Beyond the Curb Home Tour at Christmas with Pam Kelley

I'm Christina Dandar of the Potted Boxwood, and we are here in Dallas, Texas, with interior designer Pam Kelly, who also happens to be one of my very best friends. Pam, thanks for having us. You're welcome, as always. As always. Y'all, this house is all decked for Christmas. It is almost like a fairy tale, and if you haven't seen Pam's house before, the interiors are stunning, so you're in for a treat. Welcome. Pam, tell us a little bit more about kind of the history of this house. I'm happy to. I wish I could take credit for the house, but it's almost 100 years old, and it's led a very good life with very few owners. I believe I'm number four, maybe number five, owner, 1929, so she's almost 100. Oh, yeah, that's so great. And this was by architect James Duff? James Duff, yes. Yes. And I love the neoclassical railing on the top. Isn't that pretty? That's one of my favorite, favorite parts. Yeah. Of course, this great porch is very fun. It is very fun, Halloween, pretty summer day, and then I love how you did the garland here. Thank you. All around with the bows. Thank you. That looks so good, and pretty wreath. Well, let's go inside. It is a chilly day in Dallas, which we don't get to say very often, but hey, I love, too, all of your Staffordshire and Majolica collections. Thanks. I do, too. I also have this little vignette here. Well, I have my mercury glass Marys in here. We bought this beautiful one at Notre Dame when we went last January. For my birthday? That's right. For your birthday. Yes. This is a house that I frequent there very often, and if you follow me on Instagram, you would know that. Or Pam. You gotta follow Pam on Instagram, too, because she's always sharing pictures of her beautiful home. And it's so cozy. Thank you. Pam, tell us a little bit about this room and what you did to decorate. I don't do a lot to decorate in here. Just a few baubles out and a needlepoint pillow that I made years ago and some just simple sugared garland. I just don't think the room needs a lot. Yeah. I agree. And this wonderful amaryllis that I bought this year, I am really enjoying. Wait. That's so good. I thought that was fake. No. It's real. Great. That's so pretty. I love that. And then I did notice, too, how in your blue and white over here, you have some really pretty little collyberries. I do. That's a little plant that I brought home from Trader Joe's. Well, see? It makes it easy. Good old Trader Joe's. I love Trader Joe's. And then I thought your nativity over here is really pretty, too. I love that one. Where do you find all these things? Well, that one was a gift to me, but it's from Gump's. Oh, yeah. And they do this every year. I think it's just beautiful. It's very pretty and simple. I think everyone will just love all of your oil paintings. Thank you. You have the most beautiful collection of oil paintings. I have a lovely collection that I enjoy every single day. Some of them we bought in Europe. Some of them I've bought in galleries stateside, but everything in here is European. And the one over the fireplace and the one over this chest are both from the same artist. Really pretty. I love how the light kind of hits that painting. It kind of hits it pretty, doesn't it? Yeah, it really does. Okay, and we're not trying to be rude, but we need to make a second introduction to Grace. Yes. This is Grace Kelly, in case you don't know. And that is her name, and that's what she goes by. Not Gracie, not Grace, but Grace Kelly. She's a good little companion. She really is. Okay, so tell me when you started collecting a little bit, Pam. I started collecting probably in my early 20s, as soon as I could afford to. And actually, I really couldn't afford to, but I did it anyway. And I would suggest to anyone, as you hear over and over and over, buy what you love and enjoy it. Don't try to fill your house to look like a magazine. This is a lifetime of treasures. A real lifetime. I just celebrated my 75th birthday. That's right. And Pam has been designing for, I mean, how long now? Over 40 years. Wow. Wow, a long time. And I think some people might not have seen, before we go into the dining room, should we do a quick peek into this guest room here, because I think it's always so pretty. And the last time we did a home tour was, what, five years ago? Yes. So it's been a minute. And I just love this guest room. It's a nice, cozy room. It's really pretty. It really is, and it has its little en suite bath, and I didn't really change any architecture in here except the bathroom. It was a Jack and Jill that