Gathering place

Southern Living, Nov 2002 by Belden, Derick

November is a magical month in the South. It's when crisp mornings often give way to afternoons with glorious blue skies. In many places, it's the time when the leaves continue falling like golden raindrops. But, most of all, it's a time for families. Families getting together, sharing their lives, and slowing down after a busy year to spend the weekend away at their favorite place.

That's what this Texas ranch is to the Edie and Lacy Williams. With children and grandchildren spread from Shreveport to Dallas to Houston, the Williamses have found their spot: a home in the tall pines and rolling hills of East Texas.

It didn't start out as such a comfortable family retreat. Lacy has owned the property for nearly 20 years. Even before the house existed, he used it as a place to get away from it all-his secret spot to catch a few bass or bream in the small lake. A few years ago, though, that all changed.

As he says in his low-key Texas drawl, "All I had out here for so long was an old trailer. It was great, but when Edie decided she wanted a place close to home, I knew the old trailer was about to go."

Texas: metal roof, deep front porch, clapboard siding, and simple wood columns. Inside, however, the old choppy farmhouse floor plan gives way to a main Texas-size room, which serves as the perfect spot for sitting by a roaring fire, playing card games or checkers, or even rooting for a favorite team, the Longhorns in this case, on Saturday afternoons.

With a design in mind, Lacy and Edie picked the site. "Lacy wanted the house by the lake and near the old oaks," remembers Edie. "There were ruins of an old house already there, so we picked a spot nearby." Luckily, Lacy had planted pines years ago, so behind the house, mature pine trees frame the lake and surrounding woods.

The Williamses knew they wanted a house for enjoyment, not maintenance, so they used modern materials that would evoke the look of an old house. The fiber-cement siding holds paint much better than wood. A galvanized metal roof was a must because it will last for years. The only drawback, as Edie points out, is the denting caused by the many East Texas hailstorms. However, the fence that frames the front yard is the real thing; it came from an old home. "They were taking it down to put up a taller one, so we bought it, moved it to the ranch, and put it up," Edie says.

Out back is where the fun really begins at the Williamses' homeplace. With a short run down to the lake, you can wrestle with Lacy's bass.

Take a four-wheeler out to wrangle the longhorn cattle, which, as Edie observes with a laugh, "are sort of there to paint a scene. You know," she adds, "bluebonnets and longhorns just say Texas." At the end of a busy, crisp fall day, roasting s'mores over the fire pit has become a favorite family pastime.

Step Inside

The interiors of the house are also pure Texas. Edie searched the countryside far and wide to find furniture and accessories in junk shops, antiques stores, and even garage sales to make the house a home. She and Evelyn found wagon wheels in a junkyard on a drive to Houston and the big longhorn above the fireplace at a store on the way to Dallas. The longhorn painting, created by the sister of one of the Williamses' daughters-inlaw, captures the spirit of place.

Finally, to unite all elements of the home-family, nature, and Texas-- Edie painted the kitchen backsplash herself. "The project took nearly six months to do," she says. "I painted all the animals found on the ranch and then added the grandchildren, all the fish in the lake, and even the two dogs." She laid out the mural on graph paper, starting at the cooktop because that area had to be a specific size. Then she transferred it to matte 4-inch-square tiles with special paint. When she finished, she had it fired at a local kiln.

Take a page from the Williamses' album, and get away from it all as a family. The crisp fall air and slow pace will make you glad you did.