10/09/08 11:33pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 27: Closet

The guesses are in for this week’s mystery pad! We heard West University twice, the Augusta-Bering area twice, plus Bellaire, Southgate, South Post Oak Lane, Tanglewood, Missouri City, Mid Lane, Bay Glen or Bay Oaks in Clear Lake, West Bellfort/Fondren, Kingwood, “west of Weslayan between Bissonnet and 59,” Pearland, Woodlake, Memorial Club, Briar Hollow, off Memorial between Voss and 610, and North Post Oak.

The winner this week is David W, who was wrong at least about the neighborhood and housing type . . . but still came closer than any other contestant!

I agree with those who think it is a townhouse – but I think it might be farther out in the burbs. Maybe Woodlake or Memorial Club? It has to be pretty old – when is the last time you saw a sliding glass door in a bedroom? I think it must be near water, too with all the tile and no rugs (or the resident has allergies) so I am leaning more towards Woodlake or maybe it is closer in around Briar Hollow. It can’t be too expensive or they would have gone the granite/stainless steel kitchen route. Maybe just outside the loop around North Post Oak north of Memorial? Tough to tell.

An honorable mention goes to Starkeshia, who didn’t even bother to guess a neighborhood, but did pick the correct decade — and didn’t call it a townhouse. The kindest portion of Starkeshia’s comments:

More than likely this is just some house out in suburbia built in the late 70s or 80s that has had some remuddling done.

Okay, 1970s . . . not a townhouse . . . but where?

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10/02/08 7:09pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 26: Bar

Where was this week’s paneled palace?

Three of you guessed Champion Forest. There were 2 guesses each for Inwood Forest, Sharpstown, the FM 1960 area, and Tanglewood. The rest? Memorial near Dairy Ashford, Lakeside, “North or West Houston,” near Hobby Airport, Bellaire, Third Ward between North MacGregor and OST, Briarmeadow, Antoine and Little York, Kingwood, Champions “on the way to Tomball,” Oak Forest, Timber Grove, Shepherd Park Plaza, Inwood, Braeswood area, “off Braeswood,” Maplewood, Glenshire, Westchase, Willowbend, Fondren Southwest, and off 249 near Cypresswood.

There was no winner this week, unless you want to give credit to Chris for mentioning, in passing, “North or West Houston.” Instead, how about some honorable mentions to the folks who came closest? That’d be tcpIV and Dave, who guessed Inwood Forest; CK, who mentioned both Shepherd Park Plaza and Inwood, and Richard, who got stuck at Antoine and Little York.

Great work, everyone! But how about . . . Aldine? Acres Homes? You’re looking at the original Hidden Valley Ranch!

What makes this place so hard to find?

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09/25/08 9:26pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 25: Kitchen

Where is this week’s mystery pad? Three of you guessed the Heights. Eastwood and Montrose got 2 votes each. Other guesses: Woodland Heights, Braes Heights, Riverside Terrace, “Wahtever that area is called bordered by West Gray/Shepherd.Westheimer and Commonwealth. Behind Hugo’s and around Mockingbird Bistro,” Southampton, Southgate, Cherryhurst, Castle Court, West University, and Spring Branch.

First out of the gate was Miz Brooke Smith, who called:

Montrose. A single-family home or maybe a converted upstairs-downstairs duplex, with bathrooms updated in the ’80s. The big-plant curtains betray the ’80s, and the sun porch off the master bedroom is the Montrose giveaway.

And what about the checkerboard tile Kitchen floor? Is that even legal in any other part of town? Another player might have trumped Miz B. S. by mentioning Mandell Place, but Montrose is good enough to win it. Congratulations!

A special commendation goes to this week’s secret agent, David W, who was one of two readers to write in with the actual answer, but followed up with this distracting “guess”:

From the windows and sunroom off the master I would say it was built in the 30’s. From the black and white kitchen floor, glossy cabinets, and white Sub-Zero I would say remodeled (and not inexpensively) in the eighties. Could be Montrose but I am going to guess Riverside Terrace probably on the South side of the bayou since the updates aren’t more recent.

The home’s actual details?

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09/24/08 6:45pm

Upstairs Screened Porch, 5306 Institute Ln., Jandor Gardens, Houston

5306 Institute Ln., Jandor Gardens, HoustonIf you’re looking for some hot deck-on-deck action, look no further than this little 1968 number on Institute Ln., just north of Rice. Sure, the house looks like a tight little box — what self-respecting Mod pod from the swingin’ sixties didn’t? — but it’s . . . full of decks!