went to the primary bedroom to here. I love the grass cloth in here. Thank you. I do, too, that Schumacher. And how you did the marble subway tile. Thank you. Kind of all the way around. I just tried to keep a good, appropriate vintage style for the house, nothing cute, nothing trendy. Now, I definitely, I wouldn't associate, you're not a trendy girl. I am not. But, you know, what's interesting, I think, is that I've been in some of the homes you've designed that are very modern. I do. So you have a breadth of design work. I have a breadth of design work, and I love doing all design. My personal design, obviously, is very traditional. I'm quite an Anglophile. Okay, tell me about these again. I keep forgetting. The Halcyon Days boxes, and they're in an English salad bowl. And I think small collections should be collected in or on something. Yes. As a matter of fact, you interviewed someone not too long ago. That's right, Roger Higgins. He's my kind of guy. That, everyone loved that tour. It was a beautiful tour. But I think that goes back to, it's important. And I love, too, the dog right here. Yeah, this is sort of my dog room. Yeah. You have the dog there, and then? And then my paintings. These are Victorian. I don't know how they'll film, or they might be too dark. No, you can see them. Yeah, and actually you can see them quite nicely. This one may be a little more difficult. Oh, there you go. He's pretty handsome. He's pretty cute. All right, and then we can do a quick, go back into the main dining room here. Yes. Okay, tell us how you decorate this for Christmas. Well, I decorate it really as you see it. The vintage ornaments hanging from the chandelier are one of my very, very favorite finds. I think I spent about a dollar a piece on those. Aren't they wonderful? Yeah, those are beautiful. I didn't know what I was going to do with them, but I found a great place. And the little sugared fruit I bought in Germany years and years and years ago. So where do you like to collect for the most part? Where? Everywhere, unfortunately. I have my favorite antique stores, of course, here in Dallas, but New York, Paris, London, Brussels, a lot of our art is from Brussels. Oh, that's interesting. Is this piece from Brussels? Yes. I love that. I do too. So Pam's tour, for those that don't know, is where I developed my love of asparagus plates. Yes, it is. I remember leaving here thinking, I'm going to start collecting those. And you've helped me. And I gave you a little history on them. And then the love affair began. That's true. It's just fascinating. Pam knows a lot about Majolica. I've even done, I've even spoke to antique clubs on Majolica. That's right. So if you have any questions, you've got to message her. And then again, I love how you have all the little sugared fruit. And, okay. The napkin rings. Yes, tell that story. I always say this is a great thing to collect. It's easy. They're small. They don't take up a lot of space. And sometimes you can find them for very affordable prices. I try to find them with monograms of my family's names. So I have one for my sons, my daughter-in-laws, and some of the grandchildren. I don't have all of them. Well, we'll keep looking. I need to get a napkin ring. You do. You need, exactly. You're at our table often. And then everyone's favorite kitchen, Pam. Tell us about the kitchen. Well, she's small but mighty. And really, I did not expand anything. I just redid the cabinetry and closed up a door that was on one side where the mirrored cabinet is. And rearranged the kitchen sink, which was not in the corner, which I thought was very interesting. It was off to the left, kind of where my dishwasher is. But it works well. Handles lots of grouge. As we all know, every kitchen gets full of people. It doesn't matter how big it is or how small it is. Everybody gathers in the kitchen. Fortunately, I opened up this opening here, which made it feel so much larger to let people flow out into the hallway. It just gave it a little bit of elbow room. Absolutely. And again, how you did the oyster plates all around. Thank you. It's almost like wallpaper. That's what they were in my other home. They were wallpaper in my butler's pantry. Oh, wow. So I had to find places for them, and I did. They're everywhere. And then you brought this island in. Is that correct? No, this island was here. Oh, that was here. It was here. It didn't have drawers in it. We put drawers in it and put the marble top on it. But it is not stationary. It kind of moved all over the house. It's where I had my plans laid out the whole time during construction. And at