This week’s game is . . . on!
No fancy prize this time — but oh, the glory if you win it! We’ll have a sponsor again next week. In the meantime, if you’ve been thinking about sponsoring a Neighborhood Guessing Game prize, now’s a great time to let us know.
You know the rules by now, don’t you? If you guess the neighborhood this home is in, you win! If more than one person guesses the correct neighborhood, the player who provided the best explanation for the guess wins.
And if you know this home already — or if you encounter it or any mention of it while we’re playing the game — please don’t blurt out the answer and ruin the fun for everybody else. Instead, send Swamplot an email with a link to the listing. Then enter an incorrect guess, artfully presented to confuse the other players. If you do this well, you’ll get special recognition for your efforts.
Of course, you’ll want to take a look around:
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Think you’ve got a handle on this place? Well, great . . . where could it be?
Your guesses go in the comments. There’ll be an answer waiting for you right here . . . on Thursday!
Update, 7/23: And the winner is . . . !
Photos: HAR
AFTON OAKS!! AFTON OAKS!! darn close to highland village. lots of 1960s 1970s charm. big trees outside. a really nice one story house. not a McBox.
Boulevard Oaks.
Obvious ranch style home with mature trees and fair sized lawn. – Big covered back patio reminds me of a relative’s home so I’m going to put all my eggs into a small basket – The neighborhood N of 10 and E of Antoine, across from Woodlawn Cemetery.
It’s a decent early-60s one-story that’s in a nice enough area to have had some upgrades but still resisting teardown pressure. Trees and lot size and proximity to neighbors make me think southern West U or Southside Place, within a block or so of Holcombe. I approve of their entertainment priorities. Way more vinyl than CD’s and a vintage TV. And high-end speakers. Judging from that I’m guessing that these folks are in their nid-fifties, have at least one grandkid, and bought this place back when West U. was still affordable, approx. 1975. Since then they’ve thrown the money at finishes and upgrades instead of a bigger house. Oh, and I don’t see any furniture that looks all that comfortable.
If it weren’t for all the trees outside the house, it would look like a half-remodeled semi-territorial style home in Santa Fe to me.
Santa Fe, New Mexico, that is.
But given that this contest involves homes in Houston, I’m at a bit of a loss.
Meyerland
I’m guessing it’s somewhere in the Briar Forest/Bunker Hill area..
briargrove.
Tanglewood….one of the older one story homes. Perhaps right near St Michaels. I would have thought Highland Village/Afton Oaks, due to the furnishings and overall look of the house, but the lot seems too big. Glass doorknobs in a 50’s ranch?
I don’t know where it is and I don’t care, all I know is that I WANT IT. With all of its glorious furnishings (at least the audio and the loveseats. I wanna hang out in that music room, pop open a beer with the handy built in opener, and jam some Pet Sounds up in there. But first I want to know what the blue and white fold-out looking thing is on the side of the bed. Is that a collapsible pet stair? I like the SW houston guesses, so I’ll take a stab the Stella Link around 610 area. On second look I’m not convinced the audio room is part of the main house, and I definitely don’t think the owners are old – I’m saying aging hipsters with good hand-me-downs.
I’m not certain, but someone’s HDR processing needs some work. Talk about ug-ly!
Aw hell. I’ll throw in a guess. I’m thinking Montrose, somewhere south of Westheimer. Maybe off of Portsmouth.
Haven’t the faintest idea where it is but that thing on the side of the bed is a folding bed rail to stop an infant rolling out and in case none of you noticed there is a changing table in that second bedroom. If they’re aging hipsters then they waited an awful long time to have a baby. And no I don’t think its grandparents because grandparents would be unlikely to be co-sleeping.
Weird vibe. Stratified updates, big dog, new kid, old house.
While it looks like a big lot with plenty of trees, you sure can see the neighbor’s houses to an annoying degree.
I’ll go with Garden Oaks.
I think I’ve been in this house….on Holly in Bellaire. weird.
Jimbo – when I said “aging hipsters” I had in mind mid-thirties or so, prime baby-makin’ age these days among many of the peeps who can afford this house. However, I am having a hard time reconciling that thought with the old people furniture in the front part of the house. I’m confused by this house but I still love it.
Anyone else think the music room is separate or maybe added on?
Interesting old 50’s/60’s ranch house. I find it interesting that they’ve updated rooms like the living room/dining room, but ignored that fugly kitchen. It screams “gut me”. Alot of the areas that have been mentioned here would make this a teardown were it in one of those neighborhoods. This could be a Garden Oaks or Oak Forest house. This could also be in the Spring Branch area somewhere. In Lazybrook or Timbergrove, the teardown pressure could be resisted perhaps.
1950’s ranchette in Lynn Park two or three blocks from the epicenter of Drexel and Alabama. Nice blend of the old and new.
oak forest, 1 story ranch, remodeled for the most part.. i agree its a bit confusing.. can’t imagine hipsters with that bedspread in the master.. and had they skimped on all the area rugs maybe they could’ve afforded new kitchen cabinets..
its like a 30 year old moved into his parents old home when he married and had a kid.. remodeled.. and kept their old bedspread.. who knows.
I’m fiftyish, and I have at least that much vinyl. And I bought new releases on vinyl until the late 80s. I don’t see thirty-somethings having that much vinyl unless they are serious collectors or they inherited it. I do think the audio room is part of the house. The speakers are too close together and the seats don’t face them, or the TV. Acoustically, it would probably be uncomfortably live in a space that small. My point being that a purpose-built audio room would be laid out differently — not so long and narrow.
