Hooked on Houses

I love this groovy Venturo modular home and the fabulous “Come for the weekend and bring your orange bikini!” sort of lifestyle it promises.

Finnish architect Matti Suuronen designed these pods in ‘71 as the home of the future (I wonder when that future will arrive?). According to CollabStudio, the prefabricated structure was originally used as a gas station for BP. Here’s the description from the original brochure:

“This is real vacation living–and you get it instantly, maintenance free because Venturo’s exteriors are in fibreglass, anodized aluminum and glass.”

“The Venturo is a modular, easily transportable building system, having excellent insulation, low weight and designed for minimum assembly on site.”

“The spacious living room with its window walls gives you indoor-outdoor living, creating for you a lifestyle of your own.”

“The compact kitchenette can be supplied completely outfitted with factory installed appliances.”

To see architect Matti Suuronen’s most famous design, the Futuro (commonly known as the UFO house), check out A House That’s Out of This World.

Photos and information via Mod Mom, TreeHugger, JetSetModern, and CollabStudio.

If You’re Hooked on Architecture:

• Frank Lloyd Wright’s William P. Boswell House
• Richard Neutra’s Modernist Kaufmann House
• Matti Suuronen’s Futuro, a House That’s Out of This World
• Author and Architect Sarah Susanka Stopped By and Had a Few Things to Say
• Stickley Furniture: a Primer
• Vera Wang’s Oceanfront Villa in Palm Beach, Designed by Addison Mizner
• Reese Witherspoon’s Country Home in Ojai, Designed by Wallace Neff

If You’re New Here: Hooked on Houses features decorating inspiration, celebrity house tours, fabulous before and afters, real estate news, fantasy open houses and more fun stuff. It is always 100% ad free. Comments from my readers are the only payment I receive, so I hope you’ll leave one! To see what we’re talking about today, click here.

If you read my last post (“Before & After: Crown Molding Magic”), then you know that we built our house in 2003 and moved into a bunch of cold, white, empty rooms that desperately needed attention. This is another such barren space: my writing study, where I spend most of my day working. Fire up the violins–it was just plain sad.

By the look on her face, my daughter Lily (4 in this photo) didn’t mind the shabby conditions in here, but I sure did. My computer monitor was as big as a microwave oven. I had white walls, off-white carpet, and nothing but blinds on the window. Even my desk chair was a cast-off that someone else had deemed dumpster-worthy back in 1995. It was so worn out that I had to keep a quilt over the torn upholstery and a throw pillow on the seat. The wooden arms actually left splinters in my arms if I wasn’t careful. I’m telling you–it was bad.

But wait–don’t shed tears for me and my pitiful writing room yet. Last Spring I had a big milestone birthday (every time I turn 29 is big for me), and my husband Dave announced that he was giving me a brand new, completely redecorated room. It was one of the best gifts ever.

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If you have ever moved into a brand spankin’ new house that feels like a big, uninspiring box of white walls and bare windows, raise your hand.

We did just that in 2003, and it was a daunting task to even know where to begin. All of our walls and baseboards were painted “builder’s white.” We had no casings around the windows. No trim around the open doorways. No crown molding to give the place a little character.

So last year we decided to do something about it. My husband Dave is pretty handy, so he read a book about hanging crown molding, bought the necessary (expensive) tools, and went at it, one big, bare room at a time.

The family room was a special challenge, though. As you can see above (apologies for the grainy, pre-digital photo), the fireplace wall was pretty bland for something that should’ve been the focal point of the room. We painted the walls a light tan (Waverly Home Classics in “Natural”) to give it a little contrast, but it still suffered from a serious case of the blahs.

I told Dave I wanted more than just the crown molding around the top of the room. I wanted the windows to stand out more, too. And, while we were at it, could he create some sort of overmantel?

Here’s what he came up with:

Quite a difference, isn’t it? Not bad for a DIY job by a couple of amateurs (if we do say so ourselves). It’s amazing what a little trim and crown molding can do to transform a room.

Dave trimmed out the windows and ran crown molding around the entire room. But the biggest difference comes from the overmantel he created with nothing more to go on from me than some effusive arm motions and vague statements like,”Make it go up like this, and then over like that, and keep it simple, you know?”

