August 7, 2025 | DESIGN & INTERIORS
a QUIET CONVERSATION with SPACE
words Karine Monie
photos Lacey Land
interior design Joshua Rice Design
Tucked inside a refined building designed in the 1980s by Dallas modernist icon Bud Oglesby, this 2,400-square-foot home in Uptown Dallas offers more than just elegant proportions and natural light. It’s a space that holds memory—both architectural and personal.
Designed by Joshua Rice for a young woman deeply involved in the arts and early childhood education, the apartment was imagined as a quietly confident home, free from trends yet rich in substance. “From the beginning, the goal was to create something enduring,” Rice explains. “A space where form and feeling are in quiet dialogue.”
ROOTED IN LEGACY
The building’s original architecture served as both foundation and muse. With its balanced volumes, humble materials, and Oglesby’s signature restraint, Rice approached the project with reverence. “Every decision was filtered through a single lens: what to preserve, what to reinterpret, and how to let the space feel like her own.”
While the home draws subtle references from early California and New Mexican modernism, the true inspiration was the client herself—a thoughtful, confident young woman raised in a family with deep ties to Dallas’s art and design community. “Her eye and intuition shaped everything,” Rice notes. “She trusted the process and embraced the nuance.”
A FULL CIRCLE
For Rice, the commission was also a quiet homecoming. Years earlier, fresh out of school and working as a design intern, he assisted on a project for the homeowner’s parents—known collectors and longtime supporters of architecture in Dallas. The kindness and grace they extended stayed with him. Now, years later, designing for their daughter felt like a closing loop. “This was more than a project,” he says. “It was a personal thank-you.”
SOFT TONES, STRONG FOUNDATION
The renovation honored the original footprint. Terracotta Saltillo tile was lovingly restored, while 1980s textures were smoothed into calm, museum-quality finishes. The materials palette—mineral-toned plaster, warm oak, patinated metals, and soft leathers—grounds the space with tactile richness and quiet confidence.
Nowhere is the balance of proportion and material more evident than in the living room. A vintage Marenco Sofa by Arflex sits alongside a rare Moro Chair by Sebastian Herkner and a one-of-a-kind 11-foot aluminum cabinet by Jonathan Nesci. Paper lamps by Isamu Noguchi float like punctuation throughout. Elsewhere, a vintage Finn Juhl NV55chair, a Donald Judd 115 in copper, and a sculptural Onyx Gade table designed by Rice himself form an understated yet precise composition.
The guest room, doubling as a library, introduces a bold note: a deep blue wall of bookcases anchoring the space. In contrast, the bedroom leans into softness, with Santa & Cole’s Tekiò lamp, vintage Franco Poli nightstands, and a Gervasoni Ghost Bed wrapped in calm, natural linens.
TIMELESS, NOT TRENDY
Throughout the home, restraint is intentional. “We wanted the space to unfold slowly,” Rice explains. “It shouldn’t overwhelm—it should reward attention.” Every element is purposeful, every material chosen for its longevity and aging potential. “It’s not about shouting,” he says. “It’s about resonance.”
This is a space that honors the past, lives in the present, and quietly carries itself into the future. Understated, thoughtful, and deeply personal—it’s a portrait of design as reflection.
