Neighborhood Guessing Game: Master Beds

What’s the prize for winning the Neighborhood Guessing Game this week? A one-year individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance!

How can you win it? By guessing the neighborhood of the pictured home. If more than one person guesses the correct neighborhood, the player who gave the best explanation for the guess wins the prize.

That’s it! Except: If you already know this property, or if you come across it or its listing while the game is being played, don’t post the answer and ruin the game for everyone else. Instead, send us a link to the listing — then post an incorrect guess. But make it sound real plausible. If you do this well — fooling your fellow players — you’ll get special recognition when the winner is announced. And if nobody guesses the actual neighborhood, that winner could be you!

How about studying a few more photos of this place?

***

Surely you’ve got some sense of this place by now?!

Start your guesses! They go in the comments. An answer and a prize will be waiting for you right here on Thursday!

Update, 7/30: They’re waiting for you right here.

Photos: HAR

41 Comment

  • OMG, someone cue up Robert Palmer’s “Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley” because the 80s are back, baby. Check out those posters and other furnishings… and the bathroom scheme. Yeah, bay-bee. And where else to live but off Westheimer in Briargrove. Just down the street from some of the cool clubs.

  • Digital Clock? Rattan? Teal? Nagel? Is this Marty McFly’s house?

  • I was wondering where Thurston and Lovey ended up when they returned back to the States and found out their friend Bernie stole everything but that lousy $150K they still had stashed in the trunk.

    This place kind of makes me sad. They might not have much money or sense of style, but by gawd, they know what time it is! I don’t know what the name of the neighborhood is, but it looks like what I imagine the interiors of the houses look like in that neighborhood along Eldridge Pkwy. just north of Alief-Clodine (Ashford Point?). Is this a foreclosure?

  • I like how they tried to stage this place so that it could “show well” LOL

  • Well, I’d better be careful in case the owner is reading this week. i’ll dial the snark back a little, especially where that bathroom is concerned. Looks like a cheap little starter home somewhere that’s old enough to have a few fairly big trees now. Let’s put it in Pearland just east of 288 and south of BW8. But it could be anywhere where sub-$130,000 houses may be found. Aldine or Spring come to mind, as does Pasadena, but I’ll stick with Pearland.

  • It’s the Attack of the Bathroom Accent Tiles! I’ll take a shot in the dark and say Green Tee in Pearland.

  • haha Hugo: staging!

    This looks like a college apartment shared by several young immigrants, even though there are no desks, books or computer visible… The excellent news is that they are so involved in their studies at TSU they don’t care what the place looks like.

    But, I see newer construction with a back-yard… a townhouse in Katy near the HCC campus?

  • I think Marmer kinda nails it on this one. There are so many cookie cutter outlying subdivisions this could be in. I’m going to take a stab at Mission Bend, but there are probably dozens, if not hundreds in outlying areas this place could be at home at. Something smells like the Aldine area about this too though.

  • Blecccchhhh!! 1983 1 1/2 story tract house.
    Gee that narrows down doesn’t it? I’ll take a cue from all that vintage rattan that this is in the vast hinterlands Southeast of Downtown. It ain’t a specific kind of house so it ain’t gonna get a specific neighborhood.

  • @Brad, I don’t know about “Sneakin’ Sally”, but I’ve got “Bungle in the Jungle” running through my head after viewing the indoor foliage.

  • I am going to guess that this house is near the sea. I know, we are all near the sea in a we are all dying sense but this one is a wee bit closer. Balding frat guy “Chad” and his blonde wife “Jill” bought this house back in 1985, just out of U of H. He in ambiguous business, she in real estate. Huey Lewis is big as is Jill’s hair. They decked this baby out in all the latest fashions and patterns. Now the only thing that remains in style (sadly in this part of the city) is Jill’s big hair. Their son, a bit of a let down after his fascination with Harry Potter and swords overtook their desire for a cool kid, heads off to college, to Tex Tech. Chad and Jill are moving up and by up, I mean closer to the shore. No more pretending they can see the beach, this time it is for real. I mean really, how much beach is there in League City, this house was just a starter, a party house and they have worn out their welcome?

  • It does look like a tract home that could be anywhere in the Houston MSA. I have no decorating skills so I have no snarky commments. Kind of digging the bathroom. Bear Creek area is my guess.

  • Sagemont forever.

  • Rattan-a-rama! Generic layout, trim-less aluminum-frame windows, jazzy john (with phone by the commode — shades of the Celestial Suite!). Yep, this place could be absolutely anywhere, so I’ll take a stab at the neighborhood southwest of the Fondren/Bellfort intersection.

  • It is tough to choose just one neighborhood, but since no one else has gone there, Im pointing towards Clear Lake — east of Hwy 3, on the north side of El Dorado. Probably still occupied by the original owners. That bathroom is making me dizzy. Love the rattan dining set, coffee table and cast iron cafe set in the kitchen — probably recovered from the sale of their Galveston getaway a few years back. And what’s with the plastic garbage “tote” in the corner of the master bedroom? Do I even WANT to know why that is there?

  • Out Richmond between Beltway 8 & Hwy 6. I have no idea what this area is called, but the area with the 1.5 story homes, not Royal Oaks.

    I think this is a couple of recent college grads either living in their old parents place (they got transfered) or renting. The furniture is parental (or grandparental) hand-me-downs.

  • “but by gawd, they know what time it is!” .. that made me laugh.

    I’m guessing somewhere in Missouri City.

  • Two story house on rather smaller lot, in a mid 1980’s subdivision somewhere south of Southbelt.
    Lots of tiles downstairs make me think that this house is located in or close to a flood zone – master bedroom is downstairs and carpeted rooms upstairs. Is Turkey Creek the reason? I guess… Sagemont or Highland Meadows.
    I would love to see the second bathroom… :)

  • Maybe they are trying to offset their carbon dioxide emissions with all of those potted plants.