Check out the deck choreography in the photo above, taken from the upstairs screen porch. You’re looking onto a slightly lowered deck that’s open to the sky. Beyond and below the screens is a two-story courtyard — with a covered patio beyond.

Uh . . . where’s the indoors? Through the sliding door on the right. The red chair is in the upstairs Den.

After the jump: decks, decks, and more decks!

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09/11/08 9:36pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 24: Bathroom

Yeah, we know what’s been on your mind this afternoon and evening: Just where is that house from this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game?

You guessed: Friendswood, Meyerland, and Old Braeswood. We had 2 for Tealwood, 2 votes for Memorial close to Voss, 2 for the Memorial Villages closer to Beltway 8 than Voss, 2 for River Oaks, 2 for Hunter’s Creek Village, and 3 for Tanglewood. Also: Gessner and Memorial, south of Memorial between Beltway 8 and Kirkwood, Bunker Hill, close-in Memorial, the Westcott area between Memorial and Washington, Memorial between Chimney Rock and Blalock, one of the Memorial Villages, Piney Point Village, and Indian Creek.

That’s a lot of Memorial! Thank you, Jeff, for simply framing the question:

This HAS to be Memorial Villages. But which one?

The win goes to K, who knows her Villages . . . and maybe a little somethin’ about Houston in the seventies:

Definitely Memorial Villages. You can tell by the heavily wooded lot and the size of the home for the year it was built (1970s). This was someone’s swank, possibly key-party-ish pad back in the booming 70s when all the richies were building their huge new homes in the Villages. I say Piney Point. It’s too modern for Bunker Hill, and has too many trees for Hilshire Village or Spring Valley, but this looks exactly like something you’d run across in Piney Point.

Three more of you who got the geography right — but missed the neighborhood name — get honorable mentions: sarahc, tcpIV, and Joni Webb.

Special honors go to David W, for leading off the guessing confidently in exactly the wrong direction:

Go 70’s – love all the angles. This house looks like it was expensively built but hasn’t been updated to much except maybe the glass block in the master bath – vintage Sub-Zero, big rooms, and nice courtyard out back. Clearly mature vegetation outside – I’m thinking Friendswood.

Yes, David W knew this house — and wrote to us about it. Did he throw you off?

After the jump: the big reveal!

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09/10/08 12:55pm

A CHEAPER WAY TO A DESK A tip on furnishing that home office, from the desk table of Joni Webb: “For a desk I went to Pier I and bought a 6′ dining table with an X base, stained dark brown. The table has proved to be a wonderful desk: with its large surface, I can spread out floor plans and fabric samples and still have room to work. Perhaps the best advantage to buying a dining room table instead of a desk is price. For some unknown reason, put the label of ‘desk’ on a product and the price goes up.” [Cote de Texas]

09/08/08 8:58am

Top Design contestant, recent Houston transplant, and first-episode survivor Shazia Kirmani chats about the Interiors life. Travel, family, shopping, browsing. And breaks . . . in the middle of the day!

Sure, it can be lonely and confining. But that’s why you’ve got assistants!

09/04/08 11:48pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 23: Living Room

Your guesses for this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game challenge? All over the place! We had votes for Humble, Silverlake, “off Augusta near San Felipe,” “old Pearville,” off NASA Rte. 1 toward 6 in Friendswood or Alvin, Jersey Village, Mt. Belvieu, Spring, Clear Lake, Atascocita, off Bering, Cinco Ranch, around the Astrodome, The Woodlands, and Gessner near Memorial City. No pileups!

Oh, but this was a tough one. None of you even came close.

Maybe if we had thrown in a few pics of the back yard . . . ?

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09/02/08 4:35pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 23: Living Room

And here they are, straight from the cameraphone: Pics for this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game. Can you guess where this house is?

If you think you can, add your guess to the comments below, and tell us how you figured it out. If you’re new to the game, please read the rules first.

Ready for a quick tour through this week’s mystery pad?

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09/02/08 2:32pm

Here it is, the bastard brainy child of those old David Hockney photocollages and Quicktime VR: Microsoft Photosynth. Someday, maybe, it’ll revolutionize online real-estate gawking. For now, though, it just looks kinda cool.