the very last minute, I decided to keep it. And I'm so glad I did. I'm glad you did, too, because it has a lot of character. It does have a lot of character. And it's fun that you can kind of have the exposed plates down there, because you have such a pretty collection of china. Thank you. I have too much. And then we'll come back and talk more about this, but I do want to take a peek into your room, because I love your room so much. I think it's so pretty. Especially, again, all the paintings. And I think this room is an unusually large size for a house of this vintage. Agreed. So this was like the model home, right? It was. It was the first model home in Texas. And that's why the ceilings are higher than your normal eight feet that you would get in a cottage of this size, of this era. So he made them eight and a half feet. And that six inches makes a big difference. Yeah. It does make it feel much more spacious. And then, again, I just love the toile. Your kind of sconces. I wouldn't even call those sconces, though. Those are really just like... They're swing arm lamps. Yeah. Wall mounted. It's fun to see. They're from Vaughan, which is an English lighting company. Lots of pretty lighting. I love it. And then this pretty mirror here. I love how you put the kind of Christmas wreath on it. I love that. I leave it up all year. It's really pretty. It's got all the colors. And then did you have to do a lot of work in this room? I just closed up a window, really, and renovated the bathroom. And that was it. Obviously paint and lighting. Yeah. Well, that adds up here. Closed up three small closets to make my closet. Okay. There's something I want to share because I remember... Oh, yes. You told me... Let's see this really quickly. That the walls were textured. They were. They had typical orange peel texture. Okay. And I love that painting. I just really noticed how pretty that is. I've been here a million times. Really? Yeah. That's like the first time I've ever really paid attention to that painting. I have art everywhere. I do. That's true. I do. Hi, Grace. Hi. Hello. You're good. Okay. I want to know how you resolve the orange peel because you recommended this to my parents because retexturing walls is so expensive. It's very expensive. And I don't know if you can get a little glimpse of it somewhere. Yeah, here. Christina, I know you can see some over here. But instead of retexturing everything, they just put a skim coat over the orange peel. Now, understand this orange peel had probably been painted 20 times so it wasn't very heavy. But the painters refer to this as cake icing. Cake icing. I don't know if you can see that in the camera or not. I can see it. But it's a great trick to quickly cover the original orange peel. And probably much more cost effective, too. Oh, it is. I think people will love knowing that. I recently told my parents to do that and they did. Yeah, they did. And the baseboards are original. I had new baseboard milled in some areas where I took out walls and things. That's amazing. That's so good. And then we have to do a little picture. This is your old house, right? Yes, it is. I love this house. It's beautiful. That's where the boys were raised. And almost every kid in the neighborhood. That's how it should be. That is. And then I love your pattern. This wallpaper is still one of my favorites. I love this. This is Cole and Son. I love how you keep it fresh. Lots of hotel. Is that hotel silver or regular silver? That's hotel silver. That's something else you collect. That's right. I love your little nativities over here. I do. Your majolica plates. It's so great. And this is Staffordshire, right? This is Staffordshire. So that's Staffordshire. The plates are majolica. And there's the little nativity scene we bought together in Paris at Notre Dame. I got that from my mom. Our friend Olivia was with us too. I love the snowmen on the top. All Frosty the Snowmen. I bet your little grandsons love that. I have so much that the kiddos love. Yeah. All ages of kiddos. You've got five grandchildren? I do. Ages 22 to 5. Yeah. Let's go. You've got a breath. So this was added on this part of the house, right? This room we are in now was added in 1950. And my laundry area was a porch. I love that. And it gets a lot of use. I stole some wall space and took out a hot water heater and was able to get full-size stack washer dryer. I used every inch I could find in this house. Which is great because you downsized quite a bit. Yes, 4,000 square feet downsized. And then this is your bar. Yes. Which I think is just iconic. This also gets a lot of use. It