Eeek. Someone sunk a lot of money into murals and faux painting. I hope it made them happy.

I hope to heavens that the bows on the kitchen windows are Christmas decorations, but I have a feeling they are not. For all the money that was sunk into fancy painting techniques, they sure cheaped out on the window dressing.

A visual cacophony!

My favorite view is that of the bathtub ducks atop the kitchen cabinets.

This post was edited by patricia43 on Fri, Jun 20, 14 at 17:55

Just goes to show that $$$$$ does NOT equal good taste. As a matter of fact, it will take days for me to get that taste out of my mouth. UGH!

Hmm, can't wait to see today's gray and white show up 25 years from now as an Eeeek!
This was probably all considered stylish in its day. I do like the lower green cabinets however.
Things like this help me choose my furnishing/decor ever so carefully.

They knew what they liked!

Is that a crystal punch bowl on the floor for the dog's water?

Looks like a place where ladies of the evening ply their trade in the French Quarters of New Orleans.

some of it is really pretty . . . it's just that there's TOO MUCH of it!

Sometimes there are cultural differences in decor. I know some immigrant families who would enjoy this style--I've seen their homes here and have been to their native countries in which this drastic style of decorating points to wealth and class. There are usually ethnic tell-tale signs, though, and nothing jumps out at me in these pictures. But this is extreme decorating, for sure.

There is a lot going on in that house! I wonder if the the Warhol is an original?

Is that a crystal punch bowl on the floor for the dog's water?
I hope not! Lead crystal ....leaches lead.

Only into alcohol. It's okay to serve out of, and water's not a problem. Storage of liquor in them is what leaches the lead out.

and i was worried that my house wasn't neutral enough to sell in this market!!!
it's plain, plain, plain compared to that one!!

OK, who gave my aunt a credit card and a paint brush?

The first picture of the green and purple music room seemed interesting until I saw the purple shower caps (?) on the chandelier. Thought the dining room rather over done. By the next picture it looked like someone had lost their marbles. Okay, faux marbles.

oh, thank you P! Good to know.

That's something else. Like Ded said, I hope they loved it while they lived there.

Wow. Those windows don't look brutalist at all. I cannot picture it!

It's really interesting looking at each room and thinking, "what is still viable today? What could I salvage and make look good?".
In most rooms, not much- there is something on each item, the line or material that isn't remotely current (or classic).

Thank you! This is just what I needed to see to convince me -any- of the greiges I'm considering will probably look just fine :-)

I would have a never ending anxiety attack if I had to spend time there. WTBS, I do hope they loved it!

Errrrmmmm.....

While this decor is very, VERY taste-specific, it seems consistent unto itself, except for the odd choice of kitchen table and chairs and the Donald Duck items. If the interior was to be stripped back to the studs, I imagine that the house would sigh in relief.

You discover the most interesting listings, Palimpsest.

This post was edited by Fun2BHere on Fri, Jun 20, 14 at 20:37

I kind of like it Each room isa new adventure. Houses are way to dull these days. I think people are worried to do anything crazy or others will think they're weird. But then I am kinda weird and when you're almost 80 that's allowed. Right?

I have to admit, I really like the stained glass in the water closet....

But the double sink in the kitchen looks like 2 bath sinks. And what do you suppose that wooden thing is in the backsplash over the DW? Is it an opening to another room?

Here is the outside, slightly altered. The windows are heavily treated and screened from the inside. There are some hints of what's going on inside: there is a trompe l'oeil "open door" on the front door.

That stained glass in the bathroom is the shower door. It's probably very heavy, layered over a conventional door.

This post was edited by palimpsest on Fri, Jun 20, 14 at 21:00

I like green, and I like purple, but.........???????

Tons of bored housewife graffiti!

Make it stop!
"...cannot be un-seen"
Beyond redemption
Burn it with fire.
Casey

its very artistic, clasic, and i think its very good.
{{gwi:99704}}

an insane and colorblind person decorated this.
the furniture is lovely, though

I imagine people falling over in shock as the realtor opens the door!! Wonder what fragrance the candles are?

I have to say, I looked at this and wished it was my great auntie's house. I would have LOVED going to a home like this when I was a child. It's just so...so...enticing and enchanting to my little girl self. Although I probably wouldn't be able to touch all the things that are calling out to me, "touch me".

This is the school of decorating which says "if a little is good, a lot is better."

Someone took too many ''how to'' classes at Hobby Lobby.

