It takes a lot of work to make a house a home. Whether maintaining a positive familial relationship with its inhabitants or by tailoring the house’s design to one’s liking, it’s a task that should be handled with care. Decorated entrepreneur, designer and builder Mark Zweig, alongside his wife Sonya, understood the importance of creating a space in one’s home that reflects its owners and made a decades-long career consulting home- and business-owners in their architectural and construction endeavors out of it. Additionally, the Zweigs have used their expertise to redesign their own homes – and they’re back at it again.
In 2024, the Zweigs purchased 1011 N. Tanglebriar Lane, a house in Fayetteville with a unique history behind it. The 6100-square-foot house was originally built in 1975 by owners Jim and Diane Blair, close friends of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Diane, who passed away in 2000, is also an honoree behind the Fayetteville Public Library’s Blair Library. After the Zweigs purchased the house, they dived into an efficient remodeling process—a process that only took 60 days, according to Zweig. The expedient remodel was possible primarily because the Zweigs mostly maintained the house’s original, mid-century modern layout.
“Whenever we redo a house, we try to keep it to its original design. If it has stone, fireplaces, any crazy open staircases, crazy windows, unique ceilings—we preserve all of that,” said Mark Zweig. “Our key to remodeling is staying true to the bones of the house and making it feel like it’s always looked the way it does when we’re done.”
While the house’s history attracted the Zweigs to purchase their new home, its mid-century modern layout and design is what sold them to close the deal. Among the house’s design features are vaulted ceilings lined with wooden beams, tall windows that overlook Mt. Sequoyah’s greenery and wildlife, and two stone fireplaces with a dual-floor shared chimney in the middle of the home. The house also features two additions from nationally-renowned and Fayetteville-based architect Marlon Blackwell: a fully-equipped home gym crowned with a living roof (completed through Arkansas-based Ozark Green Roofs) and a four-car garage furnished with a Tesla car charger and glass roof panels, according to Zweig.
1011 N. Tanglebriar Lane is not the only house on the street that has received the Zweig touch. The couple recently purchased and remodeled for resale 1588 N. Tanglerbriar Lane—just two doors away. “We like redoing houses in the neighborhoods that we live in, it improves the value of your property and the appeal of the neighborhood,” said Zweig.
When it comes to remodeling and redecorating a home, the Zweigs follow a specific philosophy: meeting the house where it is. “You can’t make a house something that it’s not,” said Zweig. “We’ve seen so many houses with a mid-century modern shape, but the details were all wrong. The homeowners replace parts of the house with what’s happening now, not with what goes with the house's design.” For their Tanglebriar home, the Zweigs approached it with a distinct color palette and an eclectic design strategy. The remodeled home’s decor includes oriental rugs, vintage furniture, and vibrant wall art.
Although the house has been reimagined by the Zweigs, the history behind it remains forever, and the Zweigs are adding themselves to it. “We just wonder about all the stories that the walls could tell us!” said Sonya Zweig.