The Margie and Cris Criswell Home

Walk through the welcoming front door of Margie and Cris Criswell’s home and you will feel like you have stepped back in time, a time that embodied a simpler, friendlier way of life. And that is just how Margie wants you to feel.

Elegant in its simplicity and finished in 1997, the house feels one hundred years old, actually older when you wander into the tap room which is just off the formal living room. The ambiance in that space will transport you to a distant past. Seating yourself in a chair at one of the small tables, you know that any minute George Washington will be walking through the 18th century cypress door to share a drink with you.

The wonderful ten-inch-wide loblolly pine plank flooring was milled in Menor, Texas, and laid by Cris. He also laid the flooring on the beautiful staircase and built every cabinet you see in the house.

Meanwhile, Margie was busy with the walls. "I did all of the painting," she says, and if you look up while touring this home, instead of crown molding you will see beautiful stencil work. Some of it designed by Margie, but all of it hand applied by her.

Along with loving everything that is old, and having a knack for finding the unusual, Margie owns forty-five antique quilts, five of them displayed on beds throughout the house, and one seen hanging on a wall in the dining area off the tap room.

The Criswell home feels like the holidays, and will take you back to that kinder simpler way of life as you sip a cup of wassail or nibble ona plum pudding sitting in the tap room waiting for "George."

The Civic Club of Wimberley will kick-off their annual Holiday Home Tour this year with a cocktail party and candlelight tour of the Margie and Cris Criswell home on Thursday, November 10, 2011, starting at 5:30 PM. It is your only opportunity to tour this lovely home. Admission is $25 per person, and reservations may be made by contacting Margie Criswell at 847-6017.

See four more homes on the 24th annual Hill Country Home Tour, sponsored by the Wimberley Community Civic Club, November 11 and 12, 2011 from 10 am – 5 pm each day. Tickets for the homes will be available for $15 at the Wimberley Visitors Center. On the days of the tour tickets will also be available at each home and from 9 am – 5 pm at the Gift and Bake shop located at the Winters-Wimberley House. For more information visit the Civic Club page.

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