Page 41 - Galveston Monthly Apr2019

one that we started first was finished last. We would at 423 25th St., where they found several mid-century
be staging one house, while doing repairs on another. pieces for the kettle house.
We had three carpentry crews, three paint crews, and a “That little guy came out of the trash,” she says,
plumber, and electrician.” pointing to a small chair. “it’s a sewing seat, so the
“it was a ride,” Ashley shares. “The reveals were always cushion lifts up for storage. i had Christine at Woven
at 6 a.m., so that’s when the crew showed up and we had inspirations put a cute little cover on it for me. She did
stayed there all night staging. The way it was scheduled about ten upholstery projects for the show.”
on paper was that there were two days for staging, but “Everyone on the island that we reached out to when
the timelines are so tight that sometimes we were still we needed something came through for us,” he adds.
painting or Michael was still working on carpentry things “Working on these projects is real life, just ten times fast
while i was trying to bring in furniture that last night.” forward.”
“i would leave with my sister and friends to pick up our “finding eight homes, buying eight homes, funding
last items. ‘O.k., it’s almost 7 o’clock. That gives us three the renovations for eight homes…it’s a lot,” she admits.
minutes to get to Marshall’s, then we can hop over to “We’ve bought two houses since we finished filming.
home Goods, then At home, and we can hit Target at Luckily real estate has been busy, because that’s our main
11:00 right before they close. That would get us back to income.”
the island by 11:30 p.m. and we would have until 6 a.m. The renovation of Galveston’s kettle house generated
to stage it,’” she recalls. the most local interest of any of their projects. The
“We even borrowed furniture from friends houses at would-be home made from a steel tank has been located
the last minute. if a piece we had didn’t work once it was on the island’s West End for generations, and it has been
in the house. friends and family all pitched in during the the subject of countless versions of how it came to be
process. i made a trip to Round Top, as well, and bought there.
“We traced the history back to 1960-’63, but that’s as
a pier mirror there. They are so hard to find, affordably.”
Photos by Kathleen Maca Target enough. We were going so often to the local and determined to buy it when it became available.”
close as we can get it,” he says. “i was obsessed with it,
Michael shakes his head, and adds, “But we went to
stores, and each project would happen so quickly, we
“i thought he was crazy, but he’s from Galveston, so
it really meant something to him,” she says. “it was
almost knew what their inventory was.”
$85,000, and that was quite a lot.”
They relied heavily on Galveston shops for both
“Basically that was for 900 square feet of steel shell,”
inspiration and décor, including the Antique Warehouse
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