Tag: Interiors

04/29/08 10:11am

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Chicken Island

13 Comments

Neighborhood Guessing Game 5: Kitchen

Think you know Houston Real Estate? Here comes another round of the Neighborhood Guessing Game, where you can prove it . . . or have fun trying!

Rule recap: We show you pictures of a home listed on HAR — but just of the interior. You guess what subdivision it’s in, by adding a comment. If you’re the first to guess the correct neighborhood, you win!

Of course, it’s no fun if everyone is just wildly shouting out the names of neighborhoods . . . so to encourage intelligent discussion, we give special recognition to participants who point out the supporting evidence they see in the photos and otherwise entertain us with their comments.

If you know this home already, please don’t let us know that . . . it kinda spoils the game for everyone else.

Ready for more of this week’s photos? You’ll find them after the jump!

Furniture

04/25/08 1:04pm

West U Home Stalker Reveals All

Home Design, Interiors, West University

Wheat Residence, West University, Texas

Cote de Texas author Joni Webb comes clean about her obsession with a recently constructed home in West U.

. . . whenever I drove by the house, I would slow my car to a crawl, craning my neck to try to see inside the white stuccoed home that had so captured my imagination. Through their windows, I could make out some of their furnishings – first, there was a screen in the living room, and then I could see an oversized mirror. Next – I noticed the dining room’s antique light fixture which furthered my suspicions that this was a house I would love – inside and out. By the time the sheer, linen curtains were hung – the deal was sealed – I was an official stalker and somehow, I had to finagle my way into the home to see it first hand.

This must have been tough for Houston’s highest profile design blogger, because Webb is usually obsessed with French design, and the design in this particular home was clearly more . . . Belgian.

After the jump: The stalker gets in!!!

77005, Furniture, Home Design, Interior-Design, Interiors, West University

Boulevard Oaks

04/24/08 11:57pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Remodeled and Remodeled

Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, West Edgemont

1 Comment

Neighborhood Guessing Game 4: Media Room

Some pretty sharp photo-detective work — and plenty of good guesses — in this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game. But . . . no winner. This was a tough one!

This week’s guesses were rather variously described . . . and one-of-a-kind: “near the Medical Center off McGregor;” 77024; Oak Ridge North; Northampton in Spring; Briar Forest; Memorial/Dairy Ashford area; River Oaks; Avalon Square; Yorkshire; Frostwood; West Memorial between Beltway 8 and Eldridge; Briar Forest; Bunker Hill; one of the Memorial Villages; Southgate-Rice Village area; Southmore/Riverside; Braeswood Place; Ayrshire; Braes Heights; Braes Manor; Braes Oaks; Braes Terrace; Emerald Forest; Southern Oaks; Conroe; Afton Oaks.

That’s quite a tour of the Houston area!

The closest guess came from karen, who failed to tease out the memory of a similar property she once looked at “on Lexington, between Greenbriar and Kirby.” Think of a more upscale version of that house — where would that be?

How about . . . on North or South Blvd.? The exact neighborhood of this week’s home was Edgemont. But a guess of West Edgemont . . . or Broadacres . . . or Boulevard Oaks would have won it. Southampton might even have been good enough.

Possibly, some of you were thrown off by the order of the photos. If the first photo had been of the Living Room, followed by the Dining Room . . . and the paneled and partially sunken Media Room had not been shown until later, would the apparent pattern of remodeling and addition have been more obvious?

A few key clues were unearthed in the comments. An honorable mention goes to last week’s winner, HoustonAreaGuy, who was first to identify the critical bathroom-door handle clue, and who made no mistakes in his description:

Itâ€™s a large house, easily 4000+ square feet. I could go with 60â€™s construction as well, except one small detail stands out to meâ€¦and it might not mean anything. The hardware on the bathroom door in the last photo appears to be OLD. Not sure if itâ€™s original to the house or something bought at an antique emporium. It really throws me because if the house is as old as the hardware indicates, then it likely isnâ€™t in my first-guess area zip code 77024.

After the jump: the big reveal!

