Swamplot Archives by Tag: Interiors

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Hudson News

November 19, 2009 – 11:03 pm

We have a winner for this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game! Who won that membership in the Rice Design Alliance?

First, here’s where you guessed this home might be: Southampton (2 guesses), Bellaire (3 of you), Tanglewood, Champions (2), “off Memorial near the Tollway,” Baytown (2), “Gessner and Wilcrest area,” Pearland, Sugar Land, The Woodlands (2), Katy, Southampton, the Heights, Briar Forest, Downtown, Memorial, West University, Deer Park, League City, Clear Lake, Greatwood, Willowbrook, Spring, Champions, Kingwood, Midtown, Montrose, Rice Military, Camp Logan, Garden Oaks, Oak Forest, Timbergrove Manor (2), Upper Kirby, the Galleria, Afton Oaks, Gulfton, Spring Branch, Sharpstown, Alief, Braeburn, Tanglewilde, Westchase, Barker Cypress, Greenspoint, Cinco Ranch, EaDo, River Oaks (2), “Wards 1-6,” Riverside Terrace, Avondale, “just inside the Beltway, just off Memorial Dr.,” West Lane Place, “somewhere south of Richmond and west of Hillcroft,” “the Stoney Brook or Westbriar/Tanglewilde area,” Tealwood, and “the Memorial/Gessner area.”

The winner of a one-year individual membership in the RDA is mojo jojo, for pinpointing the home with this entry:

The decorations in this home point to outside the loop, around the beltway or beyond! The photos give very little indication to era, except for the kitchen. From the knob placement on the cabinets (I betcha that these cabinets original had yellow or green ceramics knobs), to the custom built vent apron over the island, this kitchen screams 70’s!!! . . .

What leads me to the location is the fact that the home has almost no yard, as seen in the many photos which show the ivy covered wall outside of every window. This leads me to the many townhome communities built in the 70’s and 80’s, around the Beltway.

My scientific calculations, lead me to believe that this home is just inside the Beltway, and just off Memorial Dr.

Congratulations, mojo jojo!

We’re also handing out an honorable mention to movocelot, for being kinda close too. Now just where is this place?

Continue Reading This Story >

11:03 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Neighborhoods: Hudson on the Bayou, Neighborhoods: Memorial
Read more about: , , , , ,

Meanwhile, Way Out There in Texas City

November 19, 2009 – 1:31 pm

A reader wants to know if this home on a cul-de-sac in Texas City’s Northside neighborhood is too far out to work as a subject of Swamplot’s weekly Neighborhood Guessing Game.

Continue Reading This Story >

1:31 pm | 17 Comments | Read more about Home Decor, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Texas-City
Read more about: , , , , ,
Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Red Bed Net

November 17, 2009 – 11:47 pm

Another Neighborhood Guessing Game, and this time there’s a prize! If you win, you get a one-year individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance! Are you ready to play?

All you need to do to win is guess the location of the pictured home. If more than one of you guesses the correct neighborhood, the player who provided the best explanation for the guess gets the prize.

If you already know this home, or if you come across it while we’re playing the game, please don’t spill the beans and ruin the fun for everyone else. Instead, send Swamplot a link to the listing (so we’re clued in), then submit a well-argued but just-plain-wrong guess. If you do this well and fool a few readers in the process, you’ll get special recognition for your efforts. And if nobody guesses the actual neighborhood, you could win the prize!

Let’s see a few more photos now, yo?

Continue Reading This Story >

11:47 pm | 15 Comments | Read more about Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game
Read more about: ,
Monday, November 16, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Major League

November 16, 2009 – 11:52 pm

Some very smart and interesting guesses in this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game!

