Inside the Oak Cliff home filled with history and culture

David Henderson and Josephine Thinwa’s home in Winnetka Heights is more than just a place to live — it’s a reflection of their identities, values and passions.

From the moment you walk in, the space tells a story of Black history, civil rights and personal heritage with eclectic touches.

With art, books and unique decor that hold deep meaning, including a bust of a Kenyan freedom fighter and shelves filled with banned books, every corner is a testament to the couple’s journey, their commitment to learning and their love for each other.

Designed with vibrant color and texture, the home offers a sense of comfort and creativity.

“We told our designers straight up — we do want it to look like Black people live here,” David says. “From the moment you enter the house, we want there to be art reflective of who we are.”

The home features plenty of touches of Black history and civil rights themes.

“We’ve learned that our style is eclectic, but ‘eclectic’ doesn’t really even tell you anything, because it becomes a question of what categories you like to mix together,” David says. “So we like to mix categories involving civil rights, involving Kenya, involving other ethnicities in the United States.”

David loves to cook, and a unique touch in the dining room is the built-in bookshelves filled with cookbooks.

“A cookbook either has to be about a place we want to learn more about, or about food that people eat that we want to learn more about,” David says. “The bulk of the books up here are all ethnic cookbooks.”

Designing shelves comes naturally to David, and the meticulously placed books and decor are all done by him.

“The designers said a lot of people want bookshelves, but then they have to go buy books because they don’t have enough books,” Josephine says. “David is like, ‘No, I have enough books,’ and every single bookshelf in this house, he organized and arranged it.”

A key piece in the dining room is a bust of Muthoni Kirima, a Kenyan freedom fighter.

“When Kenya was going through its struggle with the British to try to free itself from colonialism, they had this underground army, and had obviously very few women who were part of it. But not only was she one of the few women who joined this underground army, she was actually a colonel in positioning authority,” Josephine says. “The artist who made this piece is actually Kenyan, so we were so excited.”

The bust holds special meaning and inspiration for Josephine, which is the couple’s goal in terms of decorating the home.

“We wanted the stuff that we have on display to be stuff that’s actually relevant to us,” David says. “We had done the (Winnetka Heights) Home Tour like two years before, and folks had houses that were done nicely, they had this stuff, but it’s like random that had no connection to them. We didn’t think it was as cool that way.”

A lot of the art or knick-knacks in the home were purchased by the pair while traveling, and there are plenty of personal touches, like a pinboard in the kitchen filled with notecards of recipes from David’s mom.

Moving into another living space, the huge shelves are filled with books, of course. Each book on the shelves has been banned or sparked controversy.

“The more we looked at them, the more interesting they became,” David says. “It’s actually a really good reading list, what’s on here. It’s kind of shocking to see what’s banned.”

On the opposing side of the banned books shelves is a huge piece of art that holds the most meaning to the couple — a huge metal panel with David’s wedding vows engraved on it. Surrounding it are plenty of photos of the couple.

The window in the stairwell features stained glass that shines beautiful colors in the home when the sun hits it. This is one of their favorite parts of the home that holds special meaning.

“David decided to go to seminary to learn about theology and other interesting things. It’s a cathedral kind of window, but a little more abstract, so not very literal,” Josephine says. “So there’s actually a lot of crosses in there. They’ve kind of been done in a slightly abstract way, where you don’t immediately see a bunch of crosses, but if you actually pay attention, you can find it, so it was meaningful for that reason.”

Upstairs, one of the most unique rooms in the home is an all-red office. The couch, chairs, wallpaper, ceiling, curtains, shelves, desk — all red.

“We literally stood right here and had a debate about whether or not the ceiling should be white. And I was like, you gotta go all in, yeah?” David says. “We were actually nervous about painting it all red. And once we decided we weren’t gonna have kids, we’re like, nah, let’s just go all out and put a lot of color and texture.”

Another unifying theme in the home is having a variety of spots to work.

“We both work a lot,” Josephine says. “We have to have different zones. We get kind of antsy sitting just in the office, and so we have to have different zones that inspire creativity.”

Josephine works as an infectious disease physician and holds a doctorate in microbiology and immunology.

“I mostly run a lab, and I have people employed, Ph.D. students, and other Ph.D.s who come in and actually do a lot of research,” Josephine says. “What we work on is trying to figure out how to boost the immune response, like how our bodies naturally fight infections in the brain.”

David is a civil rights lawyer and works at one of the few independent civil rights law firms in Dallas.

“Our mission is we’ll represent any member of a marginalized group that’s facing discrimination,” David says. “So if you’re being discriminated against based on gender, based on orientation, based on race, we’ll represent you.”

The bedroom is one-of-a-kind in that the goal was to replicate a hotel room feel. It has a coffee station and a couch to lounge on while watching TV.

“A secret little pleasure we have is just being in a hotel room,” Josephine says. “Our bedroom becomes like a little hotel room during the holidays when the house is packed.”

A common theme throughout the house is interesting books. The bedroom, of course, features meaningful books for the couple with shelves decorated by David himself.

“I think one of the coolest books in the entire house is in this room,” David says. “It’s an anthology of the jewelry that rap musicians wear. I think it is so cool.”

Color is a key component of the home, with browns being a theme downstairs and a two-toned stairway adding a colorful touch.

“A lot of people are afraid to use color, so once we got past the point of being worried about doing it, that’s really what all of it is,” David says. “With a few $100 worth of paint, anyone could do what we did.”

Between second-hand shops and finding people who can reupholster things, it doesn’t take much to create a cool space, David says.

“We had a really good time, and I think that’s what we really enjoyed is even though we work with designers, I feel like we pushed them maybe more than they even pushed us,” Josephine says. “We just had a lot of ideas and a strong point of view in terms of what we wanted. We’re very happy with it.”