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leafy02

Love it or Loathe It? House for Sale

leafy02
9 years ago

I hopped online this morning to look up the listing price of a house we passed on our morning walk. Same zip code, but worlds away from this home which is listed at just under a million:

http://www.lbar.com/property/2132-Island-Dr-Lexington-KY-40502_1404216.html

It's unusual to see architecturally non-traditional homes around here, especially in this price range. Anyway, I thought some of you might enjoy the decor--either because you love it or because you loathe it! It's definitely above and beyond what I usually see in our listings. Bon appetit :)

Comments (30)

  • tomatofreak
    9 years ago

    Love, love, love the outside! The landscaping is beyond beautiful. Too bad the interior is a cluttered mish-mosh of conspicuous consumption. I do like the architecture, though.

  • Christy Bell
    9 years ago

    Wow. Way too many mirrors for me. Very taste specific and that could be a real hard sell. It's always interesting to see how people decorate!

  • palimpsest
    9 years ago

    I am going to make a guess here that the current owners are not the original owners, and that the current owners bought the house for the location and views but did not care much for the contemporary style of the house and remodeled it with traditional elements.

  • dedtired
    9 years ago

    What a mish mosh of decorating styles. They have everything from sweet country-ish (in a bedroom) to ultra-modern. Obviously it is the view that is the selling point for the house. I would hate to have to pay to have the roof replaced, with all those angles. It's also strange how the kitchen kind of comes to a point at the end. That is a lot of possibly unusable space.

    However, I would just love to have the grounds and would enjoy the view every day. I think I'd be looking for another house with a lakefront view, though.

    You could not even touch a house like that around here for $995. You'd have to put a 2 in front of the price.

    Here is a link that might be useful: house

  • mclarke
    9 years ago

    Love the bones of the house. But the decor? Talk about lack of flow. No flow whatsoever. I can feel my eyes going ka-chunk, ka-chunk, ka-chunk around the rooms.

    No grace. They need to live in a house with a curio room.

  • cawaps
    9 years ago

    Love the exterior, hate (as in could not ever live with) the mirrored walls, and get cognitive dissonance from the clash of the traditional interior details with the exterior. I suspect Palimpsest is spot on about the "why" of that.

  • teeda
    9 years ago

    In an effort to find its redeeming qualities, I tried to visualize this house stripped of all furniture, decor and added architectural details. Nope, don't like it!

  • valmooreinphx
    9 years ago

    Agree with the group. If they bring the beauty of the outside in, it would be a winner. leafy02, your neighborhood looks like it's beautiful!

    This post was edited by luvmysophiejo on Sun, Jul 13, 14 at 12:03

  • awm03
    9 years ago

    Wow, what great potential. There is much about the house that I love -- the angles, space, the dramatic stairway, the bleached (pickled?) wood, and even the mirrors. Pretty kitchen. I don't care for the green marble tile, but appreciate the good material and would probably figure out how to live with it (change the grout to a dark color to get rid of the aggressive grout pattern, then buy neutral rugs).

  • Fun2BHere
    9 years ago

    The view is gorgeous and I love some of the woodwork within the house, but it seems like a dark house from the pictures even with all of those mirrored walls and all the lights on. I'm not a fan of open concept and weirdly vaulted rooms. For me, it's a pass.

  • amykath
    9 years ago

    Far too many odd angles for my taste. I am a straight lines kind of gal. Maybe a bay is okay, but this house is all odd angles. The kitchen is really a stand out in this sense.

  • schicksal
    9 years ago

    It's the Diet Coke of modern. Just one calorie. Not modern enough.

  • leafy02
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Oh, that's not my neighborhood, luvmysophiejo! It's about a mile away but shares the same zip code, so it came up on the real estate site when I went to look up one that IS in my neighborhood and is much more 'humdrum'.

    Here is the house that IS in my neighborhood. It made me sad to see the price so high because eventually we will need a ranch and they are so highly sought after here that you don't get much bang for your buck:

    Here is a link that might be useful: Everyday house in my 'hood.

  • lascatx
    9 years ago

    I agree with pal -- this is probably a subsequent owner trying to make a modern house more traditional, and those elements are most of what I don't care for. The only thing I might let stay would be some of the sofas. Once you clear out their furnishings, there would be some heavy cosmetic work, but I think the main thing I'd have to figure out if I were going to entertain the thought of buying the house is what it would take to redo the kitchen. The near useless island and that narrow point would be deal breakers if I couldn't figure out how to better use the space. It seems to me that part of the breakfast room might be used or the two spaces flipped entirely If it doesn't function for me, the views would have to be memories.

    I'm a little confused as to how many living spaces there are -- the lack order in the photos is not helping their listing. But there are things I love about the interior (those tall bookcases and ladder were a great use of the height) and do love the views and landscaping.