Sure is a tidy, compact place! very tasteful,frugally reno’ed and understated. I’d guess one of those ‘Oaks neighborhoods already mentioned… 1/4 to 1/2 acre.
I wonder if the Sound Room uses the space of the orig. formal dining, just to the right of entrance? There may have been a covered patio where the existing dining area sits.
I agree that glass knobs are unexpected in this age of home. Heavy sliding doors in master bedroom also look older – like 1920’s! Homeowner seems to just like old stuff! and may have slowly remodeled.
Love the sound room with the animal skin rug. That would be my office. Great choices have already been made by the Swamplot readers. I need a win… Southampton.
Jessica – You know what this means … I can now be officially described as aging. You may have just spoiled my morning.
Got to be a house on Linkwood near south main. Knollwood Village.
I’ve got it figured out. It’s not a fiftyish _couple_. Rice or UH professor, not in music. Proud of having grown up listening to Dylan and the Stones. Bought this southern West U. rancher in ’75 when he was hired and when it was cheapish. Starter wife did the decorating, inherited some furniture, built up twenty years of resentment at his neglect in favor of his career and wandering eye. By the time he got tenure and the kids were grown, she took off. Didn’t take all that long for him to latch onto a thirtyish free-spirit grad student with a ticking bio-clock, and guess what resulted from all the passion? Yep, a baby! That nursery with the single bed is for the nanny/au pair, who naps when the baby naps.
Sorry Jimbo, if it makes you feel any better I classify myself in that category as well (“aging” – not so much “hipster”). But I don’t act my age when I can help it.
The baby cosleeps with mama – no grandma I know would do that. Nursery is just for changing and playing. These people are either May/December marriage like marmer proposed or seriously 30-something luddites who have nice taste in old stuff. I’m going to vote young and the near southwest –
Westbury.
I don’t have any idea where this house is – but frankly, I’m more intrigued with the owners than I am with the structure. The mix of furniture and decorating makes no sense to me at all…..I can’t imagine anyone under 50 having any of that furniture. Even if a younger couple inherited it from parents or in-laws, I would imagine they would do something to it to make the house look a little less fuddy-duddy.
All I can think is that the primary homeowners ARE older and their daughter and granddaughter visit frequently. The burgandy bedroom is actually the guest room – and although the granddaughter has her own room, she still sleeps with her mom enough that the grandparents felt more comfortable with a guard rail.
I’m going to guess Braes Heights.
Galleria area….behind Bechtel, btw Sage and Yorktown. The lay out of this house reminds me of houses I’ve been in in that area.
That area north of Westheimer between Tanglewild and Briargrove. Right behind the strip center where Sonny Looks was (later the Palm). What is that are called?
Originally I thought Afton Oaks, but the dining area view with the work shed in the backyard and no obvious view of any other homes in the background makes me think it is down the road on the other side of the train tracks in Lynn Park.
this has changed to the “resident guessing game”..
the man is balding with blue eyes.. and she’s a free-spirited brunette!
Ha! so true! We can’t seem to look at the Home without trying to figure out the Homeowner!
The colors are spendid. Whoever lives there has taste. Look at the “art deco” painting on the dinning room wall. Very intersting. Bet it wasn’t purchased. Probably a relative. Great possibilities, this house. Wish I had it.
Wow. What an intriguingly mixed-up place. The older furnishings shout 1950’s — would any readers really want to sit in those gold velour loveseats, even to enjoy the hi-fi? You’d sink down to the springs and never get out. The house, from the layout, casement windows, kitchen pine, sconce lamps, old-fashioned thermostat, and greeny bathroom, says ca. 1959, but the updated recessed lighting, glossy paint, glass doors, lavatory upgrades and nicer rug bespeaks thoughtful if somewhat random updating. The narrow-bricked house next door on one side says any of the late 50’s-early ’60’s neighborhoods in town, though that barn-red house on the other side somehow says north to me. Big lot, lots of room…
I would venture that the old beatniks Grandma and Grandpa bought this place when they were young in years as well as at heart, and other readers’ appraisals of visiting kids & grandbaby are spot on. The shampoo in the shower is Garnier Fructis, not Head & Shoulders or Suave. The house…the house…could be anywhere in the swath ranging clockwise from I-10 and Wirt up to between 290 and 45. I would say off the northern parts of Bingle, what the hey.
Old Beatnik! This is why I keep my vinyl behind cabinet doors.
I like the place. It is open, sunny, probably has a nice yard. These are grandparents. Grandpa did all the cabinetry himself and may have built the speakers, too. Classical or jazz lovers probably and they have a lot of creative friends.
Idylwood.
I just noticed… is the dining room table and chairs in the entry foyer? Professor Grandpa must want to eat the moment he gets home from his afternoon seminar.
Nah, Marmer. You can see the edge of the front door in the 2nd pic of this contest. The 3rd and 4th pics are taken with the photographer’s back to the entry.
All that expansive backyard makes me think this house might be near the “pasture land” we’ve got in SW Houston. Otherwise known as the high-tension power line easement.
I know I used this guess before, but I’ll go with the Linkwood Park area one more time. Too tired for snark today. Nice house. Maybe it’s an OK house but nicely appointed.
To answer Miz B’s question, I would LOVE to sit in those fabulous velour love seats. And I also LOVE the kitchen pine, combined with the old range (but they should have tile counters). And does anyone really decorate a room in a house this small for a grandbaby? I don’t think the owners are grandparents. Darn, I wish we could reveal the neighbors in this week’s guessing game!
Love the doggie looking in the doggie door. Spring Valley
Obviously cool, young hipsters live here. And, they know fine rugs. Bellaire.