gets a lot of use and Santa is a great bartender. Where did you find this Santa? Do you want to know where I found this Santa? Yeah. I bought it from Kathy Kincaid when she was having a garage sale. Stop it. I did. All right. So she'll have to hear this. She'll have to hear it. I might have to text her and be like, this is your Santa. I did a dead stop in the middle of the street because that was in the driveway. I need him. Well, he's the bartender. He has a great job, great career. And I love just how you have it all collected. Yeah, my dessert cart has lived its best life like this. What are your favorite things in here? Oh, don't ask me that. I love all the Hotel Silver. I love the beautiful champagne bucket up here. And can you talk about why it's called Hotel Silver again? It is... Educate us. I will. It is silver over copper and it's a much thicker, heavier silver than our normal sterling, which is also over copper many times. But it can take all the bumps and bruises that you get on a cruise ship or a hotel. Do you have to polish it a lot? It really holds its polish pretty well. Because it's so thick, probably. It's so thick. The plate on it is so thick. And fun fact, if you are ever at Bergdorf's, they even have a whole little collection. Yes, called the Hotel Collection. Hotel Collection, and that's Hotel Silver. Isn't that beautiful? That was a birthday present last year. That's really pretty. And then the guys up above that watch over the bar. I love them. They're always ready for a drink. They're always ready. That's too funny. And then this room, just again, with all the windows, windows, doors, which is great on a pretty day. Yes, this room gets a lot of love. It really does. Tell us a little bit about designing this room. It was easy to design. All of the furniture you see in here, I had. I brought it from my other house. And I don't know if you can tell on film or not, but these sofas are huge. They're Baker sofas. And I actually named them the Pammy sofa because I started ordering them with a single seat cushion, which makes them great for naps. And nobody else ever did that. And Baker only did it for me. Oh, well, that's fantastic to know. That's right. Might have to call them up and ask for one. They're really beautiful sofas. Thank you. And they are very comfortable. They're so comfortable. And again, I love how you just did all the oil paintings there. And my chairs are also old Baker pieces. And those are on casters, right? They are. They're on carpet casters. And tell us about why you chose to do them on casters instead of like a swivel. Well, swivels bother me if they're not in perfect position. Are you a perfectionist? Oh, not a bit. And if you have a swivel with an automatic return on it, then when you're sitting in it, you feel like you're fighting that swivel all the time to try to keep it from going back. And the ones that don't have an automatic return, nobody ever puts them back the way they found them. Right. It's a constant. So casters are a dream for me. They're fantastic. Those are great chairs. And then I love your ornament collection. Thank you. Those are all vintage. And is this in a majolica? Yes, it is. My favorite piece. And I keep it empty all year except Christmas. And then I love this little opaline piece. How about my birthday present from Christina? My beautiful opaline ashtray. We don't smoke. She doesn't smoke. We don't smoke, but I sure love the paraphernalia. Gosh, it's pretty, isn't it? Isn't that beautiful? I mean, I bought it for you, so. I obviously think it's pretty. I understand that you bought one for yourself at the same time, didn't you? Potentially. I might have done that. Okay. And we love this Christmas candle. I think this is one of the best Christmas candles. It truly is. It is worth every penny. And Christina has this, don't you? On my gift guide. On your gift guide. And it's on sale at Bergdorf. No, at Bloomingdale's. Bloomingdale's. Seventy-five dollars. And it's a great deal. Yeah. No, it's really a great deal. Okay, but we've got to talk about the main event. That's right, the main event. Tell us, I mean, this, Pam, this took like two, three days to put it? It took three days. Fortunately, I had the help of my good friend and design assistant, Jenny, which made it so much easier. And she's taller and can reach without having to bring in a big six-foot ladder. Okay. How do you start and go about a tree like this? This is like one of those magical trees that you see Thank you. I think it is. It always reminds me of the nutcracker of the tree in that show. I just, I put everything out. I put my religious pieces together, my pine cones together, the garland together, and I start with the garland and get it placed. And I have a lot of it. And there are probably 500 ornaments on the tree and maybe 30 strands of garland and over 6,000 pencil. 