Neighborhood Guessing Game

Interiors
06/12/08 5:30pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: The Lovable Forest

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Kingwood, Neighborhood Guessing Game
7 Comments

Neighborhood Guessing Game 11: Pool Table

This week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game has . . . no winner. None of you were even close. But it sure was fun!

Most of your guesses centered around Memorial. We had 2 for “Memorial” and one for “near Memorial Park.” Plus: 4 votes for Bunker Hill Village and one each for Hunters Creek Village, Hedwig Village, Jersey Village, and Hilshire Village. Pasadena and Champions Forest got 2 guesses each, and the remainder went to Baytown, Deer Park, the Mid Lane area, the southeast quadrant of Gessner and Westheimer, South Houston, Westheimer & Highway 6, Braeswood-Fondren near the country club, Greenwood Forest, Royden Oaks, and Fountainview or Bering Drive.

Hey, nobody guessed Meyerland! (No, it’s not there, either.)

This week we also had a few mystery sightings: A “I Shot J.R.” T-shirt in the closet; a sidewalk in front of the house; a fake fireplace in the converted attic; a second foosball table. Where are these things?

Three of you get honorable mentions: Brad, for spotting what may or may not be stirrups fastened to the bar in the uh . . . foosball room; Joni Webb for getting the house’s timeline right:

it’s a total redo – the kitchen and bathrooms. I’m going with 70’s, 80’s with new redo in the last 5 years.

And of course margo . . . for this fun comment:

OMG! Please tell me that my eyes are deceiving me. Is that a leopard rug with head attached draped over the treadmill?? No no no. That is wrong on so many levels. I’ve been known to hang a few bras from my treadmill but never a dead animal. Im going with bunkerhill area i’ve seen some strange buisness in a few houses in that area and this looks about par.

There were no secret disinformation campaigns this time . . . but you never know!

Where is this place? Answer revealed below!

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Interiors
06/10/08 7:05pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: House Pool

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Neighborhood Guessing Game
22 Comments

Neighborhood Guessing Game 11: Pool Table

Some very secretive Swamplot readers have been playing the Neighborhood Guessing Game week after week . . . without really playing it: studying the photos, browsing neighborhoods, identifying the best prospects — and checking back on Thursday for the answers. Hey, game lurkers! How about actually entering your conclusions into the comments?

This week, we’re asking our private guessers (you know who you are!) to step out of the shadows and add your comments below — where everyone can see them. That way you’ll have an actual chance to win. Everybody into the guessing pool!

You know the rules. Now it’s your turn. Ready for a whole bunch more photos of this week’s mystery pad?

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

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Interiors
06/05/08 8:25pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: D’eau!

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Neighborhood Guessing Game, Post Oak Park
3 Comments

Neighborhood Guessing Game 10: Stair

There were three Meyerland guesses in this week’s game . . . though at least two of them were likely tongue-in-cheek. The rest: one each for the Museum District, “just west of the Galleria,” Upper Kirby, the greater Galleria area, Gessner between Memorial and Briar Forest, the Bering-Augusta area, Montrose, River Oaks, Memorial Dr. and Chimney Rock, Hillcroft/Voss, Legend Lane, Bunker Hill, Tanglewood, north of the Galleria and west of River Oaks, Bissonnet between Kirby and Newcastle, Nantucket between San Felipe and Woodway, and Camp Hudson.

Y’all know where to find the seventies-model townhouses! Most of you figured it was one — despite the best efforts of K, who turned out to be this week’s secret disinformation-spewing agent. She sent in the correct address and then posted this plausible but misleading argument:

I know it looks like a townhouse, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t: this looks just like the houses in my area that have atriums/front courtyards that are covered in in ivy, especially when they’re on busy streets like Gessner.

Also, the bedrooms are way too large for this to be a townhome. I’m guessing — not Meyerland this time! — that it’s a two-story late-1960s era single-family home with a very blockish front/exterior and a courtyard or two that we aren’t being shown.

Great work, K! Sadly, though, your subversive talents were not enough to throw off this week’s winner, marmer, who got the right neighborhood with one of his guesses:

Townhome. Older, probably not on top of a first-floor garage. You wouldn’t build such a constrained metal stair in a “real” house. Too awkward and too industrial. I’m OK with the room sizes if the bedrooms are all upstairs and the living areas doswnstairs. So, where? Tanglewood.
North of the Galleria and west of River Oaks.

