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44th Annual Holiday Home Tour: Holiday in the Highlands Set for December 2

The Lake Highlands Women’s League will throw open the door and welcome everyone to the 44th Annual Holiday Home Tour: Holiday in the Highlands on Friday, December 2. This fun, annual holiday event is the key fundraising initiative for the Lake Highlands Women’s League that, since its inception, has raised more than $3 million to benefit Lake Highlands’ schools, community groups and college scholarships.

Visitors to the Holiday in the Highlands Home Tour will experience holiday magic through four beautifully decorated homes in Lake Highlands. The charming, creative, eclectic architecture and home design in the northeastern Dallas neighborhood of Lake Highlands makes it the perfect locale to host a home tour, which will delight visitors with ideas, inspiration and an undeniably jolly holiday spirit.

New for this year’s event is the addition of a Sip & Shop at the Lake Highlands Women’s League Marketplace at the KayCee Club. Here, visitors can shop for holiday treasures from more than a dozen wonderful local vendors offering art, jewelry, clothing, food and other gifts while catching up with friends and enjoying a holiday cocktail.  Admission is free for the Sip & Shop, which will take place at 10110 Shoreview Road in Dallas on Thursday, December 1, from 4 to 7 p.m.; and on Friday, December 2, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

Lake Highlands Women’s League also is encouraging visitors to the home tour to participate in Lunch Around Lake Highlands on December 2 to help support the local restaurant community by dining out at a Lake Highlands area restaurant of their choice.

"Holiday in the Highlands is everyone's favorite way to get into the holiday spirit and this year we celebrate the 44th anniversary of the Lake Highlands Women's League signature fundraising event,” said Robin Moss Norcross, Lake Highlands Women’s League president. “We are grateful to our homeowners, sponsors, members and the community who generously support our efforts. We routinely return over 90 percent of funds raised back to our neighborhood by funding scholarships for deserving Lake Highlands High School seniors and supporting our local schools and nonprofits.”

“We are excited to offer two new additions to the tour this year, ‘Sip & Shop’ at the KayCee Club and ‘Lunch Around Lake Highlands’ to encourage our patrons to support all of our wonderful local restaurants,” Moss Norcross added. “We can't wait to see you at the Holiday in the Highlands Home Tour!”

Holiday in the Highlands will showcase four beautifully decorated homes in Lake Highlands on Friday, December 2, from 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 on the day of the tour, and will be available soon at www.lhwl.org.. Admission to the Sip & Shop at the KayCee Club on December 1 and 2 is free.

Visitors will be delighted to visit these fantastic Lake Highlands homes:

  • Rainy Berry’s home at 9102 Dusti Drive: After becoming the Berry home in 2008, this Dusti Drive gem built in 1978 has experienced extensive modification and improvement for the kind of lifestyle Lake Highlands families lead today. Functionality comes first in this 2,400-square-foot house:  The kitchen, which used to be two rooms, and the master bath were taken down to the studs and rebuilt, and the spaces benefit from extra deep counters and creative use of wall spaces to maximize the room. A bay window off the kitchen has become an outdoor sitting area by the pool, while a small courtyard now functions as a dedicated indoor office space. The front yard was completely overhauled to include a cozy outdoor seating area complete with an outdoor fireplace. Decorated with unique vintage finds, the home showcases the homeowner’s ability to repurpose elements, giving them a second life, and display collections close to her heart. Don’t miss the copper fireplace in the living room, a show-stopping feature original to the house. From unique uses of wallpaper to maximizing every nook and cranny in this warm, contemporary home, visitors are sure to find inspiration and ideas here.
  • Kathryn & Brandon Cornelius’s home at 9172 Vintage Oaks Court: The Cornelius family purchased their new construction home in 2016 and immediately began transforming it into their cozy oasis by adding personalized custom aspects from floor to ceiling, doing much of the work themselves. Artfully placed photographic vignettes in the entryway celebrate the family’s big moments, including the homeowners’ wedding and arrival of their children. In the dining room, a life-sized picture album and handwritten notes commemorate family vacations and special moments. A hand-built wine rack displays wine from the couple’s favorite vineyards, and thoughtfully selected pieces of wood throughout the house adorn the staircase walls, ceiling beams and paneling as nods to Colorado, one of their favorite places. An upstairs library hosts countless collectibles, including wedding keepsakes, books, personal mementoes and gifts, and three clocks display the time of their children’s births and the couple’s wedding. An addition on the third floor created a great room, media room, guest suite, bar and secret room for the family in this Vintage Oaks Court home.
  • Meredith and Ernesto Gomez’s home at 9511 Mossridge Drive: The Gomez family purchased their home in 2020 and started an extensive renovation that is the specialty of one of the homeowners, Meredith Gomez, the owner of Helen Joy Home, a full-service home renovation and design firm. The homeowners’ goal was to update the footprint of the original home with a Spanish revival flair, an update that has created a new dining room from what was the kitchen, and a pool bath and laundry that were both originally part of the primary suite. The copper on the fireplace, a brass ladder, and the skylights are all original to the home and provide warmth to the spaces. This home also features a unique space to find in Lake Highlands: a basement, where the family spends a lot of time together.  During the renovation, a bedroom and bathroom were added. Meredith Gomez believes every house has the potential to be someone’s perfect home.  Once you see the transformation of her house, you will know she has created the perfect home for her growing family.
  • Emily & Chris Hewett’s home at 9103 Lanshire Drive: A Well Dressed Home is the name of the homeowner’s interior design firm and perfectly describes this home, a New England, coastal style home. The U-shaped home sits on a double lot, allowing the backyard design to be seen from both the living room and the primary suite. The front of the home encompasses a motor court for guest parking, a breakfast garden out the French doors of the dining room, and a champagne garden with a gorgeous view of the evening sunset. This space also houses the dog run known as the “CosmoPAWlitan Courtyard.” The living room is designed in pastel colors and family-friendly fabrics to with withstand entertaining, family and pets. Colorful, non-traditional Christmas décor was selected to specifically flow with the colors of the home and keep it connected to the everyday style. The cherry on top of a tour of this beautiful estate is a view of the backyard, which features a spa courtyard with an outdoor shower, a rectangular pool with dancing fountains, and sunken gardens for adults and kids.

Holiday in the Highlands is the sole fundraising effort organized by Lake Highlands Women's League to support the greater Lake Highlands Community. In 2021, the tour raised nearly $200,000, which directly funded specific projects and services for 18 nonprofit organizations and 14 schools, and provided college scholarships to 36 exceptional Lake Highlands High School students. From supplies and technology upgrades at area schools to car seats for new mothers and summer reading initiatives at area libraries, the Lake Highlands Women’s League heard and proudly responded to a wide range of impactful opportunities to support its namesake community.

For more information on Holiday in the Highlands or to learn more about the Lake Highlands Women’s League, please visit www.lhwl.org.

 

Photo courtesy: Lake Highlands Women’s League
Photo courtesy: Lake Highlands Women’s League
Monday, 21 November 2022