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    On The Market

    Renovated two-story condo near Memorial Park combines loft living with sophisticated flair

    Clifford Pugh
    Jun 3, 2016 | 10:49 am

    Editor's Note: Houston is loaded with must-have houses for sale in all shapes, sizes and price ranges. In this continuing series, we give you the lowdown on what's hot on the market.

    6007 Memorial Drive, #304

    The owner took a two-story unit at Memorial Cove Lofts, which was built in 2002, and totally renovated it, changing the floor plan, adding a third bedroom and bathroom upstairs, and such custom features as a wine room with a Chihuly-inspired chandelier and top-of-the line appliances in the kitchen— all within a short walk to Memorial Park. The three-bedroom, four-bath condo combines a loft feeling featuring exposed ducts and concrete ceilings with a sophisticated flair.

    The walk through: Upon entering through the front door, a visitor can view the wine room and kitchen on the first floor and look up to the second floor landing. The wine room to the right features glossy soft-close cabinets, custom wine racks, room-wrapping cork metallic wall covering, Cambria counter tops and two wine refrigerators.

    A media room with state-of-the-art TV and sound system leads into a two-story Great Room, with a corner fireplace and wrapped stone ledge, faux ostrich vinyl wall coverings. custom cabinetry, and a view of the second floor master bedroom through a hurricane-rated tempered glass window above.

    The open state-of-the-art chef's kitchen includes a thick waterfall edge Cambria slab and pro styled Bosch stainless steel appliances, with an outdoor patio area. The dining room looks toward towards the kitchen and patio.

    The first-floor powder room is more like a full-scale bath bath with floor-to-ceiling glass tiles, a frameless glass shower, enclosure and designer LED lighting.

    Upstairs, the current owner reconfigured the space in the redo so that if flows much better, with each of the three bedrooms having its own bath, large dual closets in the master bedroom, which also has a sitting area, and a "safe room" adjoining another closet in one bedroom.

    The master bath has a free standing soaker tub, a dazzling tile wall, frameless glass shower enclosure with rain head, body sprays and hand-held spouts.

    Square footage: 3,262.

    Asking price: $1,295,000, all furnishings included.

    Listing agent: Blake Hillegeist of Blake Hillegeist Real Estate.

    The main floor powder room includes a full bath through a frosted glass door, floor-to-ceiling glass tiles, frameless glass shower enclosure, designer LED lighting and breathtaking art.

    6007 Memorial, shower
      
    TK Images
    The main floor powder room includes a full bath through a frosted glass door, floor-to-ceiling glass tiles, frameless glass shower enclosure, designer LED lighting and breathtaking art.
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    Branching Out

    Hidden gem Houston store offers timeless antiques at affordable prices

    Emily Cotton
    Feb 28, 2025 | 12:11 pm
    Living Century Home store
    Photo by Emily Cotton
    Hand-selected imports fill this Spring Valley showroom.

    Not far off the beaten path, in Houston’s Spring Valley neighborhood, exists an unassuming industrial building with a door marked only by the giant, seemingly anachronistic, olive oil jar that houses an olive tree. Behind this door lies Living Century Home, a store that sells imported decorative goods from Greece, Turkey, Indonesia, and India — all 100-years-old or more.

    Founded in 2023, this fledgling company has already gained “cult status” among designers and architects from all over the Southeast. Even more impressive is that their marketing strategy is merely old-fashioned word-of-mouth. This appointment-only showroom sees two visitors a day on average, which makes sense when each appointment lasts between two and three hours. These time blocks may seem extreme, but once immersed in Living Century’s santal-scented sea of olive jars, small pots, and wooden pieces, it becomes clear how easily a person could lose all sense of time while searching for that perfect piece.


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    Umit Aktura founded Living Century Home for pragmatic reasons — he and wife Melis found it frustrating to source authentic antique olive jars for their own home. That previous lack of authentic inventory stateside is how Aktura explains their rapid success, even opening a secondary location near the Dallas Design District last year.

    “I’m not someone who can sit behind a computer monitor all day,” Aktura tells CultureMap. The former software engineer and University of Houston alumnus decided to take the leap into home decor importing once the family had successfully sourced items for themselves.

    “We try to source the best products, we have Round Top quality and better,” says Aktura. “We sometimes take two months overseas sourcing the very best.”

    Living Century Home is aware that many garden centers and big box stores offer mass-produced replicas of the types of items in their inventory, but that’s not an issue for them. “That’s not our client,” he explains.

    While many replicas exist of the large, white, olive jars from Greece, the highly textural and patinated jars from other countries are impossible to replicate. The three most popular styles come from Turkey and are known for their distinctive regional traits. These Turkish jars are Avanos, Aydin, and Odemis.

    To assist clients with completing the Living Century look, the company also sells regionally appropriate “Shady Lady,” aka “Black Olive” trees in 6-9’ heights — very full service indeed.

    Every item in inventory is subject to an authentication process and is tagged with color codes and numbered seals — they have provenance. “Everything we have I’ve put my own hands on and personally selected,” Aktura tells CultureMap.

    Olive jars of all sizes, small jugs, bread boards, accent tables and stools carved from a single piece of wood, the list of items is impressive. Beautifully carved cabinets from India sit alongside a small selection of dining tables. The store also stocks rare, lime-washed paper mache “bowls” (just don’t add water!).

    “The best pieces are only here because we love them,” says Aktura. “That’s why we take so much time sourcing.”

    Most items from Living Century Home are purchased for private collections, though recently their antiques can be seen at Houston Greek restaurant Niko Niko’s, the new Yellow Rose by Kendra Scott store in the Heights, and what will be a very public-facing art installation in a soon-to-be-announced restaurant.

    Do not be misled by their appointment-only approach to doing business. With pricing between $45-$2,000, their antiques are very accessible, but hagglers beware: “This isn’t a Round Top festival style ‘buy two, get 50-percent off’ sort of place,” says Aktura with a laugh. “Everything here is special.” Duly noted.


    Living Century Home store
      

    Photo by Emily Cotton

    Hand-selected imports fill this Spring Valley showroom.

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