Or I could be wrong and it could be on Bissonnet, between Kirby and Newcastle

Wrong side of the Loop . . . and it’s actually a condo, not a townhouse . . . but it’s still good enough for a win! River Hollow, Briar Hollow, Post Oak Park . . . what’s your favorite name for this area?

Honorable mentions this week go to ERM — for pointing out that some of the bedroom windows look onto the central stair — and last week’s winner, Jeff, for these mostly accurate observations:

This is nicer than some of the queso we’ve seen before. It looks like a townhouse to me, but not new construction. The cheap looking metal rails on the staircase suggests something from the 70’s. Also, the roof directly above the stairs looks to be a skylight, something we typically dont see with new construction. My guess is its an older place that is situated in a nice area to warrant the cost of new floors, kitchen, etc.

After the jump: The actual name of the actual seventies-era condo development. Plus: That pool shot you’ve been waiting for!

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Energy Corridor
05/30/08 5:47pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Blue

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Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Wilchester
5 Comments

Neighborhood Guessing Game 9: Family Room

So much fun in this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game! We have a winner . . . but only barely. Plus: shenanigans!

Three of you guessed Meyerland, and one guessed “outer Meyerland,” including Marilyn Estates and Barclay Square South. Braeswood got two guesses and so did Champions. Shady River in LaPorte, Prestonwood Forest, “the subdivisions along Cypresswood between FM 1960 and Kuykendahl,” Briargrove Park, Nassau Bay, Westbury, Huntwick, Briar Forest, “close to the Energy Corridor,” Shepherd Park Plaza, Lazybrook, and Timbergrove each attracted one vote.

The top prize goes to Jeff, whose guess included the magic phrase “close to the Energy Corridor.” Our panel of judges has determined that to be good enough. Plus, his entry had a lot of imagery going for it:

OMG, this is complete cheddar. All thats missing here is a disco ball, an overweight swinger with a thick mustache and gold chain, and some Bee Gees pumping out of the 8 track set upon the shag carpet. Attention Swamplot: John Holmes called and wants his house back.

This week’s honorable mention for commentary goes to Marc, who got the date of the house about right and identified a few telling details, though sadly forgot to include an actual guess of the neighborhood:

So when will Colonial be all retro and hip? Ha! I guess late 60’s to early 70’s ….Recessed fluorescents in the baths, light fixtures. Who switched the breakfast nook light? Cool swag light in the family room. Let’s celebrate the bicentennial all over again.

But special honors go to Karen, who has the distinction of being the first to try the Neighborhood Guessing Game version of shooting the moon. She happened upon the actual listing after submitting her original guess and a follow-up comment, then doubled down on her Nassau Bay deception with this comment — clearly meant to throw her competitors off the heavily-vacuumed scent:

Jeff, this is definitely NOT in the energy corridor! I’m sticking with Nassau Bay – I know it’s a total WAG, but all that blue tells me they were inspired by the sparkling blue waters of Clear Lake. I definitely detect a nautical theme in the decor.

I can’t explain why a house so obviously near NASA is not vacuumed with more attention to directionality and linear patterning. That is just sad.

Was her obfuscation effective? Jeff won anyway, but hats off to Karen for stirring things up! (Note: Any of you interested in following in her footsteps, please take note of item 4 in the rules.)

After the jump: The house’s . . . yes, blueish exterior, and the actual name of that near-the-Energy-Corridor neighborhood!

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Interiors
05/28/08 11:21am

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Parquet

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Neighborhood Guessing Game
18 Comments

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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Interiors
05/22/08 7:18pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Sharp Dressed Pad

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Neighborhood Guessing Game, Sharpstown Country Club Estates
2 Comments

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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Interiors
05/20/08 4:24pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Brick Bath

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Neighborhood Guessing Game
18 Comments

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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Homes for Sale
05/15/08 11:52pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Front Door on the Side

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Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Oak Forest
4 Comments

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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Interiors
05/13/08 7:48pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Biased

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Neighborhood Guessing Game
20 Comments

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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Home Decor
05/08/08 4:35pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Lake Escape

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Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Pearland, The Lakes of Highland Glen
6 Comments

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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Interiors
05/06/08 9:30am

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Escape

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Neighborhood Guessing Game
10 Comments

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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Glendower Court
05/01/08 11:57pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Poof!

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Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Townhomes
3 Comments

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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Interiors
04/29/08 10:11am

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Chicken Island

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Neighborhood Guessing Game
13 Comments

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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Boulevard Oaks
04/24/08 11:57pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Remodeled and Remodeled

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Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, West Edgemont
1 Comment

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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