Here’s where you thought this home might be: “Off of Highway 249, Jones Rd. and Louetta,” West University, Katy, Lakeside Estates, “around the Augusta/Bering area” (2 guesses), Riverside Terrace (also 2), “that strip between Almeda and 288,” Lakeside Place, “Barker’s Landing, between Memorial and I-10, behind the BP compound,” Gaywood, Braeswood Place, Ayrshire, Braes Heights, Braes Oaks, Braes Manor, Braes Terrace, Emerald Forest, Southern Oaks, the Rossmoyne Addition (near Bonnie Brae and Graustark), Wilchester, Clute, Meyerland, Memorial, FM 1960, along Yorktown and Sage in the Galleria, “just south of Memorial City Mall, maybe on Gessner,” Westhaven Estates, “one of the Fleetwood neighborhoods near Memorial and Highway 6), Montrose, “within a mile or 2 of Memorial and 610,” Sugar Land (2), Richmond, Sugar Creek, Quail Valley, “along Cypresswood and Louetta,” the Energy Corridor, Prestonwood Forest, “East of Eden,” The Woodlands (3), Dickinson, along Dickinson Bayou, Champions, Champion Forest, “that River Oaks Lite neighborhood between Shepherd and Kirby, north of Westheimer,” Pecan Grove, Tanglewood, Vatican City (2), Bellaire, the Museum District, Willow Meadows, Linkwood, “the ‘Ashford’ subdivisions along Briarforest west of Kirkwood,” “the older subdivisions in Pearland and Friendswood along Clear Creek,” Bay Oaks in Clear Lake, Idylwood, Briargrove Park, Spring Valley, Northfield in Fondren Southwest, Lazybrook, Timbergrove Manor, “the Shepherd Forest/Brookhollow area,” Inwood Forest (2), Bayou Bend, “the Woodstone/Woodlake Forest/Hudson Oaks area,” Tealwood, “I-10, just before the Beltway, north side of the highway,” Kingwood, River Oaks, “on Breakwood by 610 South,” Townhouse Manor, and “one of the more upscale subdivisions in outer Mongolia.”

Matt Mystery wins this one with his close-enough, uh . . . 19th guess:

The paneling is the main clue but the ceiling height is what is so mysterious - not just a high ceiling. Not a two story ceiling. It’s a one and one-half story ceiling. Wherever it is, I suspect it is a custom home. Some built custom homes in “tract” subdivisions which is what I’m wondering about - some other possibilities could be Bellaire, the Museum District, Willow Meadows, Linkwood, the “Ashford” subdivisions along Briarforest west of Kirkwood, the older subdivisions in Pearland and Friendswood along Clear Creek, Bay Oaks in Clear Lake. So many possibilities.

Yes, but this is where it is:

Continue Reading This Story >

11:52 pm | 13 Comments | Read more about Home Decor, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Neighborhoods: League City
Read more about: , , , , ,
Friday, November 13, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Held Over the Weekend: Take Your Time

November 13, 2009 – 9:37 pm

Looks like there needs to be a bit more guessin’ for this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game!

We’ve already extended the game for an extra day. None of you have it yet. But . . . it’s still within reach! Just where could this home be?

If you haven’t guessed yet — or if you’ve already guessed — you’ve got another chance to figure it out . . . over the weekend! We’ll let you in on the answer on Monday.

Photo: HAR

9:37 pm | 8 Comments | Read more about Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game
Read more about: ,
Thursday, November 12, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Held Over: Keep At It!

November 12, 2009 – 3:01 pm

That’s right . . . there’s no winner yet in this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game. First prize is still up for grabs. And we’re giving y’all another day to get it right.

Photo: HAR

3:01 pm | 6 Comments | Read more about Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game
Read more about: ,
Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game: The Hall of Artifacts

November 10, 2009 – 11:51 pm

The winner of this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game . . . wins the Neighborhood Guessing Game! Could that prizewinner be you?

It could — if you guess the location of the home pictured here! If more than one of you guess it correctly, we’ll award the first place prize to the player who provided the best explanation with the guess.

