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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Parquet

May 28, 2008 – 11:21 am

Neighborhood Guessing Game 9: Family Room

Swamplot posts a new Neighborhood Guessing Game every Tuesday on Wednesday this week. Answers will be revealed on Thursday Friday this time. If you’re new to the game, please review the rules before you post a comment.

Apologies to those of you who spent all day yesterday hitting the refresh button on your browser, waiting for the Neighborhood Guessing Game to appear: the Memorial Day holiday messed with our schedule. Here’s this week’s puzzle, at last!

Many more pics of this latest mystery house, in all its vacuumed splendor, below!

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11:21 am | 18 Comments | Read more about Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game
Thursday, May 22, 2008

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Sharp Dressed Pad

May 22, 2008 – 7:18 pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 8: Bath

It looks like a number of our readers thoroughly enjoyed the photo tour of this week’s mystery house. Which is great, because now they’ll be able to enjoy the panoramic virtual tour that comes with the listing as well!

We tallied 3 guesses for Meyerland and 2 each for Montrose, Kingwood, and Humble. The rest of your votes dispersed individually to Tanglewood, Huntwick Forest, inside the loop off Stella Link, Greenwood Forest, Spring, Nottingham in Katy, Meyer Park, Westbury, somewhere within 15 miles of Champions, Glenbrook Valley, Sharpstown Country Club Estates, Atascocita, and Mission Bend.

The winner this week was the mysterious sgs, who made the case for Sharpstown Country Club Estates with this succinct comment, which we quote here in full:

sharpstown country club estates

Did sgs have previous knowledge of the property? It doesn’t matter — but we hope to persuade players who find themselves in that position in future contests to play the advanced version of our game: by sending us an email containing the listing and then submitting well-argued, misleading, and wildly inaccurate “guesses” to the comment pool. Won’t that make it more fun for everyone?

We did have one other participant this week who sent us the correct address . . . but sadly, could not be persuaded to post bald-faced lies about the property in our comments section. Maybe next time?

Picking the best comment this week was tough, because so many of them were especially entertaining. But the honorable mention nod goes to first poster Jeff, for this almost cinematic description:

What an odd house! (seriously…is that a cowboy boot hanging from the ceiling in the kitchen??) Looks like a hippie artist from Sedona took a hit from a bong and then proceeded to transform a 1960’s mod house into a slightly upgraded bachelor pad. The foosball table in the tv room looks like something I did once. Outdoors looks like the garage is in the middle of disrepair.

The character development in this treatment could probably stand some improvement, but the set design shows promise!

After the jump: what you’ve been waiting for . . . the reveal!

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7:18 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Neighborhoods: Sharpstown Country Club Estates
Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Brick Bath

May 20, 2008 – 4:24 pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 8: Bath

Swamplot posts a new Neighborhood Guessing Game every Tuesday. Answers are revealed on Thursday. If you’re new to the game, please review the rules before you post a comment.

Are you ready to play the game again, neighborhood know-it-alls? Just look what we’ve found for your sleuthing pleasure. Good luck guessing where this place is!

Lots more fun pics . . . after the jump!

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4:24 pm | 18 Comments | Read more about Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game
Thursday, May 15, 2008

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Front Door on the Side

May 15, 2008 – 11:52 pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 7: Den

This week’s puzzle prompted some terrific efforts again from our photo-detective readers. With four votes each, Timbergrove and Oak Forest were the most popular guesses. Next came Garden Oaks (with 3 votes), followed by Tanglewood, Meyerland, Willow Meadows, Willowbend, Knollwood Village, and Shepherd Forest, with 2 votes each. Other guesses were Bellaire, Norhill, Timberside, “Mandell/Montrose on Banks or Milford,” Highland Village, Mangum Manor, Lazybrook, Sharpstown, Stella Link/Med Center area, Woodside, Woodshire, Ayrshire, Braes Heights, Afton Oaks, Piney Point, Hedwig Village, Bunker Hill Village, and Briargrove.

This week’s winner is Starkeshia, a guessing-game regular who was the first to name . . . Oak Forest!

The house looks like nearly a total redo, but there also appear to be some original features left such as the front windows, and the front door, hardwoods everywhere, sliding closet doors…I’d say this is a mid century home. Looks too small to be in Meyerland or Bellaire, however.

