Stripped Ease

The exterior of Hill's Houston building, constructed in the 1960s.

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The words of the prophets are written on the chalkboard-paint-coated door to Hill's apartment. A painting by Mark Flood hangs behind a plaster Buddha on a chest from Cassina. The Ligne Roset cotten sofa was bought on sale.

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A Philippe Starck standing lamp and an Eames chaise longue bracket the living room; two Lawrence Weiner prints hang behind a pair of Warren Platner chairs and a table purchased from a River Oaks estate sale; at far left of the room, a partial wall of new cinderblocks hides a return air vent.

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Winged light bulbs, part of an Ingo Maurer fixture, bring levity to Hill's bathroom. The space features a zinc wall by Houston metalworker George Sacaris, who also did the bathroom and kitchen cabinets,

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The door to Hill's medicine cabinet, made by George Sacaris, slides open to reveal a concrete wall.

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With bright red hair, Hill is a standout in a gray-glass 1960s building. Her coffee table is a French mail-sorting table with the legs cut down.

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A room divider by Extremis, made of sticks protruding from a rubber base, shields the bathroom.

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Who needs shelves when there's plenty of floor space? Stacks of books and a framed print sit alongside a Peter Maly Ligne Roset bed, reupholstered in stiff linen.

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Hill at her dining room table.

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There used to be walls; now Barbara Hill's bed offers views not just of Houston, but also a French farm table surrounded by a sextet of black and white Harry Bertoia chairs for Knoll.

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In Hill's kitchen, exposed pipes behind the counter have plenty of company: the pipes that form her storage units. The rug, by Chilewich, is made of vinyl.

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