If you already know this property, or if you come across it while we’re playing the game, please don’t blurt out the answer and ruin the fun for everyone else. Instead, we hope you’ll make the game even more fun — by sending Swamplot an email with a link to the listing (so we know what you’re up to), then submitting an incorrect guess, meant to throw the other players off! If you do this well, you’ll earn special recognition when the winner is announced. (And if nobody guesses the actual neighborhood, that winner could be you!)

Ready to give this game a try?

Continue Reading This Story >

11:51 pm | 37 Comments | Read more about Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game
Read more about: ,
Thursday, November 5, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: In the Zone

November 5, 2009 – 11:44 pm

Where was that home that was featured in this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game? And did anyone win that RDA membership?

First, let’s run through the locations you guessed: Braes Heights, Highland Village, on Brogden Rd. in Memorial, Southampton, Rice Village, Midtown (2 guesses), “somewhere off Washington Ave.,” St. George Place, Hyde Park (also 2 guesses), Cottage Grove, “north of Fairview, east of Dunlavy, near Wilson Elementary,” “between Shepherd and Waugh, just south of Washington, maybe around Feagan St.,” Timbergrove Manor (2), Montrose, the Museum District, Camp Logan, the Heights (2), “just east of Memorial Park, south of Washington, north of Memorial, near Westcott,” Rice Military (3), near Memorial Park, in the “River Oaks” area, “in the upper west Washington Ave/Rice Military vicinity,” near Winter and Houston Streets (2), Sunset Heightsish, Upper Kirby, Shady Acres (2), “north Heights,” Sunset Heights, “within a mile of the north Loop,” off Quitman, East Downtown, Fifth Ward, Downtown, the Caceres development, “between Montrose and the Museum District” (2), Jackson Hill, the West End, and near the Menil.

The winner of that one-year individual membership in the Rice Design Alliance? Longtime NGG player justguessin, who just guessed this guess:

First, I’ll go with somewhere off Washington Ave. Second, St. George’s Place, so many townhomes over there.

One of those new modern townhomes with all of the slate tiles on the exterior.

This house must have been built recently. There are a few too many textures in this place….cement floors, granite and marble counters, and the ubiquitous “tumble stone” backsplashes. Also, the rug in the bedroom seems to keep showing up in the NGG houses. You would also have to sell the dining room table with the house…what else could work there?

Congratulations, justguessin!

This week we also recognize the considerable efforts of reader mojo jojo, who already knew the answer (and wrote in to let us know that), but went ahead and posted this remarkable entry anyway, just to throw the rest of you off track:

Just from my initial peruse through the photos, two things immediately caught my eye; the window placement and the curved walls in the dining room and just past the kitchen. Noticing these items, I am certain that this is a recently constructed contemporary/modern home. On closer inspection, I noticed that through the four windows in the living room, I can see that the property has been landscaped with an abundance of tropical plantings, consisting of large green leafy foliage. From the size of the landscaping, I would estimate that this home was built somewhere around 2005 or 2006. Although I don’t see any, I would bet my first Gin & Tonic of the morning that the property has its fair share of palm trees.

From the photo of the master bedroom, again looking out the windows, this photo also gives two clues to location! Out these windows, you see mature trees both on this property as well as across the street. This indicates that the home is located in an established neighborhood, maybe from the 30’s to the 50’s. The second, and most important clue, is the slope of the street running in front of the home (bottom of the middle window). I can tell that the road slopes down to the left! Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!

This home is located in Braes Heights, what should be Section 9. I am sure it is located on one of the streets that run North or Northwest from N Braeswood Blvd, between Stella Link and Buffalo Speedway. My guess would be that the home is within five to 10 lots North of N. Braeswood Blvd. Another clue, which I almost missed, is the framed diplomas located in the open cabinets in the study. These diplomas look just like those that hang behind my Dr’s desk. My theory is that the owner is a Dr who does ER work, thus the close proximity of Braes Heights to the Med Center is perfect.

Did it work?

So where is this place, really?

