04/12/17 4:00pm

9011 Breckenridge Dr., Magnolia, TX, 77354

The 5.38-acre estate at 9011 Breckenridge Dr., taken up in large part by the manufactured lake wrapping 360 degrees around the property’s 6-bedroom main house, is up for sale (with $2,999,900 as the current asking price). Digging on the water feature started around late 2005 and lasted for a few years — seemingly as the large pond next door was starting to get filled in and smoothed over. (That’s the spot where the Estates Woodlands apartment complex has since been constructed, curled loosely around a new, smaller detention pond):

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Moats of Magnolia
04/04/17 5:00pm

3611 Woodvalley Dr., Woodside, Houston, 77025

3611 Woodvalley Dr., Woodside, Houston, 77025

Just how many textures are tucked between the low walls of the facade at 3611 Woodvalley Dr. and the rather taller 610 Loop noise barricade that the property backs up against? The 2,704-sq.-ft. home has been outfitted with a considerable variety and range of visual stimuli in its 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, as well as its open kitchen and living areas — from the mod and minimalist to the more avant garde (that’s the master suite pictured above, as viewed from the open-plan walk-in closet). You can even draw your very own patterns on one of the 1959 home’s more recent chalkboard surfaces:

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For Sale at Loop’s Edge
03/17/17 3:45pm

7818 Bellwood Dr., Bellewood, Houston, 77055

7818-bellwood-02

The resemblance of the front entryway of 7818 Bellewood Dr. to its angular 2001 visage might only be visible to those who knew the house in its earlier days —  before the 15-year-old home was taken down to the studs, then expanded to just over twice its original square footage.  The stripdown and buildout started after Boutros Construction bought the place and its roomy 0.7-acre lot, around the time it was listed for $1.15 million; the new, 6,041-sq.-ft. version is now listed at a smidgen under $2.5 million, and is decked out in slatey blues and greys (with most of the interior not yet committed to paint colors, if the listing shots are still a current indication).

Other than some rounding down of the turret on the right of the entrance, what else has changed? The porch stairs and main mass above the front door are a little more curvaceous, the widow’s walk has evidently been chopped off the top and sealed up during re-reroofing . . . oh, and there’s that brick chimney stabbed into the front of the new master suite off to the side. A more head-on view of the new look is provided by a rendering of the house, though a few details have been tweaked since the drawing was done:

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Hidden In Plan View