This story is so Dallas. And this house is so precious now given the high cost of wood. Most people design a house, specify the materials, and then buy them. It is perhaps one of the only houses in town where the materials led the design and the whole house.

In 2006, Don Daseke, a Dallas-based trucking mogul dubbed the “accidental trucker“, bought a teak company: East Teak Fine Hardwoods, Inc. This was before he bought Smokey Point Distributing, an acquisition that would have sales of $ 205 million by 2013. In In January 2014, the company merged six subsidiaries of trucking companies, earning Daseke Entrepreneur of the Year for the Southwest region by Ernst & Young. Daseke, Inc. is now the largest flatbed and specialty haulage and logistics company in North America with 6,000 tractors and 13,000 flatbed and specialty trailers, plus one million square feet of space industrial storage.

But what about the teak company?

After buying the teak business, the trucking contractor turned to his wife Barbara, a prolific local interior designer, and asked her, “What do you think about building a teak house? ?

Teak is the most durable and weather resistant wood you could ask for. It’s insect resistant, a huge plus in Texas, and nearly impossible to burn. The wood is also beautiful to look at.

The Dasekes had lived in an idyllic two-acre forest in Addison (Dallas County) for 15 years, but this teak business acquisition drove them crazy with their existing home. So when Don asked about the teak, Barbara was immediately on board and had the perfect architect in mind: David Droese of Droese raney, whose local work includes popular Dallas high-end stores like Forty-Five-Ten, Billy Reid, Harlowe MXM Gastric Pub and other local restaurants, as well as award-winning residential projects. The plan was to replace their existing home on the idyllic property with the Teak House.

Droese was certainly a big name in city architecture, but he also had a good background in commercial construction. Her training gave her insight into unconventional methods of bringing Barbara’s plan to life and making full use of teak wood on more than just exterior surfaces.

Of course, she would design her own house. Barbara is the owner of Barbara Elliot Interiors and has worked on high rise hotels and offices in luxury residences in the United States, Europe, Asia and Indonesia. “Residential, commercial and hotel of all kinds. I even made an apartment in Paris, ”says the designer. ” I did everything.

It was his flair for design as well as his love for natural surroundings and cultural variety that inspired the couple to build The Teak House. Completed in 2010, the residence is not their first on the wooded lot. Barbara knew how she wanted the house to be laid out with a private front and the back completely open to those wonderful views of the woods.

“The site is so amazing,” Barbara said. “It’s like living in a treehouse.

Their old house was demolished to make way for the new one. The teak exterior construction is complemented by lots of custom details – and more teak – inside and outside the home. The front door consists of handmade glass wrapped in teak, created by famous local glassblowers Jim and Mary Ann Bowman. Loaded with finishes from around the world, the interiors also used teak wood with recycled hardwoods, Indian and Brazilian limestone, quartz stone, and custom lighting.

A 20 foot long kitchen island is made of colored quartzite; the teak kitchen cabinets are topped with ceremonial South Sea necklaces.

The whole structure is uncluttered with modern themes borrowed from the mid-century. The house is carefully designed to blend in with the surroundings and capture views of the forest.

“The architect and I worked so hard to interpret this,” says Daseke. “I don’t think we dwelled on the style. One thing I was sure of was that I wanted the house to have a lot of glass.

Glass is plentiful. Droese’s architectural elevation included high ceilings, wide halls, spacious living areas, and those large walls of windows.

“You feel like you’re outside,” says the interior designer. “It’s all about these windows.”

We always talk about teak: the exterior cladding is teak, shipped from Southeast Asia. It envelops the house, blurring the line between residence and landscape.

All interior walls, door frames and window mullions are also teak. Almost every square inch of the house is teak: ceiling, walls and cabinets.

Even the flooring is reused teak imported from India, recycled from centuries-old buildings demolished to make way for new construction. (Seems familiar?)

Teak serves as the backdrop to the home, outlining the interior with woody, natural hues and providing a backdrop for Daseke’s colorful organic design elements. The house is also energy efficient, with a geothermal system for heating and cooling.

“I tried to keep the colors of the furniture and everything that was painted, in addition to the teak,” explains Barbara. “The kitchen has a giant island made from the finest Brazilian quartzite. It’s so beautiful and unusual, when I found it I almost lay down on the slab and declared, it’s mine!

The Teak House measures 7,196 square feet, which is considered an average for large luxury homes in the Dallas area. Still, there are only three bedrooms and four bathrooms.

“The house looks bigger than it actually is,” says Daseke, making it a great house for entertaining.

“There is nothing you have seen with this kind of flow,” she insists. And she’s seen a LOT of it.

When it comes to that exterior, the Dasekes say it’s relatively maintenance-free with one exception, and they have a solution.

“If you don’t oil the teak it turns gray, so we have a painter’s roller on oil to keep that beautiful color.

Just like conditioning a salad bowl. The Dallas Teak Home at 656 Celestial Road is technically in Addison, an incorporated township enveloped by Dallas, and is listed for $ 4.25 million with Alex Perry and Elizabeth Wisdom of Allie Beth Allman.