Our honorable mention goes to margo, for identifying an entertaining but perhaps not especially useful clue: there appear to be burglar bars on the bathroom windows!

Karen also had some comments that helped build the Oak Forest-area consensus:

I see aluminum windows and molding that say early 50s. Small kitchen w/o breakfast area says small house. Ceilings are too low for a bungalow. Wood floors are all new, so could be an Alison redo, but the kitchen base cabinets look original to me, so odds are there was no flood here, just a nice updating job.

Stay with us for the scoop!

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11:52 pm | 4 Comments | Read more about Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Neighborhoods: Oak Forest
Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Biased

May 13, 2008 – 7:48 pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 7: Den

C’mon everybody . . . it’s time to play the Neighborhood Guessing Game. You know you want to!

You can ogle plenty more photos of this week’s mystery house below. What neighborhood is it in? As always, the first accurate answer wins the contest . . . but smart observations will win you a special mention.

We’ll be playing again with the same twist in the rules introduced last week: If you already know this house well enough to send us an email with a link to the MLS listing, go ahead and do that. Then make a wrong guess in the comments, but justify it well enough to confuse your competitors. If you do this well, you’ll get special recognition for your efforts. (If you do know the house but don’t like playing dirty, just make sure the way you describe your “guess” doesn’t ruin the game for everyone else.)

Ready for more photos of this week’s puzzle palace?

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7:48 pm | 20 Comments | Read more about Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game
Thursday, May 8, 2008

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Lake Escape

May 8, 2008 – 4:35 pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 6: Built-in Shelving

Is there a limit to the kinds of neighborhoods that work in this game? Again, we had great guesses — and a winner — but some readers expressed frustration that the home we pictured might have been . . . anywhere.

That kinda comes with our territory, doesn’t it?

Here’s where y’all guessed the house was: Katy (2 votes), Pearland, Sugar Land, Missouri City, Spring, The Woodlands, Hyde Park, Camp Logan, Galleria “west of Chimney Rock”(!), the West End, Rice Military, First Colony, and Bellaire.

This week’s winner is HoustonAreaGuy, whose scattershot list of possible locations managed to include . . . Pearland! He also got a few details right (well . . . close enough):

I’m guessing it’s $400k or more (MAYBE $300k+, but I doubt it), easily over 3,000 s.f. and built in the last 4 years.

It’s his second win!

The actual subdivision of the home is The Lakes of Highland Glen. And the house is next to one of those lakes! Could anyone have guessed that subdivision? What do you say, Pearland readers?

The honorable mention this week goes to the eagle-eyed ERM — not for this comment:

I don’t know who to trust anymore. Are HAG and Joni trying to throw me off the scent? Can any of my fellow game players even trust me for that matter? I haven’t a clue as to where it is although Katy would be my guess.

. . . but for some sharp observations that helped pin down an evasive Master Bedroom:

I do believe this home is more of your basic burbs house but it does have some interesting appointments, slate tiles, granite counters, a butler’s pantry, your basic Evita balcony, Grecian type columns, etc. The small LR and DR say 90s although I can’t say I can give up on this century just yet. I do think, though, the master is on the first floor because if you look at the great room pic you see a door and two small pictures on a wall. The same two pictures show up in the master shot. So, that would suggest to me a single family home and not a townhouse since you don’t find too many first floor masters in those.

After the jump: Escape . . . to the Lakes!

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4:35 pm | 6 Comments | Read more about Home Decor, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Neighborhoods: The Lakes of Highland Glen, Pearland

Sock Monkey Palace Special: $53K Socked Off

May 8, 2008 – 8:01 am

Dining Room of 7309 Greenbriar St., Houston

Round about the end of April, artist Gloria Becker lopped $53,000 off the asking price of her art-and-animal-filled home at 7309 Greenbriar (near Main) featured here a month ago. It’s now listed for $795K.

Have any of you seen this place?