Boulevard-Oaks, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, West Edgemont

Bear Creek Meadows

04/24/08 11:00am

Foreclosures in the Neighborhood

Foreclosures, Katy, Real Estate Investing

No Comments

Bear Creek Meadows, Katy, Texas

A story by Paul Knight in this week’s Houston Press adds a little color to the Houston foreclosure map:

Houston’s 77449 ZIP code, on the northwest side, made the top 100 in the nation for 2007. The area saw rapid growth in the early part of the decade, with retail strip centers and a sea of new homes popping up almost overnight.

“They started developing that area really aggressively,” says Erion Shehaj, a Houston realtor who specializes in foreclosed homes. “Like clockwork…[foreclosures] have been popping up one after another, because they were pushing them to people that couldn’t really afford them in the first place.”

Large signs are now planted along the roadside, advertising housing deals such as “Inventory Clearance!” and “Closeout Specials.”

One subdivision in the area that was hit particularly hard is Bear Creek Meadows. The neighborhood was developed about five years ago, with houses priced in the $120,000 range and marketed to first-time buyers.

Below the fold: More on Bear Creek Meadows, plus a few photos to illustrate Knight’s reporting on foreclosure cleanups.

77449, Bear-Creek-Meadows, Foreclosures, Interiors, Katy, Real Estate Investing

04/22/08 8:39pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: The Well-Paneled Room

14 Comments

Neighborhood Guessing Game 4: Media Room

Again with the Neighborhood Guessing Game: Help our lost home find its subdivision!

Remember the game’s 3 simple rules? We show you interior photos of a house on HAR. You guess what neighborhood it’s in, by adding your comment below. If you identify it correctly, you win!

Of course, the game is a whole lot more fun if you pepper your guess with explanations and comments. And we give special mention to commenters who are wrong about the neighborhood but spot-on with their observations.

If you know this home already, great! Go ahead and add your “guess.” Just don’t add any comments that ruin the game for everyone else.

More photos of today’s interior . . . after the jump!

Braeburn Valley West

04/17/08 11:58pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: The Great Den

Neighborhood Guessing Game 3: Living Room and Dining Room

There was no consensus in this week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game . . . and nobody guessed the exact neighborhood of our mystery house. But one person came close enough to win, and we generated a healthy number of well-informed guesses . . . along with enough references to less-frequently mentioned Houston neighborhoods to send local real-estate obsessives on wild new searches through HAR.com listings.

The guesses, this week: Braeburn Valley; Westbury; Cherryhurst; Braes Heights (2 votes!); Meyerland; Maplewood South; Ashford Forest; Walnut Bend; Jersey Village; Montrose; Inwood Forest; Spring Branch between I-10, Westview, Gessner, and Antoine; Linkwood Ayrshire; Meadows Place; Shepherd Park Plaza; Candlelight Plaza; and Timbergrove.

All smart guesses. But all of them wrong! Well . . . almost all of them. The house is in Braeburn Valley West, a slightly newer neighborhood than Braeburn Valley — the guess of this week’s winner, HoustonAreaGuy.

HoustonAreaGuy’s reasoning, of course, was flawless:

I had a house there several years ago and this reminds me of alot of my house, although the rooms appears to be smaller.

There were plenty of strong comments this week, but our honorable mention vote goes to Pat Ennis, who had some solid observations . . .

It looks like the ubiquitious mid-70â€™s ranch house with detached garage and brick fireplace that can be found in a huge swath of southwest and west Houston. Some one ponied up for substantial cosmetic improvements, so it must be in a good neighborhood.

. . . but like other commenters displayed more logic than the real estate market can bear, apparently:

All that black and white in the kitchen though means it was likely done at least decade ago. Lakeside Place, Breaburn Valley and Westbury are all too far out for a 10-year old re-do.

. . . oh, but not too far out for a more recent redo that simply looks out of date!

After the jump: What a 1970 model Braeburn Valley West home looks like . . . today!

77031, Braeburn Valley West, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game

04/15/08 3:52pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: The Red Dining Room

12 Comments

Neighborhood Guessing Game 3: Living Room and Dining Room

Ready for another round of the Neighborhood Guessing Game? Here goes!

