If you want an icebreaker at a neighborhood function these days, try complimenting someone – anyone – about their house.

After all, that’s what people seem to really enjoy talking about. Wall colors and floor styles and upscale appliances and sun rooms and cabinet pulls and wood veneers and… .

Well, you get the idea.

That’s what this first quarterly issue of Preston Hollow Home & Heritage magazine focuses on what our neighbors are doing with their homes, where they’re coming up with ideas, and how each of us can learn from them.

We start by giving you an inside look at a remarkable Italian Renaissance-style villa in the neighborhood – the kind of structure that masters such as architect Hal Thomson created decades ago. Except this home was constructed only months ago by one in a group of local designers leading a movement back to an elegant, enduring style of early 20th century architecture.

This quarter’s issue also offers stories about renovating and remodeling, about making homes more attractive for resale, about decorating – even about shopping for antique and not-so-antique furnishings.

Of course, we also feature what you will come to see as our regular mix of stories about friends and neighbors in Preston Hollow.

For starters, there’s an interesting twist on the origins of a favorite neighborhood French restaurant: Clair de Luna. Did you know the proprietor learned his trade during 20-plus years on the road with the band “Yes”?

And have you ever wondered how it is that the congregation of Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church found its way to the corner of Preston and Walnut Hill – back when there wasn’t much of a corner at Preston and Walnut Hill?

Say – did you know that credit cards started just around the corner?

Our magazine is filled with plenty of other tidbits about neighborhood lore and news and personalities. That’s the type of magazine we enjoy producing, and we hope it’s the type of magazine you’ll enjoy reading.

Preston Hollow Home & Heritage is distributed to nearly 17,000 select Preston Hollow homes and businesses. You’ll receive a complimentary copy in your mailbox each March, June, September and November. We hope you enjoy this magazine – we’ll see you again in June.