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8:01 am | Comment | Read more about Art, Home Decor, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhoods: Braeswood
Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Trading Houston Spaces: Mike James for Juwan Howard . . . Plus a Putting Green, Basketball Court, Gym, and Dance Studio

May 7, 2008 – 9:57 am

Mike James’s House at 2 E. Rivercrest Dr., Houston

Juwan Howard’s Home in Royal Oaks, Houston

A reader reports that the large and well-turreted home at the corner of Rivercrest and Westheimer — not far from State Rep. Hubert Vo’s curious mansion — is almost complete:

The home belongs to Mike James, formerly of the Houston Rockets, who was traded to the Timberwolves, only to be traded back in exchange for Juwan Howard. The irony is that the home is an exact replica of Juwan Howard’s home in Royal Oaks, just a few miles down the road (Mike and his wife were unaware of this as their “Manager” picked out the plan — they were not amused when they found this out after Mike and his manager parted ways). It was designed by Berrios Designs (exceptional building designer), as was the guest house and the full NBA regulation indoor basketball court at the back of the ~3.5 acre property. The property also features two putting greens complete with dual sand bunkers and a water hazard, a “sunken” pool between the guest and main house, and a gym and dance studio attached to the basketball court. Sadly, the project, which had so much potential, is being finished on the cheap because of cost over-runs caused by their former manager (trying to do things cheap generally ends up costing a lot more money). Regardless, it is turning out pretty decently, but could have been done so much better.

Mike James’s house under construction in Rivercrest is pictured at the top of this story; Juwan Howard’s home in Royal Oaks is the one below it.

We hope the house-plan trade works out better than the player trade: James was sent to the New Orleans Hornets in February. But he says he’ll be back!

After the jump, more glimpses of Mike James’s Howardian manor and sports compound, plus a look inside the Royal Oaks home it’s modeled after!

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9:57 am | 2 Comments | Read more about Home Design, Interiors, Neighborhoods: Memorial, Neighborhoods: Rivercrest, Neighborhoods: Royal Oaks, New Construction: Residential
Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Escape

May 6, 2008 – 9:30 am

Neighborhood Guessing Game 6: Built-in Shelving

Today is Tuesday, which means it’s time to play Swamplot’s weekly Neighborhood Guessing Game! Our last two contests were kinda tough. Are you ready for this week’s match?

The rules of the game are extremely simple, but this time we’re adding a small twist. As usual, you play the game by looking at the photos of the home in this post, then guessing what neighborhood it’s in, by adding a comment below. Whoever names the exact neighborhood first wins! Again, we encourage comments that explain why you guessed what you guessed — by giving special recognition to guesses that are especially perceptive or otherwise entertaining.

But what happens if you’ve seen this house before, or have come across the HAR listing and know exactly where it is? Here’s our new twist, prompted by a comment from Joni Webb last week: If you know this exact house, you can still add your “guess” to the comments (making sure not to tip anyone off that you’ve actually seen it). Or . . . you can cause a little mischief — by adding an incorrect guess to the comments, but backing it up with some really clever (though flawed) reasoning! If you do this well, and maybe manage to throw other players off the scent with your decoy, you’ll win special recognition when we announce the winner.

How will we know if any of you are playing this nastier version of the game (and aren’t just really bad at playing it)? If you’re trying something tricky, email us a link to the actual HAR listing when you add your comment, so we know that you’re just trying to fool our other readers with your guess!

Enough with the rules — on to the photos!

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9:30 am | 10 Comments | Read more about Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game
Thursday, May 1, 2008

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Poof!

May 1, 2008 – 11:57 pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 5: Kitchen

There were some terrific responses to our Neighborhood Guessing Game this week. Nobody was able to name the exact neighborhood of our mystery home . . . but we do have a winner!

This week’s guesses didn’t pile onto a few favorite neighborhoods, but they were somewhat concentrated. Four of you guessed the Galleria or areas to the east or west; three guessed West U. There were two votes for Rice Military or WOW near the roundabout; one for River Oaks and one for east River Oaks — “more of the Upper Kirby District almost.” Woodlake, Tanglewood, Montrose, Raintree Place, Wilchester, Crestwood, Med Center-Inner Braeswood, “one of the older neighborhoods north of Rice,” and Westhaven Estates got one guess each.

And the winner of this week’s contest is . . . the altogether-too-modest K, who declares herself to be “terrible at these” — before nailing it with her observations:

Definitely an 80s home; no getting around that. The tacky tile on the floor in the study, the basketweave brickwork on the kitchen floor, the gaudy master bath, the white tile on the kitchen island — they all scream 80s.

That said, the place is huge and at least somewhat updated. I’m also guessing that it’s on three levels, but it looks River Oaks — not West U. The coffered ceiling in the living room and the tray ceiling in the dining rome are very River Oaks touches, as are most of the furnishings (the Oriental rugs, the overstated antiques, the vases and artwork, etc.).

