04/06/09 5:34pm

COMMENT OF THE DAY: GUESSING GAME MARKDOWN “This home was custom built as wheelchair accessible. The features noted are the obvious accessibility features. What makes this home a great example of universal design are the lack of thresholds and the curved radius walls which lessen the chance of crashes, but they also look great! The owners are not handicapped at all and are relocating. They now cannot imagine having shower doors and thresholds to trip over in their next home. The price has been reduced to $555,000.” [Thomas A B Johnson, commenting on Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: First Chair]

03/12/09 5:06pm

Are all the votes in? Okay, then. We have a winner!

First, a big thank you to Robert Gadsby’s brand-new Bedford Restaurant in the Heights, for sponsoring this week’s prize: a $100 gift certificate to the restaurant.

Now your guesses for this week’s home: They were all good. You doubled up on Clear Lake, Cypress, Bentwater, Missouri City, Kingwood, Lakes on Eldridge, and Memorial. Sugar Land got 3 guesses. The rest: Silverlake, Cinco Ranch, West University, Spring Valley, “somewhere east of champion forest, south of spring cypress, north of cypress creek, and west of i45,” the eastern portion of Cypresswood and Louetta near I-45, Cypress Estates, “Kickerillo, Energy Corridor-ish,” Lakes of Parkway, April Sound, near Lake Conroe, “northwest, north of 290, outside of 1960,” Richmond, Pecan Grove, River Oaks, Upper Kirby, Cole’s Crossing, Copperfield, near the Sweetwater or Sugar Creek Country Clubs, Sugar Lakes, Barker Cypress and I-10, Bellaire, Atascocita, Linkwood, Braes Heights, Twin Lakes, Summerwood, Spring, Montgomery, Humble, Friendswood, Pasadena, Dickinson, “Highway 90a between Stafford and the little regional airport,” and Tomball.

Lots of new participants this time. See? It’s not hard! Unless, of course . . . you want to win!

No player narrowed this one down to the actual neighborhood name. But of the two players who mentioned Missouri City, CK had the better explanation, and wins the $100 gift certificate to Bedford. Congratulations! The runner-up was houstonre.

The standout entries, of course, were from flake, who earns an extremely honorable mention for visualizing the hidden wheelchair:

The shower was redone so a chair can get in it. The kitchen counters were lowered and made so a wheelchair can fit underneath comfortably – microwave, sink (plumbing exposed out of necessity) now all within easy reach. Front-loading new washer/dryer put in as well. Also explains the large barca-loungers in LR & bath. And no area rugs to trip up wheels. Mom or Dad is the disabled one – not Grandma.

and later:

ooh, ooh, the light switches are lowered as well. I think they worked with the original builder before the house was built. This just doesn’t feel like a remodel.

Excellent work! Alas, picking up on those clues didn’t lead to the actual location.

Now: A little more about that house!

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