6,000? I know for a fact the boxes are 2,000 a box and I emptied three boxes and then probably a half of another one. And so how do you lay the pencil on? You just put it over the branches? You just put it over. Okay. You do not throw it on. I like it hanging straight. Okay. Wow. This is very, very pretty. It's beautiful. And lots of, you said you have lots of radco or what are the ornaments kind of that you like to? These are, I have some radco. I buy ornaments when I travel. Always have. So again, this year I only put up one tree so I only used about half of my ornaments. But they are really from everywhere. I mean there's a lighthouse from Nantucket. There's hotels up there. Everything. That's so special. A lot of nativity. I have a lot of different. I have Mary and Joseph. I love, I don't know if you can zoom in on her back there. She's so pretty. She's very pretty. Oops, sorry. Pretty. And the wise men. Yeah, I see her back there. So I bought a lot in, a lot in Germany, Switzerland. And then where's your angel from? Austria. My angel is from Austria. Isn't she pretty? She's really pretty. Her little face is just beautiful. It's all wax. And it doesn't melt. It doesn't melt because I keep her in the inside air conditioning. And then, I love your, is the fireplace mantle original or did you buy that? I bought that from Pettit here in Dallas. Okay. And I love it so much. It's great. I think it really, really added a lot to this room. Touch of colored lights. And this painting is just one of the best. Yes, that's my, I always say that's from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and the scene when they're coming back and returning home. It's beautiful. So cozy. We'll brave the cold just for a little bit, right? Yes. Oh, this looks so pretty. Thank you. Everything looks so good. Thank you, thank you. And then, we'll go step out into your little magical backyard here. And you can see my pretty orbs that I leave lit in my tree. Oh, I can't wait. On 24-7 and 12 months a year. Yeah, it's so nice back here. And this magnolia tree is probably one of the best in town, I think. We kind of calculated, didn't we, on Thanksgiving that it might be over 40 feet tall? It's so tall. But the way it goes sideways, it kind of frames your yard, essentially. She is cabled, believe me, in multiple places. Just to make sure? Just to make sure. Wow. I don't lose her in a storm or a snowstorm. I love, too, how you put the magnolias and the berries together. Thank you. The blue and white. On my little faux bois table and benches. Yeah, these are great. Guys, I found those in a parking lot of an antique store, the whole thing for $200. And what, and it's? They're signed by Carlos Cortez. Wow. A Mexico City artist who is very famous for his faux bois. And then, what's great too, Pam, we're not going to go in there today, but you. Oh, yes. Your office is right here. I know, my commute's not bad at all. No, she has a great office. I do. On the second floor here. A tree house. A tree, your little tree house. It is. Lots of fun design projects in there. A lot. Yes, and that's another magnolia. Another. A different variety. It's like an espalier, right? It is, exactly. Oh, that looks so good. So that's a little gem magnolia. Little gem, okay. And they grow thin and straight. They're great to use in hedges. They're fast growing, but they're great for espalier also. Well, your backyard is just so wonderful. I mean, I also, I have to show this beautiful urn here too. I love that. It's just... I bought that in Bath, England. Oh. I did not bring it home on the plane. I was about to say, I bet that wouldn't fit. Isn't it so pretty? It's so pretty. And what kind of palm is that in there? I don't know. Is it a sago palm? No, I don't think so. Huh. Well, it's loving the weather still, so that's good. It's still loving the weather. Oh, it gets covered in the winter. Yeah, I bet. Yeah. Well, Pam, this has been so lovely. Thank you. Thank you for coming. I hope you all enjoyed it. Well, I will be sure to link your Instagram. Please be sure to like and subscribe to The Potted Box because that's what it helps me do and bring you more tours. Although, this was an easy tour to do because I'm already going to be having some wine and we're about to start on phase two. Yeah, exactly. All right. Merry Christmas, everyone. Merry Christmas.