinway baby grand? Find out April 10, when the Park Cities Historic and Preservation Society's 8th Annual Home Tour makes a good case for living history.

MEI-CHUN JAU/Special to DMN

Iron chandeliers by Dallas' Potter Art Metal Studios and a carved-stone mantel are among the original touches in this 85-year-old Drexel residence (above and far right), one of five historic homes on this month's Park Cities Historic and Preservation Society tour

In an age of tear-downs and do-overs, this year's five quite different residences – 4611 Arcady Ave., 3501 Beverly Drive, 3404 Southwestern Blvd., 3510 Drexel Drive and 3409Harvard Ave. – manage to retain their original character yet still boast Viking stoves, flat screens and humidity-controlled wine cellars.

At one end of the tour's casual-to-grand range is the prairie-style home on Harvard, where a wide-plank front porch gets heavy use by the young family that lives here. (Marine-grade paint is perfect to seal 1920s wood from the weather and stroller scuffs.)

At the other is the Drexel address, a majestic 1925 Spanish-Mediterranean by Fooshee & Cheek (the architectural duo behind Highland Park Village), which boasts Henry Mercer-style arts and crafts floor tiles, ironwork chandeliers from Potter Art Metal Studios and hand-plastered walls so thick it's tricky to get a cellphone signal. Furnishings from the Althorp Collection are licensed from the estate where Charles Spencer and his sister, the future Princess Diana, grew up.

A portion of proceeds from the tour, co-sponsored by FD Luxe, benefits preservation and maintenance of the Park Cities House at Dallas Heritage Village.