Continue Reading This Story >

11:44 pm | 6 Comments | Read more about Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Neighborhoods: Galleria, Neighborhoods: St. George Place
Read more about: , , , , , , ,
Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Gone Fisheye

November 3, 2009 – 11:51 pm

Hey, how about another round of the Neighborhood Guessing Game? There’s a membership in the Rice Design Alliance on the line this time!

Here’s how you can win it: Just guess the location of the pictured home. If more than one of you guesses the correct neighborhood, we’ll send that one-year individual RDA membership to the player who provided the best explanation for the guess.

If you have already seen this home or its listing, or if you find it while we’re playing the game, please don’t blurt out the answer and ruin the fun for everyone else. Instead, send Swamplot a link to the listing — so we’ll know what you’re up to. Then submit an incorrect guess — but make it seem plausible. If you do this well, you’ll get special recognition when the winner is announced. And if nobody guesses the actual location, you could end up with the prize!

Have a look around:

Continue Reading This Story >

11:51 pm | 37 Comments | Read more about Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game
Read more about: ,
Friday, October 30, 2009

A Last Look at the Old Schnitzer Home

October 30, 2009 – 10:20 am

A few readers have requested a final tour of the former Sherwood Forest home of Greenway Plaza developer Kenneth Schnitzer. The home at 314 E. Friar Tuck Ln. showed up in yesterday’s Daily Demolition Report. It was built in 1970 from a design by Houston architects Neuhaus & Taylor.

Have a look around:

Continue Reading This Story >

10:20 am | 26 Comments | Read more about Demolitions, Houston Architects, Interiors, Neighborhoods: Sherwood Forest
Read more about: , , , , ,
Thursday, October 29, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Shakespeare at the Village Corner

October 29, 2009 – 11:46 pm

We have a winner! The . . . same winner.

Where is this home? There were 2 guesses each for West University, Riverside Terrace, Idylwood, Montrose, and the Heights. The rest: “near Hobby Airport,” Pearland, Southampton, Southgate, Clear Lake, Spring Valley “or the area a little east of there,” “around Rice,” “Longpoint near Spring Branch Med Center,” Meyerland, “MacGregor/Riverside,” “outside the Beltway just south of I-10, maybe near Kirkwood or Dairy Ashford,” Friendswood, “off Lawndale and 45,” Westbury, Garden Oaks, “somewhere in the vicinity of Rice and Rice Village,” “one of the various neighborhoods along Greenbriar and Shepherd between Rice Village and West Alabama,” Oak Forest, Pasadena, and Deer Park.

The winner — for the third week in a row! — is Matt Mystery, who blanketed the Rice University area with a series of guesses, making sure to mention the Rice Village:

That converted attic to me is really the main clue along with that curious mail slot which seems to indicate there is also an entry. So it is in an older neighborhood where even the smaller houses, and this was probably a smaller house with several rooms added on, were a little more “upscale” than normal. One story but with a high-pitched roof which as I recall allowed for better cross-ventilation which kept the house cooler and of course added more storage space in the attic itself. It could be out in the boonies somewhere but my feeling is it’s “inside the loop” and somewhere in the vicinity of Rice and Rice Village although it could be further north in one of the various neighborhoods along Greenbriar and Shepherd between Rice Village and West Alabama and the various neighborhoods between West Alabama and 59 in the Montrose area. Draw a circle using Rice University as the center and I suspect this house is somewhere within a 5 mile radius.

Congratulations, Matt! Our runner-up this week is Carol, who also thought the home was “around Rice.”

Where is it exactly?

Continue Reading This Story >

11:46 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Neighborhoods: Rice Village, Neighborhoods: Windermere
Read more about: , , , , ,
Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Cold, Hard Mexican Ceramic Tile

October 27, 2009 – 2:31 pm

We’ve got one of those “old school” guessing games this week: There’ll be no fancy prizes for the winner — just glory. Are you ready to play?

You win by guessing the location of the pictured home. If more than one of you identifies the correct neighborhood, the player who provided the best explanation for the guess wins.