We also spent two long weeks painting the family room various shades of tan and gold until I found a color that was just right (Eddie Bauer Home’s “Pecan”). We went through about 5 or 6 colors first (I lost count). It became a popular neighborhood sport to stop by our house and play “What color have the Knispels painted their family room today?” and then vote on whether it should stay or go.

For the record, Dave voted that the paint colors should “Stay!” every single time. And my vote–until we tried “Pecan”–was “No, it has to go!” I may be just a tad too picky when it comes to paint.

During those grueling two weeks of our Paint Marathon, I remember seeing a perky host on one of the HGTV decorating shows saying, “Paint is the cheapest and easiest thing you can use to transform a room!” and I wanted to throw the paint roller at the TV.

If You’re Hooked on Crown Molding:

• Decorating Inspiration: Photo Gallery of Rooms with Crown Molding
• How to Hang Crown Molding
• Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Crown Molding?

If You’re Hooked on Before & Afters:

• Lily’s Little Bathroom Makeover
• Bathroom Mirror Makeovers
• Home Office Makeover
• ’70s Kitchen Remodel
• A Colorful Kitchen Makeover
• How to Give Old Appliances the Stainless-Steel Look
• Giving Old Fireplaces a New Look
• Giving an Old House a New Face with Curb Appeal
• My Master Bath Mini-Makeover
• My Writing Room Makeover
  

If You’re New Here: Hooked on Houses features decorating inspiration, celebrity house tours, fabulous before and afters, real estate news, fantasy open houses and more fun stuff. It is always 100% ad free. Comments from my readers are the only payment I receive, so I hope you’ll leave one! To see what we’re talking about today, click here.

I have to tell you that I love this new book, House Lust: America’s Obsession with Our Homes, by Daniel McGinn ($24.95, hardcover). And if you’re hooked on houses like I am, then I think you’ll love it, too.

Want a free copy?

I’ve decided to send a copy of the book to one lucky winner as a way of saying thanks to all of you who have been visiting my blog and helping it get off to such a great start. Anyone who posts a comment will be automatically entered to win (must have a US mailing address). My daughter Lily will choose the winner at random when the blog gets its 2,000th visitor. The more you visit “Hooked on Houses,” the faster the numbers will climb, and the sooner we’ll declare a winner!

NOTE: WE BYPASSED 2,000 ALREADY! But since we’ve still got so many visitors stopping by to register for the giveaway, I’ll leave it open for more entries until Sunday, Feb. 3, at midnight, and draw a winner on Monday.

Bonus Points: If your comment includes either 1) a reason why you’d like to have this book or 2) a reason why you like this blog, your name will be entered twice.  

Welcome to everyone who is stopping by as part of the “Bloggy Giveaway Carnival” this week. Click on the HOME button (top of this page) to see the main Hooked on Houses page. Click on ABOUT to read about the purpose of this blog and the writer behind it. If you love houses, then I hope you’ll Bookmark this site and come back soon! Thanks! -Julia

UPDATE!! 

I was just contacted by Daniel McGinn, the author of House Lust, who read all of your enthusiastic comments about it on this blog and wants to donate an autographed copy to the giveaway. He has also agreed to let me interview him as soon as he has a chance to answer some of my questions. He is traveling and doing publicity for the book now, but check back for our Q&A. He has a lot of interesting things to say, so you won’t want to miss it.     

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This may look like a fairly normal house on the outside, but that purple door hints that there are surprises in store when you step inside.

Discovering this house on the MLS (selling for $316,900) made my day. Why? Because, thanks to a proliferation of TV shows like “Designed to Sell,” “Sell This House,” and “Get It Sold,” most sellers paint everything beige and scrub all traces of their personality before putting a house on the market these days. This homeowner has defied the trend toward depersonalization, however. And I have to say it’s almost refreshing to see decorating that is so . . . exuberant.

The real estate agent describes it as being “exquisitely decorated & each room is uniquely themed.” Let’s just say, if you like purple and believe in unicorns, you’ll love this house.

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• Mitt Romney
• Barack Obama
• John Edwards
• Hillary Clinton
• John McCain

Here are the answers. How many did you guess? (Starting with the top row of pictures, left to right.)

Homeowner Sues Real Estate Agent.   Marty Ummel says she paid way too much for her house in Carlsbad, California. So did lots of other people who bought at the height of the housing boom. But Ummel is blaming her real estate agent for not warning her that other houses in the neighborhood were selling for much less, and she’s taking him to court. Attorney Clifford Horner says, “When your house appreciates $100,000 in the first six months, you’re not quite as concerned that maybe the valuation was $25,000 or $50,000 off. But when your house goes down, you ask: ‘Who might have led me astray here?’” Could this be a sign of the times? Realtors everywhere are shaking in their blazers.

