It all began with a John Wayne movie.

While she herself has an exotic background—born in Kirkuk, Iraq, to a British father and a Lebanese mother, Madeleine Pickens grew up in various locales around the world—it was America’s Wild West heritage that captured her imagination. After going to the then-British Bahamas in 1966, she arrived in the United States in 1969 on a green card, later becoming an American citizen and eventually a resident of Dallas.

Wade and Melinda Kilpatrick knew when they bought the Wild River Ranch that they did not want just a beautiful home nestled along the high banks of the Guadalupe River. They were looking to build a sanctuary made from reclaimed wood and stone that would include contemporary touches while creating a vintage, rustic tone that connects their love of the past to their vision for the future.