Think you can handle the Neighborhood Guessing Game this week? We’ve got another individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance to give away to the winner! The membership includes a free subscription to Cite magazine and discounts on RDA events.
A quick reminder: If you know this property already, or if you come across the listing while the game is being played, do not ruin the game by posting the answer! Instead, you can send Swamplot an email with a link to the listing so we’ll know what you’re doing. Then, make an incorrect guess, but provide an explanation that sounds very plausible. If you do this well, you’ll get special recognition for your efforts — and if no one guesses the actual neighborhood, you could win the prize!
If you don’t know this property, the game’s a whole lot simpler to play: Just look through the photos, put together the clues, and guess where this house is! If you guess the right neighborhood, you win the RDA membership! If more than one player guesses the correct neighborhood, the player who provides the best explanation wins.
This week’s home was suggested by a reader. Ready to see more photos?
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So you’ve got to have an idea about this place now. You can figure it out, can’t you?
Can’t you?
That’s all the photo you get! Your guesses go in the comments. Answer and prize winner revealed . . . Thursday!
Update: Time’s up! Here’s your winner.
- Membership [Rice Design Alliance]
Photos: HAR
Well, 60s, not 50s. Bathrooms are more spacious. So there’s that. Then someone did some very interesting handi-crafting there in the 80s, during that “let’s do everything pink and blue” period “and while we’re at it, let’s bump out windows and then turn a boat or two upside down and make them the ceiling.”
I have no idea — I’ll guess Willowbend.
Looks like a 70s rancher that someone threw some money at. That corner brick fireplace says 70s rather than 60s to me. I’m thinking the whole vaulted wood ceiling den and dining room thing is an add-on. Kitchen, bathroom, and master bedroom have been updated without making them any bigger; I probably wouldn’t have chosen that decorating scheme for the bathroom but it looks like a nice modernizing job with the whirlpool tub and the two sinks plus the freestanding vanity. Not originally that expensive of a house but in an area where that kind of upgrade might be worth it. Briargrove, maybe, or a nicer part of Spring Branch. I can believe Willowbend, too, though I think this is newer than that.
TeePee Hotel in Wharton Texas!
I’m going to guess suburbs, built in the early 80’s….tipped off by the blue/pink tile, newish windows, and brass fixtures everywhere. No Hollywood lights, though. My guess this was grandma’s house that one of her kids inherited or bought (furniture and all) when she moved to Florida. I don’t know the suburbs well at all, but will guess Clear Lake, Missouri City, or Jersey Village.
The house doesn’t look very spacious, and I agree that someone came along about twenty years ago and decided vaulted wood ceilings were better than attic space. The cabinets in the kitchen and the other basic built-ins look plain, but someone decided to spruce it up a bit and add the granite, and other wood ornamentation.
It looks like part of what was an originally upper middle-class planned neighborhood a little farther out – like around Briar Forest and the west belt – maybe Tealwood/Walnut Bend, or even Yorkshire.
The owners are hoping that all the wood and granite will keep the bulldozers away.
Walnut Bend.
The white truck parked across the street…the Southwestern art…this has Katy written all over it.
It’s pretty much certain that I cannot guess this one.
Doesn’t stop me from spouting…
I agree it is 70’s vintage due to corner brick FP, string wallpaper, 8’ ceilings, semi-gloss walls, bright brass fixtures… Nice quality with jack’n’jill/hollywood bathroom, and with tile on the floor instead of laminate.
And, I agree that we see a Swedish-Extension (I just coined that – wood ceilings like a sauna!*) but the big new dining room & piano nook are built out towards the street? That’s weird – who has that kind of space? This might be a half-acre lot.
That (master?) bedroom, complete with crib, loungers, exerciser and St. Bernard, could be a converted garage, due to its size and its whatever-you-want-honey! cornerish windows. Are those electrical outlets over top of each one? Is this a converted ice house? AND: these windows are cased whereas others in the home are drywall-return style… hmmm
From a guesser’s point of view, what a mess of a mish-mash this is. It seems well lived-in and well loved though. I like the kitchen art gallery; when my kids were young I put their artwork on my kitchen cabs, too. And on the lower doors: bird pics for the cats to enjoy.
*In the south-west US, this style is also called a ‘Kiva-Extension!’ (registered)
Single story, black aluminum frame windows, vaulted ceilings, and a plethora of ceiling fans indicate this is a pre-oil bust tract home. The house has had some custom woodwork installed by a weekend warrior owner, but they never got around to staining or painting it. I’m guessing west or southwest, close to a Home Depot and elementary school.
Hmmm. Lot size/proximity to the street precludes anywhere too far out of town. I’m thinking someplace with land value almost, but not quite worth tearing it down. I’ll go with the Oak Forest/Garden Oaks area.
I too would have guessed Katy but Anna beat me with her post. So I am heading south to….. Friendswood.
Oh God! The neighborhood? Not sure. The vintage? The missus bought everything new along with the house and the dusty pinks and blues with the Southwestern art are classic–wrong word–circa 1982.
The bright brass fixtures, bath tile, parquei flooring in the den and window bay and dark window frames back me up on this.
Something tells me this in somewhere in Southwest Houston so for the heck of it, I’ll say Meadows Place.
Double-wide mobile home….Porter or Splendora.
I am going to venture to a galaxy far far away. 290/1960 area. I believe the neighborhoods are Hearthstone and Jersey Village.
Is that a treadmill with a prize from the state fair in the master bedroom?
Best line so far “close to a Home Depot.” Give that a prize!
Although I’ve not been in a house there in at least a decade, I’m going to guess Alief/Mission Bend. This house reeks of the 80’s. Those sparkly tiles in the bathroom were the great explosion of color after the earthtones of the 70’s. Who doesn’t have fond memories of dusty rose? And how about the size of the pump bottle on the vanity! WOW! Is that Liquid Soap or Jergens? If it were Montrose it’d be…oh I digress. My mother would love the American Indian themed prints and the Asian inspired dining room furniture only because it would remind her of her foray into home decorating in the 80’s. Nice try on the granite kitchen counter update and what’s up with the trash compactor, the house seems a bit out of place for one. I’m thinking ‘Almond’Formica on the counters before the granite update. I’ll second the weekend warrior ceiling comment. Another thought I had was Jimbo wanted to keep busy after retirement and thought he’d surprise the little lady with the ceiling clad in beadboard paneling because she liked it in their weekend cabin in Livingston.
For what it’s worth, the “Gypsy Dance” comforter set dates from 1991-1993.
An early 1980’s single story rancher somewhere out in Westchase….like Richmond/Gessner area.