Give Your Home an Age-Appropriate Makeover.   Upgrading your house can help it sell faster, but only if you choose the right projects. This article suggests which projects you should focus on depending on the age of your home.  For example, if your place was built in the ’80s, they suggest that upgrading the countertops and ditching the wallpaper should be at the top of your to-do list.

10 Tips on Staging Your House to Sell.   Did you know that buyers make a decision about a house they’re looking at within the first 15 seconds? And the clock starts ticking at the curb, before they even step inside. One study showed that staged homes sell in less than half the time. “In this market now, staging is desperately needed even more so, because it’s so competitive,” says Julie Dana, who wrote a book on the topic. My favorite suggestion from this article is #3: Hide the sword collection.

(Note: This post was originally publshed as one of our “guessing games.”)

Now that we’ve discussed our favorite home shows, does anyone know which one delivers the highest ratings for HGTV?

Here are your three clues:

1. The long-time host has acted in various TV dramas and even had a small role in one of my favorite flicks, “Housesitter.”

2. Star Jones guest-hosted for five episodes in NYC.

3. It films episodes all over the world for an “international version” of the show.

It’s “House Hunters!”

The first episode of “House Hunters” aired in 2000, and within a couple of years it was HGTV’s hottest show. Until recently, they didn’t tell viewers how much the featured houses cost. Viewers were simply given a vague idea of the buyer’s price range. As soon as “House Hunters” started revealing the prices of the homes in 2005, the ratings rose even higher. Producers began creating entire shows built around the concept of house prices, such as “National Open House” and “What You Get for the Money.”

Host Suzanne Whang is an actress who played Moseby’s secretary in “Housesitter” and has had parts in “Nip/Tuck,” “Brothers and Sisters, and “Boston Legal.”

When Star Jones guest-hosted for five episodes in NYC, the series pulled its highest ratings ever.

“House Hunters” is so popular that both it and “House Hunters International” can be seen almost every day of the week on HGTV.

Did anyone guess correctly? For those of you who keep their televisions glued to HGTV, I bet this was a piece of cake!

If You’re Hooked on Home-Improvement Television:

• Trading Spaces: Now and Then
  
• Tour the HGTV Green Home 2008
• Read an update on how Trading Spaces is faring in the ratings (next to last item)
• Bravo TV’s “Top Design” Gets New Host for Second Season
• Stephanie Dee Wins the HGTV Dream Home ‘08 and Doesn’t Seem All That Excited

In 2003, HGTV took a poll to find out which of its shows was most popular with viewers. The overwhelming response? “Trading Spaces.” The problem? It airs on TLC, not HGTV.

That had to hurt. HGTV had actually passed on the series, essentially handing it to TLC. Now “Trading Spaces” was pulling in bigger ratings than any other series on cable television, including “Spongebob Squarepants” (you know it’s big when…). In those days, everybody was watching “Trading Spaces,” the show that has neighbors redecorate rooms in each other’s homes, often with disastrous results (one word: Hildi).

I was watching, too. Long-time fans will even remember the original host Alex McLeod, who was much less perky than Paige. Before we all had DVRs, it was appointment television. Who could resist a show where homeowners often wept or stormed off camera when they realized their family room walls had been covered in straw, or their beloved brick fireplace had been painted hot pink?

HGTV paid attention to the poll numbers and started churning out their own quickie makeover shows with small budgets like “Design on a Dime,” “Designed to Sell,” and “My First Place.” Meanwhile, viewers increasingly felt “Trading Spaces” fatigue after the juggernaut inundated us with every version imaginable–there were celebrity editions, family editions, college editions–you name it, they tried it.

They canned Paige Davis a couple of years ago in an attempt to “freshen things up,” and ratings really tanked. Now they’re trying to woo us back by re-hiring her. The renovated show will also feature old favorites like Doug, Frank, and Hildi. Will you watch?

I might give it a look, but I think the days of rushing home to see it on Saturday nights are long gone.

If they took another poll today, I doubt anyone would cite “Trading Spaces” as their fave, but maybe I’m wrong. What do you think? What’s your favorite home show these days? Take our poll and vote (below), or let us know in the comments if yours isn’t listed among the choices.

