Neighborhood Guessing Game

Interiors
04/22/08 8:39pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: The Well-Paneled Room

by
Neighborhood Guessing Game
14 Comments

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!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

,
Braeburn Valley West
04/17/08 11:58pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: The Great Den

by
Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game
2 Comments

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!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , ,
Interiors
04/15/08 3:52pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: The Red Dining Room

by
Neighborhood Guessing Game
12 Comments

Neighborhood Guessing Game 3: Living Room and Dining Room

Ready for another round of the Neighborhood Guessing Game? Here goes!

Today’s entry is . . . well, just look at it. And imagine what neighborhood it’s in. And add your guess to the comments section below. And while you’re at it, add to your comment a few of the reasons you think this house is in that neighborhood.

If you name the precise neighborhood before any other commenter, you win! And if you’re especially sharp with your commentary, you get special recognition.

And if you already know this particular house for some reason, please don’t tell us that you know it and how you know it and ruin the game for everyone else, ’kay?

The rest of our interiors-only pictures are below the fold:

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

,
Homes for Sale
04/10/08 6:21pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Window Unit

by
Interiors, Lindale Park, Neighborhood Guessing Game
2 Comments

Neighborhood Guessing Game 2: View from Kitchen

Thanks to y’all for playing the Neighborhood Guessing Game! We had 19 guessers and 24 guesses for this week‘s contest. And they were all over the place . . . but all inside the Loop!

Three of you guessed Montrose and another 3 guessed the Houston Heights. There were 2 votes each for Brookesmith, Washington Terrace, Riverside Terrace, Lindale Park, and Idylwood or Eastwood. Other guesses were: Bellaire, Woodland Heights, the Reliant Park area, Midtown, Sunset Heights, Southgate, Winlow Place and environs, and “over by the Orange Show.”

The winner this week was missjanel, who was the first to mention Lindale Park . . . though she didn’t explain her guess.

Sure, there were plenty of neighborhoods a house like this could have been in. How were you supposed to figure out Lindale Park? No one nailed it precisely, but some commenters were pretty sharp at picking up the clues. jgbiggs noted

a brick house next door with a horribly inappropriate iron fence. Also, the painted over windows on the front door give evidence that it is in a high crime neighborhood.

Jeff was (probably) off about the vintage of the house next door, but pointed out:

Definitely a gentrifying area. New behemoth next to a bungalow with no central AC.

Commenter karen noted some of the contradictions:

The bricks next door are so close and the gold-tipped iron fence so ugly that it really could be West U, but then this would be a tear-down, so why show interior house images on HAR?

Lastly, Mike noted that the brick house next door was probably an older one. And one of his 3 guesses was Lindale Park!

Let’s add it all up: well-kept or recently redone hardwood floors? Check. New, reasonably sophisticated interior paint colors? Check. Security-conscious fencing nearby? Check. Toddler toys in bedroom? Check. Nearby property values probably not high enough to support yuppifying the kitchen or dealing with the window-unit AC? Check.

It wasn’t runaway obvious, but Lindale Park does fit those specs.

After the jump: The house! Where, what, and how much.

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , ,
Interiors
04/08/08 2:01pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: View to a Room

by
Neighborhood Guessing Game
19 Comments

Neighborhood Guessing Game 2: View from Kitchen

It’s time for our second round of the Neighborhood Guessing Game! A quick review of the rules: We show photos of the interior of a house on HAR. You guess what neighborhood it’s in, in the comments. Simple enough, huh?

If you already know this house, feel free to add your “guess” below — just don’t ruin it for everyone else by stating that you are correct and how you know it.

Ready for more pics of this week’s property? See below!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

,
Homes for Sale
04/03/08 3:51pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: We Have a Winner!

by
Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, West University
4 Comments

Neighborhood Guessing Game 1: Stairs

Our first stab at the Neighborhood Guessing Game attracted a good number of smart observations from sleuthing readers . . . and a winner!

Thanks to all those who hazarded a guess! Five commenters thought the house we featured on Tuesday was in West U. There were single votes each for Sugar Lakes, the Eldridge & Memorial area, Montrose, the Heights, “near Meyerland,” and Southgate.

Ah, the wisdom of the crowds baker’s dozen! West U it was! The West University Place 1 subdivision, to be exact.

The winner of this first competition is the appropriately named Buildergeek, who named West U first. But enlightening — or entertainingly obfuscating — commentary wins points too! Honorable mentions go to Houstonist‘s Jim Parsons, who guessed the house was a rehab from the 1980s or before:

The staircase is a giveaway in my mind — no self-respecting faux-neo-Georgian would have a staircase that Rhoda might have walked down.

. . . and to commenter Drew, who sounds a little like what we might expect if Sherlock Holmes had his own show on HGTV:

One of the early West U replacements. Built in the early 80s, given the finishes and selections. Larger than the standard West U lot, despite the red brick boxes and colonial style windows being so close to the neighbors. (Evidenced by the trees and added green space for the typical 5,000 sq ft WU lot. Must be west of Buffalo Speedway.

After the jump: Actual details on the featured West U home, which is actually for sale — “Rhoda”-style staircase, colonial-style windows, west-of-Buffalo-Speedway location, and all!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

, , , , ,
Interiors
04/01/08 4:09pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Florals and Formals

by
Neighborhood Guessing Game
14 Comments

Neighborhood Guessing Game 1: Stairs

It’s time to try a new feature on Swamplot. We’re calling it the Neighborhood Guessing Game.

Here’s the idea: We show you photos of a property listed on HAR. You prove your Houston real-estate savvy by identifying what neighborhood the property is in . . . in the comment section below.

Is that so difficult?

Well, there’s a little more to it: You only get to see photos of the interior.

Are homes really so different from neighborhood to neighborhood in Houston? Guess we’ll find out!

For more pics of our first mystery interior, keep reading below!

CONTINUE READING THIS STORY

,
« Previous Page