Such a great, great, great movie. I have a story about it and I swear on my children's lives absolutely true. Tragic ending, IMO.... Sometime in the mid-80's, as was typical, teen me is chilling out in the pre-5000 channel era watching an old movie on a Sunday afternoon. I love Cary Grant, and have parents that are renovation addicts, so this one is particularly fun for me. Mom comes in and joins me, we laugh at the silliness and finally she says, " Uncle L has that house." Me, "Who?" "My uncle L, he's W's father." "Why don't I know him?" "Because he's an abusive and mean old SOB that no one likes very much, but he built my Aunt M that house - she's the one that died long ago in the car accident." "He doesn't have THAT house!" "Yes, yes he does, they built a bunch of them to promote the movie, although he couldn't get one of those. But, Aunt M wanted one. So one day he just called the studio in Hollywood. He actually talked to a producer on the phone and convinced them to send him the plans. I'm pretty sure they still have the plans and signed letter from the producer that came with them. He also owns a whole bunch of land where he goes hunting and fishing - he had all the timber and siding on the house cut from his own property and waited for it to cure before he built the house. It's an amazing, beautiful house." I was in it since that conversation, and yes, it was. Here's the tragic part - the immediate family never told anyone when it was time to sell it. My uncle died 9 yrs. ago this Spring (he lived in the house until his death in his 90's) and DH and I were looking to move to the town he had lived in to be closer to DH's work. We live in that town today. We really wanted to buy it but my cousin insisted on selling some of the land separately for commercial zoning - we didn't want commercial property right up against us, so we said no thanks. The house with a small amount of yard around it ended up being sold at auction for less than $200,000, I believe it is being used as a rental property and every time I drive by it I want to cry. It looks terrible and unloved, and honestly, the old guy had kept very good care of it until the last couple years. It has such an amazing story behind it, and I am sure that almost no one knows that it is a Blandings Dream House - except my cousin, I don't even know how much his own kids know about the story or if he kept the paper work that went with it. I would love to put the word out about it, because I believe there are organizations that keep track of the houses built in the promotion that try to get them preserved. But I'd just feel like I'm screwing over my cousin, and that the fools that don't take care of it now could stand to make a killing on it just because of what it is. Too bad, isn't it?

We vacationed once in a beach house in santa barbara that had a huge table in the kitchen.. We loved it. We went with 3 other families who are all foodies and it was great to sit around, prep together, eat together, drink together and play together. I remember a marathon monopoly session with adults and kids playing a cutthroat game for hours. We just put the Cuisinart right on the table to make salsa and aioli. The table was great for setting up assembly lines for raviolis and bruschetta. It was old and wood and nobody cared about staining it etc. The owner told us that she kept meaning to get rid of the table but all of her renters and family love it. The other stuff in the kitchen was a old range which needed detailed instructions to make it work (my advice is to keep the range simple if you wish to rent at all.. You may be willing to deal with the fussiness for the charm but any potential renters may not. But there was no counter per se.. There was another table next to the range that had stainless steel top and open shelves underneath with fiesta ware type of plates and bowls. . The sink was on the same wall as the range and was one of those old shallow double sinks with double drain boards and a wall mounted faucet. The sink had a curtain below and there was a dishwasher under one of the drain boards. The fridge was free standing. There was another wall with a long hutch with dishes and some cabinetry underneath. The floor was easy to mop tiles. Step on trash can was tucked under one of the sink drainboards. And the kitchen was yellow with dark green tile on the wall with the stove and sink. The other walls were white washed boards (kind where you can see the wood grain and distressed patches where there was real distress :) No island please :)

Sorry I had the wrong "Regan". It was David Ragan I was reading about. Still BIG congratulations to your cousin. :o)

Oh, Molly, my friend really did a good deed. Boo had never experienced a home, soft places to lie down, affection, or play. She didn't know what to do with any of it at first. But she's learning! I saw two photos of Boo, one taken when they first got her, and the other just recently (a few months later). What a difference in her expression and eyes!