10/16/08 6:15pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 28: Dining Room

We have a winner!

But first, your guesses for this week’s contest: River Oaks and Southampton each attracted 3 of you. There were 2 votes each for Tanglewood, Memorial and the Museum District. The rest: Spring Branch, West University, “along Kirby and west,” near the Ashby Highrise, Southgate, Castle Court, Boulevard Oaks, Montrose “between Richmond and Alabama, maybe between Hazard and Dunlavy,” Garden Oaks, Riverside Terrace, the First Ward, Old Braeswood, Bellaire, Rivercrest, Lynn Park, . . . and Heaven.

John (the first one, not the second) knew what to look for, and nailed it:

The built-in bookcases and day-bed thingy look exactly like those in my Ayrshire ranch house, and since this one fairly old and two stories, I’m going with Old Braeswood.

Congratulations!

A very strong honorable mention goes to movocelot, who figured out the house’s age and came extremely close to deducing the precise geometry of its recent expansion:

This house is old enough & well-situated enough to have been remodeled – seriously – twice. I see various windows, elec outlets and cabinetry.

Guess the newish family room pushed out from the kitchen has the newish master bath on top, for a new ridge at a 90 to the main house. (The original roof has the lavender office under it. Circa 1930.)

(Actually, it’s the Kitchen that has the Master Bath on top of it — saves on plumbing costs!)

Commenter karen, who was already familiar with the house, gets a special mention for trying to stir things up . . . with this wonderfully misleading entry:

Oh, this is totally southhampton! 1940’s construction, and beautifully updated. No professor in southgate could afford to do that. and it can’t be river oaks or old braeswood because the lot’s just not big enough. there are neighbors all but peeking in the windows!

Ready for the real tell-all?

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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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09/11/08 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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09/04/08 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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08/28/08 4:59pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 22: Living Room and Kitchen

Here’s where some of you thought this house might be: Boulevard Oaks, S. Post Oak/Westbury, Tanglewilde (or “near the Beltway and Richmond”), Bellaire, “around Pinemont,” Highway 6 and FM 1960, Willowbend, Garden Oaks, Afton Village, Spring Branch, Braeswood, the larger “Braeswood area” between Buffalo Speedway and 610, Maplewood South, “outside the Loop off Ella and east of 290,” Bellfort/Fondren, Ella Lee Forest, and the Museum District off Banks or Milford.

The pileups were in Oak Forest (4 guesses), Sharpstown (3 guesses), and Timbergrove (2). We also had two “ish” votes: a “Westburyish” and a “Meyerland-ish.”

The winner this week was That Girl, who was first to name Westbury — and wasn’t ishy-washy about it!

An honorable mention goes to MariaO, one of several participants who did a good job figuring the home’s approximate age and some likely locations. But Maria also ID’d the wall art:

Definitely built in the 1950s, and could feasibly be located in many near-loop neighborhoods of that era. . .  .

fyi, the “stencil” in the front entry is actually wall stickers from http://www.whatisblik.com (Flock model)– so they’ll come off easily for the next owner.

More home details . . . after the jump!

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08/26/08 11:54am

Neighborhood Guessing Game 22: Living Room and Kitchen

Are you ready for this week’s round of the Neighborhood Guessing Game? We’re playing it anyway.

You pore over the photos. You gather the clues. You decide what neighborhood this place is in. You enter your brilliant thoughts in the comments below this entry. (And if you’re new to the game, you read the rules first.)

You figure it all out? You win!

More photos of this lovely abode lie below. Go get ’em!

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08/22/08 7:51pm

Neighborhood Guessing Game 21: Porch

This week’s Neighborhood Guessing Game sent readers guessing all over town! In our first round we had 3 votes for Clear Lake and 2 for Galveston, plus guesses of Hudson on Memorial, “behind Second Baptist Church,” Bering or Potomac between Woodway and Westheimer, Montrose, just west of Kirby and south of 59, Friendswood, a suburb “out 59,” Newcastle or Bissonnet in West U, Southampton, Brook Forest, El Lago, Pasadena, the Galleria, Lake Conroe, Clear Lake Shores, Rice Military, Cypress Creek near Kuykendahl, The Woodlands, and Seabrook.

After a hint and an extension, we had more guesses: Copperfield, Fondren Southwest, Bear Creek, “around Lawndale and Wayside,” Port Arthur, “off 290 and Mangum/40th,” off 290 just outside the Loop, Tomball, Kingwood, Lakeside Forest, Walnut Bend, Briarcroft, Baytown, Spring Branch near Memorial and Dairy Ashford, the Medical Center, Spring Branch near I-10 and Gessner, Deer Park, and off Memorial near the Buffalo Bayou.

And we have a winner! Well, close enough. It’s Lyn, who waited to see Jessica‘s reasonable-sounding guess, then refined it and pounced:

“perhaps it’s one of the 60s/70s era neighborhoods in Spring Branch, say, near Memorial/Dairy Ashford?”

This.

Spring Branch but I’m guessing near I-10/Gessner.

Something like . . . Spring Shadows?

An honorable mention goes to karen, who walked us through decades of real-estate logic:

Low ceilings = either revolutionary war era or after 1945.

No moldings = 60’s thru 80’s

Paneling, fake marble countertops, wrought iron = focusing like a laser on the 70’s, man!

Kitchen, fireplace surround = renovations done about 10 years ago

new master bathroom cabinets, real granite countertop = renovations finished this year to prep this baby for sale

fish bathroom = clearly a redo circa ‘00 – love that sink – but why? why? why?

House plants, clutter, more clutter = older homeowners who remember the 70’s really, really well

The big seventies reveal — after the jump!

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