What if you know this place already? Please don’t blurt out the answer and ruin the fun for everyone else. Instead, send Swamplot a link to the listing, then post an incorrect guess. But make that incorrect guess sound plausible! If you can do that well and throw the other players off, you’ll get special recognition when the winner is announced. And if nobody guesses the correct neighborhood, that winner could be you!

Take a look at the rest of the house:

Continue Reading This Story >

2:31 pm | 22 Comments | Read more about Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game
Read more about: ,
Thursday, October 22, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Big Guessing Game Hunt

October 22, 2009 – 11:47 pm

Who won that Rice Design Alliance membership?

First, your guesses in this week’s game: Four of you guessed Sugar Land; 3 Hunters Creek, Tanglewood, and River Oaks. There were 2 each for Memorial, Bayou Woods or Sherwood Forest, Piney Point Village, Katy, Magnolia, Sweetwater, Bellaire, and The Woodlands. Plus individual votes for “Memorial/Beltway 8,” “somewhere off Memorial Dr. near Voss,” “south of Memorial Dr. between Post Oak and Voss,” Memorial and Dairy Ashford, Crestwood, Glen Cove, Kingwood, Sugar Lakes, Venetian Estates, “the Peninsulas in Oyster Creek,” Pecan Grove in Richmond, Tomball, Indian Trail, Rivercrest, Augusta Pines, Homewoods, Tall Timbers, Mt. Belvieu, Cinco Ranch, “along the Bay Oaks golf course,” Camp Logan, Royal Oaks, Crosby, “off 249,” Pinehurst, “Champions area,” FM 1960, Northgate Forest, west Friendswood, Brazoria County, Lake Jackson, West Columbia, “the 290/Highway 6/1960 area,” Pearland, “along Buffalo Bayou near the Houston Country Club,” and “Holly Creek, west of Tomball.”

That one-year individual membership in the RDA goes to this week’s hardest guesser, Matt Mystery, who mentioned no fewer than 15 different communities in the course of 7 separate entries — including one that’s very close to the actual location:

Sugar Land. It could be Sweetwater or possibly Sugar Lakes/Venetian Estates. Or maybe The Peninsulas in Oyster Creek. Then there’s Pecan Grove in Richmond. So many subdivisions. So many areas. It just has that Tanglewood look. And it’s 9 pm on Thursday and it’s still a mystery.

Matt Mystery happens to be the same matt who won last week’s contest. Congratulations!

A lot of great guesses in there from the rest of you, too!

How about the deets?

Continue Reading This Story >

11:47 pm | 7 Comments | Read more about Fort Bend County, Home Decor, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Neighborhoods: Richmond, Neighborhoods: Shiloh Lake Estates
Read more about: , , , , , ,
Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Where the Wild Things Were

October 20, 2009 – 3:34 pm

This week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game is on! Do you know where this home is?

If you do, see the next paragraph for some specific instructions. If you don’t, why not make a guess? If you guess correctly you can win a great prize from the Rice Design Alliance: a one-year individual RDA membership! (If more than one person guesses the correct neighborhood, the prize goes to the player who provided the best explanation for the guess.)

Seen this place before? Great — please don’t spoil the game for everyone else by posting the answer. Instead, send Swamplot a link to the listing (so we’re clued in). Then post an incorrect guess — but make it sound believable! If you do this well, you’ll get special recognition when the answer is revealed. And if no other player comes up with the right neighborhood, you could win the prize!

Ready for a better look at this place? Go ahead, take a poke around:

Continue Reading This Story >

3:34 pm | 47 Comments | Read more about Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game
Read more about: ,
Thursday, October 15, 2009

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Around the Bend

October 15, 2009 – 11:44 pm

Where was this place? And did anyone win the prizes from Houston. It’s Worth It?