UPDATE: The poll is now closed, and here are the results:

NOTE: THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY A PART OF OUR “CAN YOU GUESS WHO LIVES HERE?” SERIES.

Which TV personality just bought this brand-new $10.7 million estate in Brentwood, California? It’s a New England traditional that features six fireplaces, a paneled library with a bar, a 60-ft veranda, an outdoor kitchen, a screening room, a spa, and a 1,500-bottle wine room–not to mention “magical canyon views.”

Here are your three clues: 1) You have to stay up late to see him. 2) He grew a beard for the writers’ strike. 3) He’s moving to this house in CA from NYC.

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In honor of the Oscar noms being announced today, I thought it would be appropriate to mention the role that movies play in our dream-house fantasies. If you are hooked on houses like I am, then you may have found yourself willingly sitting through otherwise dull, poorly acted, or just-plain-awful movies, as long as the action takes place in a house that you like to ogle. Right? I know I can’t be the only one who watches, at least somewhat, for the sets.

In the late 1980s I watched “Housesitter” for the first time and fell head over heels with that cool little yellow house that architect Newton Davis (Steve Martin) designs for his girlfriend (Dana Delaney). He wraps it in a giant red bow and asks her to marry him, but she–unbelievably–says no.

Becky clearly didn’t deserve Newton or his house. When Gwen (Goldie Hawn) finds and falls in love with the abandoned yellow house, we know she has to be the girl for him–even though she’s a pathological liar who breaks in, decorates the place, and tells everyone in town that she’s Newton’s wife. A house as perfect as that one can justify all sorts of insanity.

(Look closely and you can see the house–which received an award for its design–under Steve Martin’s elbow in the picture. If I had designed the movie poster, it would’ve been the other way around, with the house in the foreground.)

I can’t even name all of the movies I’ve rented multiple times or even bought simply because I liked the characters’ houses. Would I have watched “Something’s Gotta Give” three times if Diane Keaton hadn’t lived in that fabulous house with the kitchen that made me drool every time she stepped into it? No. Would I have made it all the way through “The Holiday” with Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet if they had been swapping two boring bi-levels in the burbs instead of that modern California mansion and an adorable English cottage (you can see Kate’s excitement over Cameron’s house in the photo at the top of the post)? Again, I tell you, no.

Let’s just say the only thing I got excited about in “The Lake House” was . . . the lake house.

I know my 5-year old daughter Lily is taking after me already. Today she was watching a Halloween episode of “Tom and Jerry” that took place in a haunted mansion, and I tried to turn it off, thinking the ghosts and monsters might scare her. “Stop!” she cried. “I like this house they’re in. It’s sooo pretty. Look at that chandelier!”

What are the movies you watch for the scenery? Is anyone willing to cop to their favorites?

Trendspotters predict that the “green” movement will continue through 2008 and beyond. This means we’ll be seeing even more natural, organic, and recycled materials in our homes.

I’m hearing that the enthusiasm for bamboo flooring may be waning, however, despite the fact that it is an eco-friendly source that is sustainable and renewable, producing about 25 times the yield of hardwoods. Homeowners are complaining that it is so soft that it doesn’t hold up well enough–getting warped, dented, and scratched. I’ve heard that it may even delaminate.

Experts say that the problem is with lower quality manufacturers who are harvesting bamboo before it is fully mature. Flooring made from bamboo poles less than four years old will wear out sooner. If you’re willing to take the chance on bamboo, be sure to buy from a high-quality manufacturer who offers a good warranty.

Beyond the quality issues, however, are lurking environmental ones that you may not be aware of. The lower-quality bamboo floors are produced with substandard glues that contain higher levels of formaldehyde, and inferior finishes contain higher levels of VOC’s.

Another thing to consider: most bamboo flooring comes from the Asia Pacific region–especially China and Vietnam–which means that it takes a lot of fuel to transport it here to the U.S.

On the bright side, when bamboo flooring is done right, it is more durable than many hardwoods and can last 30 to 50 years. Once removed it will biodegrade in landfills.

If You’re Hooked on Green:

• Lilipad Studio’s eco-friendly children’s furniture
• HGTV’s Green Home 2008

There was an interesting article on MSN’s Real Estate page this week about the housing trends for 2008. Among other things, it claims that stainless-steel appliances are on their way out.

