VINEMONT
Sponsored by LOREN HALL, Compass
Vinemont
Story by Ola Kuzmiankova
Some owners preserve architecture by striving to keep it untouched.
Heidi and Blake chose a different approach.
When they purchased the rare Ju-Nel A-frame on Vinemont in 2025, they understood immediately what made it special. One of only two A-frames ever built by the prolific Dallas design-build firm, the home was already an architectural standout. Its dramatic silhouette, soaring interior volume, and bamboo-lined lot gave it a presence unlike anything else in the neighborhood.
The pool, in particular, sealed the decision. After years of wanting one, Heidi and Blake saw in it not just a luxury, but a lifestyle. And it is not merely the presence of a pool that makes it special, but the privacy surrounding it — tucked behind fencing and mature landscaping, secluded enough for the kind of carefree enjoyment one might politely describe as skinny-dipping-friendly.
Even now, some of their favorite moments in the home are the quietest ones: slow weekend mornings spent piled into bed with their daughter, cartoons on the television, coffee nearby, and the water shimmering just beyond the windows.
“It’s one of my favorite parts of the house,” Heidi told me. “Just being in bed together, looking out at the pool. It feels special every time.”
Heidi and Blake were hardly first-time renovators when they took on Vinemont. Over the years, they had transformed several personal homes together, refining not only their aesthetic but their understanding of how a home should function. One of their previous projects was even featured in The New York Times — a testament to the thoughtful, design-forward approach they bring to every space they touch.
But for Heidi and Blake, preservation did not mean turning the home into a museum — too precious for dogs on the Eames chair or children anywhere near the Noguchi table.
“I didn’t want it to feel like a museum,” Heidi told me. “I wanted it to feel like a normal family could live here.”
That philosophy shaped every decision that followed.
Rather than freeze the home in time, the couple approached the renovation as an exercise in thoughtful adaptation. The goal was never to erase the house’s identity, but to make it function beautifully for modern life while honoring what made it distinctive in the first place.
The kitchen was reimagined as the heart of the home, designed around the rhythms of everyday family life: open enough to watch their daughter play while they cook, yet practical enough that spilled wine at a family gathering is treated as an inevitability, not a catastrophe.
Elsewhere, much-needed updates — including new terrazzo tile in the main bath, an added skylight in the guest bathroom, playful lighting, and carefully selected finishes — bring freshness without sacrificing character.
Much of that transformation was deeply personal. Heidi and Blake took on significant portions of the work themselves, from tile and cabinetry to built-ins and finish selections. Even many of the furnishings were sourced secondhand, a reflection of their preference for sustainability and collected character over anything overly polished or precious.
What I love most about this home is that it feels perpetually in motion. Heidi and Blake are never quite “done” with it, nor do they want to be. They are the kind of owners who delight in the details, constantly refining, layering, and reimagining their space as they live in it. When I visited, they were debating whether the upstairs bathroom might soon receive a playful wallpaper treatment, a fresh coat of color, or another creative intervention entirely — proof that no corner of the house is ever entirely safe from their next idea. They are brimming with inspiration, and more importantly, genuinely excited to share it.
“We’re always thinking about what’s next,” Heidi told me. “There’s always another idea, another detail, another project we’re excited to tackle.”
That same sense of intentionality extends beyond the home itself. Set on a large, private lot near White Rock Lake, the house sits within a neighborhood the couple values just as deeply for its walkability, family-oriented culture, and strong sense of community. It is the kind of place where children sled the streets on snow days, neighbors gather for Halloween in front yards, and morning coffee can still mean walking to a local café.
In many ways, Vinemont reflects the same balance Heidi and Blake sought in the life they are building here: something thoughtful but unpretentious, design-forward but deeply livable.
Because in their hands, this rare Ju-Nel A-frame was never meant to be admired from a distance.
It was meant to be lived in.
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Photography by Ethan Wardman