  • joaniepoanie
    9 years ago

    Well, the backyard is nicely landscaped and most of the rooms appear to be large with good light...BUT....too much wood, too much wainscoting, too many angles(really ridiculous in the kitchen)...the whole place just way too much visually. And I guess if you can afford a $1mil house you don't have to worry about dusting those top shelves in the library or gardening the two story"planter" in front.

  • RNmomof2 zone 5
    9 years ago

    Leafy, I love Lexington! I actually used to live in the Kirklevington apts up above the Tates Creek shoppes and in the Greenhouse apts on Tates Creek many moons ago. We talk about retiring to Lexington, we'll see if that happens.

    What a nice area you live in, close to the University. I remember fondly hearing the roar from the Stadium on Saturday nights even out where I lived.

  • leafy02
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    rnmomof2, yes, we can hear the stadium loud and clear from here :)

    There is a lot to love about Lexington and this neighborhood really does have it all. From small capes and ranches that sell for under 200K to large colonials and sprawling ranches that are 600K-plus---and tons of mature trees. I love walking the dogs on my 'dream streets' admiring the individual touches in landscaping, flowers, and porch decor. My house is not my favorite, but I feel lucky to live in this neighborhood literally every day!

  • jea2007
    9 years ago

    I think house could be awesome decorated in the proper style.

    Not at all in the style it is now.

    Imagine it all in whites and grays with glass and leather furniture. I think that would totally work with the angles and the views. Get rid of wainscotting, walls all the same color, flow from room to room. Industrial lighting. You have to play up the modern look.

    You could also go with a Jetson's Atomic type styling in there too. 1950's Era Space styling, but I think the colors have to be low key and cohesive with a few pops of color brought in. Maybe take you color pop ques from the outdoor views.

  • nosoccermom
    9 years ago

    Wow, love the outside and the view, and yes,I also like the style. But wow, need to get rid of some mirrors and dark tiles, and a lot of the visual clutter.
    And as always, I can't get over what less than 1 mio buys you in other parts of the country..... but then I look at the SF Bay area and think it could be worse.

  • robo (z6a)
    9 years ago

    I love non-traditional homes.

    That said, this very dramatically sloped interior ceiling feels...intimidating? Oppressive? Something about it is throwing me off.

  • gr8daygw
    9 years ago

    It's very cozy and might be fun to visit someone who lived there but not to live there myself. Perhaps a dilution edit of 50% would be helpful. But it looks like they had good intentions : ) and the view of the water is nice.

    This post was edited by gr8day on Wed, Jul 16, 14 at 11:32

  • nosoccermom
    9 years ago

    robo, that picture you posted, is kind of schizophrenic. The left half looks like it belongs to a different house from the right half, with that gigantic staircase.

  • palimpsest
    9 years ago

    I gave it the modernist treatment that it originally probably had. The surface embellishments draw too much specific attention to the shapes.

  • teacats
    9 years ago

    Yes. Change the floors throughout the house .....and the handrail .....((and I wonder if a handrail could be added to those stairs in the living room? just my fear of falling! ))

    Then paint everything in creamy white ..... change the lighting ....

    There must have been a big sale on green tiles .....

    Here is a link that might be useful: Pinterest -- Modern Interiors

  • Delilah66
    9 years ago

    I particularly liked the juxtaposition of the modern blue glass objet and the archangels on the mantel.

  • robo (z6a)
    9 years ago

    For me it's something to do with the volumes. I think independent of the decor. Maybe the high drywall-to-glass ratio. Maybe the part where the room is just about 8' high on the outside wall. But mostly I think that large expanse of blank white ceiling isn't doing it for me.

    I was trying to find a similar photo on houzz and couldn't really (in my 2 minute window) but this sort of conveys it - I like how the ceiling is broken up a bit here instead of one long line and the room volume has some separation as well (this decor isn't my style, just trying for a similar space).

    [Contemporary Living Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2103) by Scottsdale Architects & Building Designers Swaback Partners, pllc

  • palimpsest
    9 years ago

    I find the volume of the subject house amorphous (which isn't my favorite) and I think all the added trim details only point out the irregularity.

  • jrueter
    9 years ago

    I couldn't get past the picture of the train table and trucks on the coffee table with a gallery of glass art pieces in the background.

    As a mom of boys whose sole purpose in life is to put objects in motion and keep them in motion by any means possible, it looks like a recipe for disaster.

  • wormgirl_8a_WA
    9 years ago

    I agree... If you imagine being in that space you aren't going to want to hang out under the low part of the ceilings, just like the thought of going into the "point" of the kitchen is not appealing. In fact, I found the kitchen design terrible in general. And who can see the lake with all that junk in the way?

  • gsciencechick
    9 years ago

    Yes, I could work with all that.

    Love Pal's rendition. That's how it should look!

    Someone really liked green tile. Very 90's?

    Like the ranch house, too. Really good bones. Love the sunroom.

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