Story: Lukas and Vendulka have loved each other since childhood, but his parents wanted him to marry another woman. Years later, wealthy farmer Lukas, now a widower with an infant, renews his affection for Vendulka, even smiling at her at his late wife’s wake.

St. Louis designer on-the-rise Jessie Miller made her debut June 9 on HGTV Star, which offers opportunities for undiscovered home renovation virtuosos to win life-changing prizes.

Story: Bishop Alfred Bridgenorth and his wife, Alice, are preparing for the marriage of still another of their many daughters, this time the nuptials of young Edith. This morning, their Chelsea home is overflowing with guests, including the bishop’s military bachelor brother Boxer and Alice’s friend, Lesbia Grantham.

Story: Louise Seger, a Houston homemaker with a husband and two children, becomes an instant fan of rising young country singer Patsy Cline when she hears the latter perform on The Arthur Godfrey Talent Show on CBS in 1957. She soon pesters the local disk jockey regularly with requests for tunes by Cline. In 1961, when she learns that Cline will be performing at Houston’s Esquire Ballroom, she and her husband and boss arrive 90 minutes early for the concert.

This Georgian-style brick home is now operated as a decorative arts and history museum. No other home in the region boasts this type of fine craftsmanship.

Trend section: Mint Condition

If experience matters in the real estate market, then the Ryans have it covered. More than two decades ago, when John Ryan teamed up with his mother, Anne, he brought about 15 years of prior experience in commercial real estate. “We both brought a lot of diverse talents to the table,” John Ryan says. Today, the team focuses its efforts on upper-end residential properties, with an average sale price of about $1.6 million. “There are no other agents with that kind of an average,” he says. “We know the properties and the clientele. We approach it in a very businesslike way and our clients like that.”

A 4-bedroom, 3-bath home in Clayton is listed for $1.35 million.

From luxurious interiors and lavish landscaping to coveted locations, these multi-million-dollar estates will turn your head. Here, feast your eyes on some of the top local home sales from the past year.

Stories: In Il Tabarro, barge owner Michele works his small crew hard but also shows compassion. He could get by with one fewer stevedore, but doesn’t want to put Luigi out of work. Michele deeply loves his wife Giorgetta, but feels that a distance has grown between them since the death of their child a year earlier. He suspects that Giorgetta is taking comfort in the arms of another man, and vows revenge when he finds out who that alleged lover is.

Story: Dorothy, an impressionable and idealistic girl growing up with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry on a farm in Kansas, finds her life turned upside down, literally, when she is swept away by a tornado. She ends up in a magical kingdom where her house has landed on and killed the Wicked Witch of the East.

Story: A poet enters the theater and ascends to the stage. He walks over and introduces himself to a musician seated off stage left. He returns to center stage, turns around and views a triptych of sorts that has an ancient look to it. There’s also a chalkboard that the poet uses to drive home certain points, a simple table and chair, a briefcase and a trunk that contains the tools of his trade.

For many St. Louisans, the Saint Louis Art Museum in Forest Park is their single-most favorite public structure. Designed in the Beaux-Arts style and sited on a majestic hill that overlooks the Great Lagoon, the building is arguably the finest example of Classic Revival architecture in St. Louis.

To visit the Campbell House in the Lucas Place neighborhood downtown is to step back in time. The seven-level, 10,500-square-foot house offers a rare glimpse into the privileged lifestyle of the Campbells and families like them who lived in Lucas Place, which for a brief 40-year period, was St. Louis’ premier neighborhood before urban noise and pollution drove residents farther west.

Summer is officially here! Inspired by the Ladue home of Rungolee designer Anjali Kamra, these warm-weather looks are breezy and elegantly beautiful.

For children and adults with developmental disabilities, just getting by on a day-to-day basis can be a challenge. And their families often have a difficult time determining the best ways to help their loved ones enjoy happy, fulfilling lives.

Trina Turk is to southern California what Lilly Pulitzer was to Palm Beach. Just as the late Florida socialite channeled the sunny optimism and low-key chic of Palm Beach through her brand, Turk’s design outlook and aesthetic is informed by the elan and outdoor lifestyle of the Golden State. Turk says she draws much of her inspiration from her restored Mid-Century homes in Los Angeles’ creative enclave of Silver Lake and in Palm Springs, as well as her travels up and down the California coast. Today, you can experience her unique brand of vintage modern style, not only in her signature fashion apparel, but also on bedding, decorative pillows, and durable indoor/outdoor fabric by the yard.

Ladue’s own GRANT WEBER will be featured on the Lifetime Television show, The Balancing Act. Weber is the CEO of Riley’s Premium Pet Products, a local manufacturer of healthy dog treats that are good enough even for humans to eat. In fact, we’re told that most of the Lifetime crew sampled the treats during filming! Weber’s segment on the show will air on Lifetime June 4 and 11 (6 a.m. St. Louis time).

Story: Shlemiel is a simple beadle (minor official) in the town of Chelm, a “village of fools” located between Everywhere and Elsewhere “a long, long time ago.” Shlemiel is exasperating to his wife, who has tolerated his imperfections for 20 years as he goes about his humdrum existence, and she needs to supplement his income in order to have food for their two surviving children.

A reverence and respect for water is a universal theme, found in cultures from ancient Greece to the remote Pacific Island of Vanuatu. The ritual significance of water spans across the globe to include the Native American rain dance, Christian baptismal font, the gleeful splashing of the Songkran water festival of the Dai New Year and the solemn funeral pyre on the Ganges. Learning to manage water, whether it is a lot or a little, is an important part of our shared community. Well-handled water can be cleansing, refreshing, energizing. Out-of-control water has the power to drown and destroy, to wash away with time even the greatest of mountains.

The whole ‘green’ movement is finally catching up with the design industry here in the United States, with many architects and designers doing their best to be environmentally friendly with the materials they specify for a new home.

Neighborhood farmers markets are re-opening and welcoming back local producers—a very exciting time for those of us who enjoy the bounty of our bi-state area!

A two-story home in Ladue with 12 rooms, 5 bedrooms, 5 full- and 1-half bath is listed for $1.375 million.

This summer, think of your backyard as the next decorating frontier. Use designer-quality furniture, rugs, lighting and charming decorative accents for stunning results.

Stories: Winning Juliet focuses on the new girl at a high school who runs into unexpected animosity and resentment by some established ‘popular’ students when she decides to audition for the female title role in the school’s production of Shakespeare’s tragedy, Romeo & Juliet.