GOING for the GUSTO

A Dallas couple topples the notion that later-in-life house revamps must take away, scale back, hush. Here, Miles Redd and David Kaihoi dream up a glamorous fresh start for their International-style home.

- FRANCES SCHULTZ

PERCHED ON A BLUFF NEAR Dallas's Turtle Creek, Kay and David Walker's house tells a story as richly layered and colorful as its interiors. At a stage in life when many couples downsize their living spaces, if not their lives, the Walkers weren't having it. Instead, they envisioned the backdrop for their third act not with a quiet denouement but with a rousing crescendo. With sets designed by Miles Redd and David Kaihoi, and Redd directing, the Walkers' sleeping beauty of a house awoke as a captivating jewel box ready for its close-up.

But first, the meet-cute: Kay Walker, a woman d'un certain âge, has a passion for fashion and art, the assurance of a grand dame, the sparkle of a gamine, and the energy of a Texas tornado. She emerged from the torpor of the pandemic with an awakened vigor and a penchant for reinvention, realizing she had "a lot more to do." She rebuilt her garden and filled it with color, texture, and pattern. A keen artist, she returned to her easel with ever-bolder strokes. Devoted to her husband and fully engaged with her family, her life soared on. Her house, however, remained static. Tasteful and elegant as it was, her living space was no longer who she was. "I needed a voice," she said, and she needed to be heard.