Pal, you find the most interesting houses. I feel like Alice through the looking glass. Everything just looks weird.

The earlier comment about the home possibly have been owned by folks from a different culture reminds me of some ranchs near me. The imigants who bought the places brought tons of wealth from their homeland. Marble driveway entries, expensive reproduction street lamps sprinkled across hundreds of acres of ranch land. The houses are a sight unto their own but the cherry on top when driving by is the yacht moored on a farm pond. I lost it laughing when I first saw the yacht in the movie Secound Hand Lions because I had actualy witnessed such.

The owner's name seems pretty "American" to me. I am estimating that she is the second owner based upon how long she's owned the property. (A long time, but not quite since the house was built).

The thing that interested me about this house, in addition to the discrepancy between the architecture and the interior, was that all of the faux work is pretty flawless in its execution. This was no amateur effort. Together, it's all a bit much, but if you were looking at bits and pieces of it in the context of vignette photographs, you would see the quality of workmanship.

This was fun to look at but from a real estate point of view, If I was wanting to purchase this, I would start by painting all the walls and ceilings white, removing all the window treatments and them evaluate the actual bones of the house.

I am really surprised by the few window treatments that we see. They are very plain and cheap looking. I was going to suggest that the owner is the artist but that is a lot of faux painting for one person.

And what is going on with the fridge jammed in the corner? It looks like the door might hit the window?

That is just amazing, not in a good way. It does look as if the faux painting is well done. And I didn't hate the music room, thought as an overdone room it was sort of interesting. But as I scrolled down the cumulative effect is enough to make you want to run. And the kitchen window treatments are beyond tacky!

Maybe the owner was the mural artist and used her house to help show off her work to potential customers?

I know a bud who lived in a house which is not in so great an area (used to be nice many decades ago) which was built by a carpenter. The woodwork inside was incredible...he used it to show his customers examples of his work...

pal, you're right...if you look at the bits of work separately, it is very well done...the malachite in the DR is really something...and marbelizing a staircase??? That ain't easy. Let alone all the murals...

This is fascinating. What a huge difference in styles between the outside and inside of the house. It's hard to imagine that the person who decorated the inside would like the outside. And vice versa. Did they get it for a steal of a deal? Did they inherit it? Maybe they just like extremes.

They certainly were consistent with the interior choices. They knew what they liked and carried it through.

Thanks for sharing the pix, it was fun to see.

Wow! It's a 1.2M gut job!

Wow, talk about "making it their own."

I'd be itching to get my hands on this.

The question is: Will this house be a great deal because so many people can't see past the interior?

"Why would somebody buy a house that looked like that on the outside and do that to the inside?"

It's a premier location especially if you want street name recognition. I know the couple who bought the house a couple doors up and the husband insisted on that house because it was on that street, rather than a better house for slightly less right around the corner.

I don't know that this is a great house layout wise or construction wise anyway. I like brutalism/modernism, but the houses in that area built in that style are 1) not very attractive and 2) not very well built--because they were built at a kind of low point in construction quality and a high point in interest rates. This homeowner probably covered up a lot of dullness.

I don't think it was a steal at the time she purchased it, it probably reflected it's location at that time. It may actually be more of a bargain now because of the specific interior--it seems to be several hundred thousand less than the comps in the neighborhood. So if you can say $1.2 M is a low price, yes, it's probably low.

I wouldn't be surprised if someone bought it and gutted it. It seems to be the houses that are on the higher end of the market to begin with that then get another $1M of renovations done to them--an indicator of the divergence of socioeconomic classes, I suppose.

I think it would be interesting to selectively try to save some of the finishes and see how it played out. The marbleized handrails and stair treads are almost surreal because a real marble handrail couldn't be supported on those spindles and at the same time it is so well done, it might be interesting to keep it as kind of a visual joke.

Ghastly.

That could be my house if I lacked self control. I loved doing fo treatments. I think the most fun I ever had with a house was when I handpainted a full room mural in my two year old daughters room.

I agree, you always find interesting houses to share, Palimpsest!

There's almost nothing I would keep here, but that's OK. I think the owner enjoyed herself immensely, while providing good employment to a long series of talented artists, over the years. She probably had lots of fun, while supporting the economy, and humming to herself, "I did it myyyyy wayyyyyy..."

Now it's time for the next owner to do it their own way. Kind of a shame all the nicely done faux work will go, most likely, but I think that's OK too, since she probably got her money's worth of enjoyment while she lived there. It was fun to see this.