I’m definitely going with River Oaks here, the old 019. But since it’s newer, I’m going with an area further to the east of the older, more established homes by the country club, more of the Upper Kirby district almost.

That last paragraph serves as a pretty good set of directions to Glendower Court, which is the actual subdivision of this week’s home.

An honorable mention goes to Joni Webb, for deducing that “it’s got atriums.” She and K are both bloggers!

After the jump: Those atriums! And more details on our Glendower Court . . . townhouse. Plus . . . it’s gone!

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11:57 pm | 3 Comments | Read more about Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Neighborhoods: Glendower Court, Townhomes

The Neighborhood You Would Never Guess

May 1, 2008 – 8:17 am

Interior of 701 A—– St., Houston

So you think this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game is tough? Sure it is. But it’s not impossible.

You want to see impossible? Try guessing the neighborhood of the home shown in these photos. This is a home we decided not to use for this week’s contest . . . for, uh, reasons that should become clear when you read all the way to the end of this post.

But don’t do that just yet!

Look at the photos of the interior below, after the jump . . . but stop scrolling before you get all the way to the bottom, so you can spend a minute or so testing yourself, to see if you’re the kind of Houston real-estate savant who really could figure out this home’s location, just by viewing images of the inside.

Swamplot readers are very sharp . . . but this has got to be impossible. Without seeing the pictures of the exterior (added at the very end), there’s no way you’d ever be able to identify the correct neighborhood. Well, okay — you might just get lucky. But there’s no way to figure it out, really.

Office Area, 701 A—– St., Houston

Ready to see more interior photos?

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8:17 am | 8 Comments | Read more about Interiors, Neighborhoods: Brookesmith, Renovations
Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Chicken Island

April 29, 2008 – 10:11 am

Neighborhood Guessing Game 5: Kitchen

Think you know Houston Real Estate? Here comes another round of the Neighborhood Guessing Game, where you can prove it . . . or have fun trying!

Rule recap: We show you pictures of a home listed on HAR — but just of the interior. You guess what subdivision it’s in, by adding a comment. If you’re the first to guess the correct neighborhood, you win!

Of course, it’s no fun if everyone is just wildly shouting out the names of neighborhoods . . . so to encourage intelligent discussion, we give special recognition to participants who point out the supporting evidence they see in the photos and otherwise entertain us with their comments.

If you know this home already, please don’t let us know that . . . it kinda spoils the game for everyone else.

Ready for more of this week’s photos? You’ll find them after the jump!

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10:11 am | 12 Comments | Read more about Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game
Friday, April 25, 2008

West U Home Stalker Reveals All

April 25, 2008 – 1:04 pm

Wheat Residence, West University, Texas

Cote de Texas author Joni Webb comes clean about her obsession with a recently constructed home in West U.

. . . whenever I drove by the house, I would slow my car to a crawl, craning my neck to try to see inside the white stuccoed home that had so captured my imagination. Through their windows, I could make out some of their furnishings - first, there was a screen in the living room, and then I could see an oversized mirror. Next - I noticed the dining room’s antique light fixture which furthered my suspicions that this was a house I would love - inside and out. By the time the sheer, linen curtains were hung - the deal was sealed - I was an official stalker and somehow, I had to finagle my way into the home to see it first hand.

This must have been tough for Houston’s highest profile design blogger, because Webb is usually obsessed with French design, and the design in this particular home was clearly more . . . Belgian.

After the jump: The stalker gets in!!!

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1:04 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Furniture, Home Design, Interiors, Neighborhoods: West University
Thursday, April 24, 2008

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Remodeled and Remodeled

April 24, 2008 – 11:57 pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 4: Media Room

Some pretty sharp photo-detective work — and plenty of good guesses — in this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game. But . . . no winner. This was a tough one!

This week’s guesses were rather variously described . . . and one-of-a-kind: “near the Medical Center off McGregor;” 77024; Oak Ridge North; Northampton in Spring; Briar Forest; Memorial/Dairy Ashford area; River Oaks; Avalon Square; Yorkshire; Frostwood; West Memorial between Beltway 8 and Eldridge; Briar Forest; Bunker Hill; one of the Memorial Villages; Southgate-Rice Village area; Southmore/Riverside; Braeswood Place; Ayrshire; Braes Heights; Braes Manor; Braes Oaks; Braes Terrace; Emerald Forest; Southern Oaks; Conroe; Afton Oaks.

