Eddie Seal/Special to the Caller-Times

‘Everything is new. We wanted it to be easy to live there and not to have to worry about ruining family pieces,’ Lucille said. The patio doors in the living room open to a deck near the canal.

By Diane S. Morales, Caller-Times

January 06, 2008

PHOTO GALLERY

Eddie Seal/Special to the Caller-Times

Shadows cast a moody glow around the decorative fish in the Travises’ upstairs guest bedroom. Lucille ordered the footprint pillow from the Internet, with a salmon and orange colored pillow for the other twin bed.

PORT ARANSAS — Who would have thought buying a coastal getaway would bring Lucille and Jim Travis closer to friends back home?

“Lots of friends in San Antonio have homes (on the coast),” Lucille said. “And it’s nice because we just visit and maybe have a drink. We don’t do that (in San Antonio). We’ll maybe go to dinner or a party but not just to visit.”

The Travis family spent their first summer at their Moorings townhome nearly a year ago, fishing off their back dock.

“But when the kids go to college we plan to spend a lot more time there,” Lucille said.

Nautical castaway

A nautical theme home made sense to the couple until they met their neighbors — Patty and Melton Henry — whose artsy, modern pad inspired the Travises to get creative and seek out contemplative art pieces.

“My husband has a good eye for artwork,” Lucille said. “We like whimsical art…fun kind of art that does something.”

They shopped area businesses and art galleries for unique finds and scoured the Internet for accessories and furniture to dress their home in modern coastal details.

As visitors pass through a sliding glass front door, they see a metal sculpture swing flat iridescent circles like a pendulum, then rotates full circle with a gentle push.

The metal sculpture sits on a rough driftwood style accent table segueing into the dining, living and kitchen spaces’ objets de metallic shimmer. A rectangular dining table flaunts a galvanized tin surface, tying the kitchen and living rooms together with a steely presence.

Eddie Seal/Special to the Caller-Times

A painting by Charles Reid hangs above a driftwood style table near the townhome’s entrance.

Following scales

In the kitchen, iridescent glass tiles reflect light around the white cabinet and granite counter surfaces.

“The tile looks like fish scales. In the evening, it turns orange and in the mornings it’s a pale, pale blue,” Lucille said. “It’s been a happy little miracle because it changes color all day long.”

An espresso-colored hutch and bar stools secure a sleek finish to the clean-lined kitchen.

The living room combines a black metal-based table in a corner, matching cane-back armchairs with sand-colored cushions and a tan chenille sofa with silver tip legs. Sofa pillows don a sea coral pattern with red beads, while wavy metal lamp vases hint at the rippling water outside.

Sliding glass doors open to a covered patio near the canal where fishing and daydreaming steals the Travises’ time.

“We sit there and just marvel at the view,” Lucille said. “The sunsets are gorgeous.”

Art to ponder

Up the staircase, art pieces from three angles draw a pause, starting with a papier mache wall hanging of a palm tree cut out at the stairs’ landing.

Eddie Seal/Special to the Caller-Times

The view from the master suite balcony looks out into the marina. The Travises also bought the townhome next door to their unit for their sons, and hopefully grandchildren to enjoy someday.

Lucille scored the piece from Cita’s in Port Aransas. A faint light source attached behind it highlights the piece.

An art piece by Yakov Agam adds dimension and color to the pale wall near the stairs landing. The family brought back the accordion-rippled art from a trip to New York City. Across from Agam’s kinetic art hangs a textile piece of layered fabric squares in crimson and purple.

Wood plank floors on the second floor extend a casual feel to the three bedrooms. Jim mounted schools of decorative fish above blackish-brown wainscot-style twin beds. Lucille got creative and scoured sea shell shops in the area to fit shells into shadowboxes to hang behind the beds. In the twin boys’ room, she glued a few white starfish on the beds’ white wainscot headboards.

For the master suite, the couple handed over their two-year collection of molas to a professional seamstress to design a bedspread. The Latin American handiwork of layered fabrics depicts bright images of fish and other sea life against a white cane-back headboard.

“I would think it was the most daunting task, but she did a great job,” Lucille said. “We started with the molas to decorate.”

Contact Diane S. Morales at 886-3758 or moralesd@caller.