Today’s entry is . . . well, just look at it. And imagine what neighborhood it’s in. And add your guess to the comments section below. And while you’re at it, add to your comment a few of the reasons you think this house is in that neighborhood.

If you name the precise neighborhood before any other commenter, you win! And if you’re especially sharp with your commentary, you get special recognition.

And if you already know this particular house for some reason, please don’t tell us that you know it and how you know it and ruin the game for everyone else, â€™kay?

The rest of our interiors-only pictures are below the fold:

Homes for Sale

04/10/08 6:21pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: Window Unit

Interiors, Lindale Park, Neighborhood Guessing Game

Neighborhood Guessing Game 2: View from Kitchen

Thanks to y’all for playing the Neighborhood Guessing Game! We had 19 guessers and 24 guesses for this week ‘s contest. And they were all over the place . . . but all inside the Loop!

Three of you guessed Montrose and another 3 guessed the Houston Heights. There were 2 votes each for Brookesmith, Washington Terrace, Riverside Terrace, Lindale Park, and Idylwood or Eastwood. Other guesses were: Bellaire, Woodland Heights, the Reliant Park area, Midtown, Sunset Heights, Southgate, Winlow Place and environs, and “over by the Orange Show.”

The winner this week was missjanel, who was the first to mention Lindale Park . . . though she didn’t explain her guess.

Sure, there were plenty of neighborhoods a house like this could have been in. How were you supposed to figure out Lindale Park? No one nailed it precisely, but some commenters were pretty sharp at picking up the clues. jgbiggs noted

a brick house next door with a horribly inappropriate iron fence. Also, the painted over windows on the front door give evidence that it is in a high crime neighborhood.

Jeff was (probably) off about the vintage of the house next door, but pointed out:

Definitely a gentrifying area. New behemoth next to a bungalow with no central AC.

Commenter karen noted some of the contradictions:

The bricks next door are so close and the gold-tipped iron fence so ugly that it really could be West U, but then this would be a tear-down, so why show interior house images on HAR?

Lastly, Mike noted that the brick house next door was probably an older one. And one of his 3 guesses was Lindale Park!

Let’s add it all up: well-kept or recently redone hardwood floors? Check. New, reasonably sophisticated interior paint colors? Check. Security-conscious fencing nearby? Check. Toddler toys in bedroom? Check. Nearby property values probably not high enough to support yuppifying the kitchen or dealing with the window-unit AC? Check.

It wasn’t runaway obvious, but Lindale Park does fit those specs.

After the jump: The house! Where, what, and how much.

77009, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Lindale Park, Neighborhood Guessing Game

Art

04/09/08 3:54pm

Sock Monkey Palace: Spiffed Up for Sale

Braeswood, Home Decor, Homes for Sale, Interiors

1 Comment

7309 Greenbriar St., Houston

A reader reports that artist Gloria Becker is selling her home at 7309 Greenbriar, just south of the Med Center. That’s the big brick house with the the 8-foot-tall topiary bears out front. Plus . . .

She has a wildcat in her dining room, deer on her sofa, fish in her bathroom, squirrels in her entryway, a caribou at the top of her stairwell and a prairie dog in her den.

From the foyer, where a stuffed bear in a sundress and rhinestone-studded sunglasses stands at the foot of the stairs covered in imitation tiger fur, to the farthest corner of the second-floor spare room, which is adorned with a giant cloth cow in a sun hat, a wreath of monkeys and a Virgin Mary hubcap, the house is a cacophony of contented clutter.

“Empty spaces make me nervous,” [Becker] Rasmussen says.

Becker, who makes a living selling her incredibly detailed Santa Claus sculptures and handcrafted sock monkeys, calls herself an “an upscale, sophisticated recycler.”

Her Braeswood home has 3 or 4 bedrooms, 3 full and 2 half baths, and sits on a 12,563-sq.-ft. lot near the corner of S. Main. Asking price: $848,000.

After the jump: Some interior pics from the listing, plus: Where did all the sock monkeys go?

