Dickinson home features a classic design and a large collection of steins

Colors of the sea, high ceilings, impressive columns and bird and botanical art all are lovely sights in the Dickinson home of Donna and Mike Dienst. But what really gets your attention is the enormous collection of beer steins on display in almost every room.

It just came naturally for Mike Dienst. His family, after all, owned Dienst Distributing — a beer distributor tracing its Galveston County roots back to just after Prohibition — until selling the company to Faust Distributing in 2015.

The 4,400-square-foot home is on three-quarters of an acre. An outdoor kitchen with fireplace, pool, spa and pergola-covered patio takes up another 1,200 square feet.

The house is pristine and looks like it was just built. And it was — sort of.

“We had just finished construction and lived here for three months until Hurricane Harvey hit in 2017, so we basically had to start over,” Mike Dienst said.

Today, life is back to normal.

“I love the traditional style, all the columns, molding, corbels and the color blue,” said Donna Dienst, who has incorporated much of that throughout the house.

Engineered hardwood floors, plantation shutters and Roman shades add to the classic design of the home.

More than 600 feet of birch cabinet board, painted Whitetail by Sherwin-Williams, is evident in several rooms, particularly in the living room and dining area.

The living room with custom-built fireplace mantel flanked by two back-lit cabinets houses several of the beer steins, mainly those known as character steins — having a shape designed to represent a person, animal or object. These are the ones that Donna Dienst likes best, she said.

A coffered ceiling with recessed lighting and a nine-light gilded chandelier complements the entire room. Two matching love seats and wing chairs are grouped around the fireplace and a grandfather clock built by Mike Dienst’s grandfather stands tall nearby.

The dining room, to the right of the entry hall, with tray ceiling and 12-light gilded chandelier, features cabinet board, chair rail molding and upper walls painted Sea Salt by Sherwin-Williams. A china cabinet displays a set of Flintridge china that belonged to Mike Dienst’s great-aunt, as well as his mother’s Waterford crystal. Atop the cabinet are three large, antique tureens from Germany.

Around the corner is the kitchen, breakfast room and family room with back-lit cabinets displaying family photos and a few more steins.

The guest rooms are in this wing of the house and hold sentimental items.

In one, a collection of antique perfume and Limoges bottles occupy a cabinet that survived Harvey; in another, a 19th-century antique bed frame that belonged to Mike Dienst’s mother.

Perhaps the most favored room in the house is the study.

“This is where we spend a lot of our time,” Donna Dienst said. “Mike, myself and the dogs hang out here, watch television and relax.”

This also is where most of the beer steins are on display, covering shelves upon shelves — ranging from Royal Vienna to glass to hand-painted masterpieces. A few are more than 26 inches tall. Some are lithophane—a transparent picture painted on the bottom of a stein that is only visible when held up to the light.

“We covered the steins with plastic during Harvey and I took a few of the more expensive ones with me when we evacuated,” Mike Dienst said.

He isn’t quite sure how many he has in the collection, but between their Dickinson home and their East Texas ranch, he estimates more than 500, some dating back to the 18th century.

The master bedroom and bath with beadboard ceilings embrace the favored traditional design.

More beer steins occupy the built-in, back-lit shelves in the master bedroom; several made of glass.

“A few of these are known as bridal cup steins,” Mike Dienst said. “They are designed so that the bride and groom can both drink from the cup at the same time.”

A side door takes you to the outdoor kitchen with fireplace, seating arrangements and outdoor grill. The pool, spa and pergola-covered patio await the warm days of summer when friends and family will convene for outdoor fun. Just one thing is missing.

“We lived on acreage right on Dickinson Bayou for 10 to 12 years before building here,” Donna Dienst said. “That place had a more tropical feel and I loved watching the birds, so I miss the birdlife, but I’m glad to be home.”