  • Concord Colony/Bridge off W Little York btw Hwy 6 and Eldridge.

  • I got a little vertigo looking at that first living room pic…
    I wonder if the Realtor even told the HO that she was coming to take pictures? Crap all over the bed, empty water bottles on the nightstand, and I’m trying to figure out what that thing is on the pool table. It looks like a dead animal.
    Anyway, to the task at hand: definitely not too far from water of some sort, I’m going to guess the Seabrook/El Lago area.

  • Two story home, nice 80’s motif. The home itself looks like it was built around that time too. The swords suggest a married guy that can’t give up his college ways, yet still wants his man-cave to look classy since its in the house and not a separate garage apartment.
    I’ve got to go way out for this one. Like Katy. Around Cinco Ranch, maybe even past Grand Parkway.

  • The linoleum, mid 90’s appliances, accletic smattering of 80’s, 90’s funiture, wall to wall carpet in second floor living area, 2 story living room screams Missouri City to me. It feels like smaller, less exspensive version of Katy to me. I would have to say some little pocket neighborhood just off Murphey Rd and Cartwright.

  • Wow. This place is a pleasant time capsule and a Carpet Store Owners dream!! I am a huge fan of the 1980s-1990s iconic indirect halogen floor lamp. And Mini Blinds. I remember the 80s Mini Blind craze. Let’s face it, these people were cool in the 80s. You wanted to be friends with them. You wanted to ride on their boat at the lake house. This place is east north east of town along highway 90. Just outside the belt. Near lakes and fun. Nobody has mentioned it. The land of boundless 1980s potential. A magical land called “Kingwood”

  • Ronald Reagan has left the building! This is no young person’s house. Whoever has it set up in the 80’s and never redecorated, so I bet it is someone who has owned it for at least 25 years.

    The garden tub, the loft or railing above the two story den, I am going to guess Fondren Southwest, maybe the Northfield section possibly.

  • Not many distinct clues, although you don’t see a white pool table every day.

    I believe we’re in Mission Bend, circa 1982.

    That much 1st floor tile makes me wonder whether the new detention ponds are doing the trick. Hope so.

  • Actually, that is a giant cockroach on the pool table. It lieth in final repose.

    I am going with the Tri-cities of Deer Park/Pasadena/LaPorte. If I must narrow that, I choose there, where the antlered do roam.

  • On first glance, I swear it was an apartment that a friend had in College Station circa 1986. Assuming that Swamplot has not perfected the house time machine, this looks alot like to one of the first houses in Silverlake down 288.

  • I’m going to say Alief – had a relative with a house very similar to this one there.

    I’m thinking Mom has passed away & Dad installed the man cave in the loft he always wanted. But it’s not working out – he just can’t seem to finish anything. Maybe if he moves the art around? The basket plant in the kitchen was a condolence present – and he’s kept her plants & teddy bears around but he doesn’t know how to take care of them. Straighten up for the realtor? It IS straightened up!
    I just can’t figure out the 4 toothbrushes . And is that long string hanging down in the living room a fan pull?

  • Julian Kaye just called, and he wants his Weasel Dust back. Seriously, I’ll pick the area boxed by Pinemont > Ella > W. 34th > T.C. Jester. I think the area is named Oak Forrest Park Park.

  • I can’t believe that Miz Brooke is the only one who’s commented on the potti-phone. Boy, if I had one of those, I’d run answer it every time a solicitor or survey called just so I could flush during the call!

  • Ah, good friend marmer, potty-phones are not native to the vernacular architecture of the humble and lovable Brooke Smith subdivision. But I have seen them in the Celestial Suite of the former Astro Village Hotel, , yea verily in every bathroom, yea verily in colors matching the tubs and commodes.

    Perhaps the residents of this week’s 1980’s Po-Mo time capsule had aspirations to the 1960’s grandeur of Judge Hofheinz’s interior decorating.

  • Flake – I think the lady of the house still lives there – notice the curling iron (with the built-in wire stand) on the bathroom counter (I bet she has or had some awesome mall bangs at one point).

    That first photo made me nostalgic for Duran Duran….c’mon, everybody sing now, “Her name is rio and she dances on the sand……”

  • We looked at so many houses with exactly the same floor plan, everything starts to blur together. But for lack of time to think of anything more precise – I’ll give it the Kirkwood/Briar Forest hood.

  • Bacliff.

  • This is a townhouse off Wilcrest, between Briar Forest and Memorial. Over by the Lakeside Country Club. One of my girlfriends owned one in the 80s, but the interior was decorated with Waterford Crystal and mexican tile (a different kind of sad decor).

  • We had so much fun last week, I’ve just got to play. I’ll say it’s one of the older townhouses off of Newcastle, close to Bellaire Blvd.

  • Wow. I haven’t seen a Nagel in YEARS!!

    I’m going to guess the Galleria area.

    Off The Wall in the Galleria used to sell these things by the dozens (back in the 80’s)

  • Katy maybe…

  • Ah, a house with a checkered past. I’m feeling modern-colonial hybrid in the Clear Lake area.
    When we moved into our current house, we had that bathroom’s wall color in our dining room. It made me angry to even look at it. I finally found peace in priming.

  • Warning! Warning! This mid 80’s Missouri City starter home will self-destruct in just under 6 seconds, as indicated by the count-down clock in the kitchen!!! Quick, grab anything you can sell on ebay and wheel it out on one of the rattan roller chairs hiding amidst the tropical forest in the breakfast nook. Focus! What to grab with so little time?! The enormous lobster resting on the pool table, the samurai swords perched on the game room wall, or perhaps the yellow boom box from the tic-tac-toe bathroom? KaBooooooom….