77030, Art, Braeswood, Home Decor, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Staging

04/08/08 2:01pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: View to a Room

19 Comments

Neighborhood Guessing Game 2: View from Kitchen

It’s time for our second round of the Neighborhood Guessing Game! A quick review of the rules: We show photos of the interior of a house on HAR. You guess what neighborhood it’s in, in the comments. Simple enough, huh?

If you already know this house, feel free to add your “guess” below — just don’t ruin it for everyone else by stating that you are correct and how you know it.

Ready for more pics of this week’s property? See below!

Homes for Sale

04/03/08 3:51pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game Over: We Have a Winner!

Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, West University

4 Comments

Neighborhood Guessing Game 1: Stairs

Our first stab at the Neighborhood Guessing Game attracted a good number of smart observations from sleuthing readers . . . and a winner!

Thanks to all those who hazarded a guess! Five commenters thought the house we featured on Tuesday was in West U. There were single votes each for Sugar Lakes, the Eldridge & Memorial area, Montrose, the Heights, “near Meyerland,” and Southgate.

Ah, the wisdom of the ~~crowds~~ baker’s dozen! West U it was! The West University Place 1 subdivision, to be exact.

The winner of this first competition is the appropriately named Buildergeek, who named West U first. But enlightening — or entertainingly obfuscating — commentary wins points too! Honorable mentions go to Houstonist‘s Jim Parsons, who guessed the house was a rehab from the 1980s or before:

The staircase is a giveaway in my mind â€” no self-respecting faux-neo-Georgian would have a staircase that Rhoda might have walked down.

. . . and to commenter Drew, who sounds a little like what we might expect if Sherlock Holmes had his own show on HGTV:

One of the early West U replacements. Built in the early 80s, given the finishes and selections. Larger than the standard West U lot, despite the red brick boxes and colonial style windows being so close to the neighbors. (Evidenced by the trees and added green space for the typical 5,000 sq ft WU lot. Must be west of Buffalo Speedway.

After the jump: Actual details on the featured West U home, which is actually for sale — “Rhoda”-style staircase, colonial-style windows, west-of-Buffalo-Speedway location, and all!

77005, Homes for Sale, Interiors, Neighborhood Guessing Game, Price Reductions, West University

04/01/08 4:09pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game: Florals and Formals

14 Comments

Neighborhood Guessing Game 1: Stairs

It’s time to try a new feature on Swamplot. We’re calling it the Neighborhood Guessing Game.

Here’s the idea: We show you photos of a property listed on HAR. You prove your Houston real-estate savvy by identifying what neighborhood the property is in . . . in the comment section below.

Is that so difficult?

Well, there’s a little more to it: You only get to see photos of the interior.

Are homes really so different from neighborhood to neighborhood in Houston? Guess we’ll find out!

For more pics of our first mystery interior, keep reading below!

Furniture

04/01/08 1:18pm

Dunlavy and West Alabama: The Fiesta Antiques District

Home Decor, Interiors, Montrose, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers

Dunlavy at W. Alabama, Houston

Design blogger Joni Webb identifies Houston’s latest “hot pocket of stores selling reasonably priced, yet very chic antiques.”

Where is it? At the Fiesta Mart!

Or more accurately, in and around the shopping strip that includes the Fiesta — on the southeast corner of Dunlavy and West Alabama. Webb’s Cote de Texas blog runs through items available at Antiques and Interiors on Dunlavy, the Country Gentleman, plus the latest shop to open: Boxwood Interiors, a second store by the same people who run Foxglove Interiors on Alabama, a few blocks to the east. Boxwood

. . . immediately called to me when, through the window, I glimpsed freshly laid seagrass matting stretching from the front door to the back. It’s amazing what spending a few extra dollars on seagrass will do to an old and ugly mall space.

After the jump: seagrass magic! Plus a few of Webb’s Fiesta-area finds.

77006, Antiques, Furniture, Home Decor, Interiors, Montrose, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers

Home Decor

03/28/08 12:00pm

Bring Life to Your Bathroom with This Advanced Staging Technique

Homes for Sale, Interiors, Memorial

1 Comment

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn75tA2g-kI 400 330]

About one minute and 28 seconds into this video advertising a home that’s been on the market since late September of last year, we get a little . . . surprise.