That’s quite a tour of the Houston area!

The closest guess came from karen, who failed to tease out the memory of a similar property she once looked at “on Lexington, between Greenbriar and Kirby.” Think of a more upscale version of that house — where would that be?

How about . . . on North or South Blvd.? The exact neighborhood of this week’s home was Edgemont. But a guess of West Edgemont . . . or Broadacres . . . or Boulevard Oaks would have won it. Southampton might even have been good enough.

Possibly, some of you were thrown off by the order of the photos. If the first photo had been of the Living Room, followed by the Dining Room . . . and the paneled and partially sunken Media Room had not been shown until later, would the apparent pattern of remodeling and addition have been more obvious?

A few key clues were unearthed in the comments. An honorable mention goes to last week’s winner, HoustonAreaGuy, who was first to identify the critical bathroom-door handle clue, and who made no mistakes in his description:

It’s a large house, easily 4000+ square feet. I could go with 60’s construction as well, except one small detail stands out to me…and it might not mean anything. The hardware on the bathroom door in the last photo appears to be OLD. Not sure if it’s original to the house or something bought at an antique emporium. It really throws me because if the house is as old as the hardware indicates, then it likely isn’t in my first-guess area zip code 77024.

After the jump: the big reveal!

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11:57 pm | 1 Comment | Read more about Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Neighborhoods: Boulevard Oaks, Neighborhoods: West Edgemont
Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Neighborhood Guessing Game: The Well-Paneled Room

April 22, 2008 – 8:39 pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 4: Media Room

Again with the Neighborhood Guessing Game: Help our lost home find its subdivision!

Remember the game’s 3 simple rules? We show you interior photos of a house on HAR. You guess what neighborhood it’s in, by adding your comment below. If you identify it correctly, you win!

Of course, the game is a whole lot more fun if you pepper your guess with explanations and comments. And we give special mention to commenters who are wrong about the neighborhood but spot-on with their observations.

If you know this home already, great! Go ahead and add your “guess.” Just don’t add any comments that ruin the game for everyone else.

More photos of today’s interior . . . after the jump!

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8:39 pm | 14 Comments | Read more about Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game
Thursday, April 17, 2008

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: The Great Den

April 17, 2008 – 11:58 pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 3: Living Room and Dining Room

There was no consensus in this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game . . . and nobody guessed the exact neighborhood of our mystery house. But one person came close enough to win, and we generated a healthy number of well-informed guesses . . . along with enough references to less-frequently mentioned Houston neighborhoods to send local real-estate obsessives on wild new searches through HAR.com listings.

The guesses, this week: Braeburn Valley; Westbury; Cherryhurst; Braes Heights (2 votes!); Meyerland; Maplewood South; Ashford Forest; Walnut Bend; Jersey Village; Montrose; Inwood Forest; Spring Branch between I-10, Westview, Gessner, and Antoine; Linkwood Ayrshire; Meadows Place; Shepherd Park Plaza; Candlelight Plaza; and Timbergrove.

All smart guesses. But all of them wrong! Well . . . almost all of them. The house is in Braeburn Valley West, a slightly newer neighborhood than Braeburn Valley — the guess of this week’s winner, HoustonAreaGuy.

HoustonAreaGuy’s reasoning, of course, was flawless:

I had a house there several years ago and this reminds me of alot of my house, although the rooms appears to be smaller.

There were plenty of strong comments this week, but our honorable mention vote goes to Pat Ennis, who had some solid observations . . .

It looks like the ubiquitious mid-70’s ranch house with detached garage and brick fireplace that can be found in a huge swath of southwest and west Houston. Some one ponied up for substantial cosmetic improvements, so it must be in a good neighborhood.

. . . but like other commenters displayed more logic than the real estate market can bear, apparently:

All that black and white in the kitchen though means it was likely done at least decade ago. Lakeside Place, Breaburn Valley and Westbury are all too far out for a 10-year old re-do.

. . . oh, but not too far out for a more recent redo that simply looks out of date!

After the jump: What a 1970 model Braeburn Valley West home looks like . . . today!

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11:58 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Neighborhoods: Braeburn Valley West