Swamplot Archives by Category: Interiors

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Book Bed

Think you might be able to guess the location of this home? There’s a Rice Design Alliance membership in it for ya!

Yep, the RDA will provide a free one-year individual membership to the player who wins this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game. What happens if more than one of you guesses the correct neighborhood? The prize will go to the player who provided the best explanation for his or her guess.

If you already know this property, or if you come across the listing, don’t blab about it and ruin the game for everyone else. Instead, send Swamplot a link to the listing; then post a convincing but wrong guess. If you do this well, you’ll get special recognition when the winner is announced. And if nobody guesses the correct neighborhood, that winner could be you!

Just a few more pictures to pore over:

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Thursday, January 21, 2010

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: The Old Cottage Try

All hail the winner of this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game: Ms Cleo! Well, we promised you glory if you won. Now’s your moment to shine. Congratulations!

Some lovely sleuthing and commentary appeared in this week’s round. Our runner-up, Claire de Lune, was oh so very close but ended up on the wrong side of Shepherd.

Want to see a little more of this home . . . say, the outside?

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Neighborhood Guessing Game: A Clean Slate

It’s time to get ready for this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game! There’s no booty for winning this round, but there is glory!

And you and your booty can bask in that glory if you can guess where the pictured home is. If more than one of you guesses the correct location, we’ll reflect the glory onto the player who provided the best explanation with the guess.

Do you know this home already? If you do, or if you come across it while we’re playing the game, please don’t mess with everyone by blurting out the answer. Instead, you can mess with everyone a better way: First, send us a link to the listing, so we know what you’re up to. Then make an incorrect guess, but make it good. If your guess and explanation are good enough to fool a few other hapless players, we’ll award your efforts a special commendation when the winner is announced. And if nobody guesses the actual neighborhood, that winner could be . . . you!

Shall we poke around a little? This way, please:

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Monday, January 18, 2010

The Latest Markdown from Lazybrook

A reader declares that this home “has got to be the largest original home in Lazybrook/Timbergrove.” And:

This is the highest quality of wood paneling I’ve seen in a home in Timbergrove/Lazybrook, and I’ve never seen the wood beams. Too bad the house is so disorganized inside, I’d love to see it fully furnished and cleaned up. An nice little step back into time.

How far back? This 5-bedroom home — on almost half an acre in the upper left armpit of the 610 Loop — was built in 1968.

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Thursday, January 14, 2010

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: On the South Bank

Congratulations to the winner of this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game: Helen. And what did she win? Just a one-year membership in the Rice Design Alliance! Our thanks to the RDA, for providing the prize!

Great guesses, everyone. Where is this place?

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Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Beyond the Pink Horizon

Tuesday is Neighborhood Guessing Game day! And the winner this week gets a one-year individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance!

All you need to do is guess where this home is. If more than one of you guesses correctly, the prize will go to the player who provided the best explanation for the guess.

If you already know this home, or if you come across its listing while we’re playing the game, please don’t blurt out the answer and ruin the game for all the other hapless guessers. Instead, shoot Swamplot an email with a link to the listing — so we know what you’re up to. Then mess with everyone else by posting an incorrect guess that sounds plausible! If you do this well, you’ll get special recognition when the winner is announced. And if nobody guesses the actual neighborhood, that winner could be you!

Here’s the rest of the house:

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Thursday, January 7, 2010

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: The Fulham Court Press

Here we go with our new faster format Neighborhood Guessing Game results post: The winner of this week’s prize — free enrollment in the “Houston’s History Told Through Its Architecture” course at the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies at Rice University — is katie. Congratulations — and many thanks to the Glasscock School for sponsoring the prize!

This week’s guesses were full of brilliant and entertaining observations. And we give special mention to Porchman and AKane, both of whom ran interference with well-constructed fake guesses they concocted after writing in with the actual listing.

So much fun! Where is this week’s swingin’ pad?

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Comment of the Day: The Island Home

   

“. . . In my home we use the island for kids art and crafts, having guests for drinks and or dinner, homework and home working, watching tv, etc. All this on top of the normal eating and food prep duties. In this way the island and the kitchen in general are taking the place of rooms such as a dining room, office, library etc that might have been included in an older home. In that case I think a good argument can be made that the room and the island can be expanded to fill some of the space that would have been taken up by those now obsolete rooms.” [Jimbo, commenting on Island Living: Inside the West U Cottage That Didn’t Get Away]


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Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Island Living: Inside the West U Cottage That Didn’t Get Away

Among the just-announced winners of this year’s Good Brick Awards given out by the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance is this not-so-recently renovated home on Nottingham St. in West University, which belongs to Carol Triebel and Rick Gist. And it does appear to have some good original bricks on the exterior. In a neighborhood where teardowns or the occasional awkward addition are the norm, Natalye Appel + Associates Architects designed an unusual renovation that kept the 1935 home’s outward cottage form, but twisted its innards around.

The design removed most of the home’s walls and doors, and smushed a core of closets, bath, and laundry into the center of the house along the driveway side. The new main living spaces are now arranged in a C shape around that core.