Good questions! And this week we had a lot of very good guesses. Seven each for southwest Houston and Westbury. Six each for Meyerland and Sharpstown. Three for Willowbend; plus 2 each for Pasadena, Spring Branch, Willow Meadows, LaPorte, and Riverside Terrace. The rest? Westwood, Spring Valley, Robindell, “somewhere off Braeswood,” “on Beechnut out west of Hillcroft,” “somewhere in the oldest part of the Windsor Village-Simsbrook-Brentwood nexus, within a 2-mile radius of Hiram Clarke and West Orem,” Meadow Creek, “the Almeda Mall/Fuqua area,” Baytown, Spring, Aldine, East Houston, Lockwood, “near North Houston,” Glenbrook Valley, Morgans Point, Deer Park, Briarmeadow, “north of Westheimer around Voss/Woodway,” Gulfton, “the older part of Sharpstown by Fondren and the Southwest Freeway,” Sharpstown Country Club Estates, Sharpstown Country Club Terrace, Larkwood, “near Hobby Airport,” “Bellaire West out past Beltway 8,” Clear Lake, League City, “somewhere east of the Gulf Freeway,” Candlelight Trails, “within a block of Bissonnet, between Edloe and S. Gessner,” Bellaire, “610 and Stella Link,” Eastwood, Third Ward, Alief, “around the North Airline area,” “Airline around 45 North,” Maplewood, Braeburn Valley, Braeburn Terrace, and Stancliff Park.

Of the 3 Willowbend guesses, the entries from matt came with the best explanation (plus some bonus entertainment value):

. . . The decor is obviously 60s, the house itself probably 50s, and because of the apparent layout I would suspect one of the “better” neighborhoods in the Spring Branch or Sharpstown or Willow Meadows/Willowbend areas. Something about the kitchen screams the Willow Meadows/Willowbend area.

No comment on the round bed. Remember them well. Fun to play in. Not so fun to sleep in. Inevitably when you tossed and turned you tumbled and ended up on the floor.

and later:

The ceiling/front windows have that Maplewood/Braeburn Valley look. But the one photo of a “den” which appears to be a second den indicates it was once the garage and I believe that’s a no-no in Maplewood and Braeburn Valley as well. So that leaves Westbury and Willow Meadows/Willowbend or Robindell, the bathroom has that Robindell look, or even the Braeburn Terrace area to the northwest of Robindell. Another possibility is the Stancliff Park area off Bissonnet and Wilcrest. Could be anywhere but it just has the Southwest Houston look. Definitely “upper middle class” house or at least it was back in the 1960s.

Congratulations, matt! You’ve won 3 fab prizes from Houston. It’s Worth It: The original HIWI book; the new HIWI: Ike book, plus an official HIWI “Hunkered Down” stencil kit! Our very close runners-up are David W and Cathy.

Also deserving recognition this week are fake-out guesses from readers who knew the listing. Here’s James:

Whoa! This elderly gent knows how to romance the ladies. And he runs a darn good bingo tournament on the weekends!!
Obviously the owner has done absolutely nothing in terms of updating or staging so this has to be in prime location. The owner is about to cash in and he knows it. This bachelor pad is north of Westheimer, around Voss/Woodway.

. . . and PaxMcKatz:

This fixer upper was owned by a bonafied ASTRONAUT-alternate in Clear Lake. In the 70’s, 80’s he lured the ladies back to his abode for an “Out-of-this-World” night. He chose the fridge cause, “Hell it looks like the moon-lander.” After the mission was scrubbed and a moonshot was no longer gonna happen, this confirmed bachelor dated a series of artsy-craftsy women; one of which painted the kitchen pink and was promptly dumped. He settled down with a cute divorcee; with all the mixens of a small shabby-sheik cottage to merge with his mod. She brought her stuff to the house and now these 2 lovebirds are looking forward to taking an around-the-world cruise, playing bridge with their friends before they move into the condo on the lake. He loves that she still calls him “Captain” and humors him by serving freeze-dried food on date night. They are a cute couple.

PaxMcKatz’s entry attracted fans in the comments. Great work!

Now about that house . . .

Continue Reading This Story >

11:44 pm | 6 Comments | Read more about Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Neighborhoods: Willowbend
Read more about: , , , ,