Then there’s the giant island, meant to do more than Kitchen duty:

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Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Neighborhood Guessing Game: The Hot Tub Under the Stairs

It’s a new year for Swamplot’s Neighborhood Guessing Game! And this time we have a new sponsor: The Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies at Rice University. If you win this week’s game, you’ll get free enrollment in the spring course “Houston’s History Told Through Its Architecture.” The class meets from 7 to 8:30 pm on the Rice campus for eight Mondays, from February 22nd to April 26th. Ordinarily, the course fee is $165 — or $155 if you sign up by February 8th.

Are you ready to play, then? Same rules: If you guess the location of the pictured home, you win! If more than one person guesses the correct location, the player with the best explanation for the guess wins.

If you already know this property, or if you come across it while we’re playing the game, please don’t blurt out the answer and ruin the game for everyone else. Instead, send Swamplot a link to the listing. Then submit an incorrect guess, but make it sound plausible! If you do this well, you’ll get special recognition when the winner is announced. And if nobody guesses the actual location, that winner could be you!

Here are a few more photos for you to study:

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Thursday, December 24, 2009

Comment of the Day: How Staging Sells Houses

   

“Reminds me of house shopping a couple years ago. We were looking at a house in Brenham, as a weekend home. Pretty normal decorating scheme, until we got to the master bedroom. Purple walls, gold trim, lots of dangling gold items from lamps and headboards, pillows everywhere, a purple & maroon shag carpet–my wife & I looked at each other, and both mouthed “New Orleans whorehouse” to each other. . . . We ended up buying the place!” [SH snooty, commenting on Remembering the Purple Bedroom of Her Teenage Years]

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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Remembering the Purple Bedroom of Her Teenage Years

Decorating a new room for her college-bound daughter, West U design blogger Joni Webb recounts the last bedroom redo:

At 15 – she stated she wanted to redesign her room herself and I decided to let her. Not that I really had a choice – she’s a willful, independent child who knows her own mind and arguing with her is hopeless. From West Elm she chose the popular cut-out headboard and nightstands, along with the matching cut-out shelf unit. The large mirror she bought at IKEA. The paint colors were also her choice - the ceiling was deep purple and the walls were a silvery lilac. I helped her pick out the fabrics – silks and crushed velvets. She has always fashioned herself a glamour girl. My mother took one look and proclaimed it “The Bordello.” This vision lasted three years.

And the new look . . . ?

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Thursday, December 10, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Dam Close

Who won the prize for this week’s game — a one-year individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance?

Somebody who made one of these guesses: Memorial, Bunker Hill Village, Piney Point Village, Sugar Land, Champions (2 guesses), Charnwood, the San Felipe and Voss area, Katy, Cinco Ranch, “Memorial/Kirkwood area,” “Memorial/Dairy Ashford area,” Richmond Ave. inside the Beltway, Riverside Terrace, Fleetwood (2), Quail Valley, Greenwood Forest, Hedwig Village, Ponderosa Forest, Timbergrove Manor, along Sims Bayou near the Gulf Freeway, “Memorial Northwest, just north of Louetta and off of Champion Forest,” and Sandalwood.

Congratulations to Phil Hyde, for winning with this:

This house has some obvious updates, like the granite countertops. But the herringbone floors and wood paneling scream 70’s. Very typical of houses in Fleetwood.

Would you like your membership wrapped? Also guessing Fleetwood was this week’s runner-up, KimmerTX.

Let’s have a look:

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Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Outdoor Indoor

How about another round of the Neighborhood Guessing Game? There’s a Rice Design Alliance membership waiting for the winner!

You know the drill: We want you to guess where this home is! If you guess correctly, you win! If more than one person guesses the correct neighborhood, the prize goes to the player who gave the best explanation for the guess.

If you know this home already, or if you come across it online while we’re playing, please don’t blurt out the answer and ruin the fun for everyone else. Instead, send Swamplot a link to the listing, then submit your own incorrect guess. Make it sound convincing! If you do that well, you’ll get special recognition when the winner is announced. And if nobody guesses the correct neighborhood, that winner could be you. (That’s how last week’s winner won!)

First, you’ll want to look at a few more photos:

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Thursday, December 3, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: South Loopside

None of you guessed the correct location for this week’s mystery home. But we have a prizewinner for that Rice Design Alliance membership!

Here’s where you thought the home might be: Friendswood, Timbergrove Manor (5 guesses), Lazybrook (2 guesses), Oak Forest (2), Westbury, Willowbrook, Shepherd Forest, Spring Branch (2), Sharpstown, Meyerland, Westwood, Willowbend, Braes Heights, Ayrshire, Afton Oaks, Lynn Park, Old Braeswood, Braeburn Valley (2), Bellaire, and Maplewood.

Since nobody guessed it, we’re giving a one-year individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance to a player who wrote in to identify the listing, then posted a couple of solid decoy guesses:

While the funky kitchen floor throws me off a bit, I’m going to guess based on the traditional furniture that they are Afton Oaks-dwellers.

and

Sorry - Afton Oaks OR Lynn Park (behind Highland Village). That whole area has that real estate tension between renovating old ranches or mowing them down to build a brand-new faux-something.

Congratulations, LT. You’ve won the week!

So where is this home?

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