At the beginning of 2007, I read a similar article claiming that stainless steel was dunzo, and I didn’t believe it then. I still have my doubts. Last year the claim was that stainless would be replaced by white appliances. White? Are you kidding me?

Now, I admit that would work well for me since I have a 10-year old Kenmore in “classic white” that I haven’t gotten around to replacing yet, which would mean that my kitchen is so far behind the trends that it’s . . . ahead again? But I’m skeptical that homeowners will be rushing out to their nearest Big Box retailer any time soon to replace their industrial-looking stainless appliances with the white that was the color we all wanted to have in the ’90s.

This time around, the trendspotters are saying that people have deemed kitchen appliances “too ugly to be seen,” so they will be covering up their stainless refrigerators, dishwashers, etc., with cabinet doors built to fit. Right. Maybe there are people building custom homes or doing major renovations in which they can disguise their kitchens with stealth cabinetry to make them look more like libraries or something, but what about the rest of us?

The way I see it, stainless-steel appliances are sort of like the flat-screen televisions people are displaying on their walls. No one wants to hide their giant Sub-Zero refrigerator after they spent a fortune on it any more than they’d tuck their new 50″ plasma behind one of those clunky “entertainment armoires” of days gone by. If you’ve got it, you want to flaunt it. Right? I mean, when I finally have the money to replace my circa 1997 refrigerator, I’m certainly not going to hide it in the closet.

But that’s just my opinion. What do you think?

If You’re Hooked on Appliance Trends:

• The poll we took about stainless steel is closed, but you can see the results here.
• A Cheap Way to Make Old Appliances Look Like Stainless Steel.
• See stainless-steel appliances in a 1950s Kitchen

See the houses featured at the top of each page in the “Hooked on Houses” logo? I took that picture, as well as the one at the top of this post, in the historic St. Louis neighborhood of La Salle Park.

The area is a showcase of Victorian and Federalist architecture. By 1969, however, the area had become completely blighted, and the city requested a federal planning grant to rehabilitate the neighborhood. Federal funds arrived in 1971, and work began on restoring things like brick sidewalks, common-area landscaping, and street lights. Properties were sold in the 1970s to people who were willing to either restore old buildings or build new structures that would blend in with the old.

The results of the rehabilitated neighborhoods are breathtaking. I went on a home tour through the neighborhood and felt like I was walking through the kind of picture-perfect town you’d only find in a Disney movie. It seemed entirely possible that Mary Poppins might make an appearance with her umbrella, or Lady and the Tramp might go trotting by.

To take a tour of a 100-year old home in the neighborhood with seven beautiful and original fireplaces, check out this post: 1908 Mansion in Compton Heights.

If you’re a Frank Lloyd Wright fan, you’ll be excited to hear that his William P. Boswell House is on the market in Indian Hill, Ohio, for $3.4 million. This is a big deal for Wright fans because the interior of the William P. Boswell house has never been photographed publicly before. The home has 5,400 sq. ft. with 5 bedrooms and 5.5 baths. Take a look!

You can see the MLS listing here for more photos and information (which, oddly enough, doesn’t bother to mention that Wright designed it). The Cincinnati Enquirer website has a narrated slideshow of the home that goes into more detail about it.

UPDATE 5/08: The William P. Boswell house has not sold yet despite all the national publicity it has received. The owners have dropped the price from $3.4 to $2.9 million.

Check out HGTV’s Dream Home Sweepstakes if you haven’t already. You can enter once a day between now and February 19 to win this amazing house in the Florida Keys (if you can see it behind the hulking GMC Yukon in the foreground, which is sort of spoiling the view). I don’t know about you, but entering this Sweepstakes has become something of an annual tradition for me–as is the outrage that follows when I predictably, and repeatedly, fail to win.

Did you see the guy who got last year’s house? Remember when they surprised him in that diner with the news and he was like, “Yeah? I won a house? I don’t even remember entering any contest. Imagine that.” I mean, he seemed like a nice enough guy–a retired USPS worker–but I was pretty sure he wouldn’t appreciate that place as much as I would have.

I was totally bitter that the universe handed that guy the 2007 Dream Home in Winter Park, Colorado, instead of me. I doubt that he’d spent weeks visualizing himself living there with those views of the mountains, lounging by the stone fireplace in his flannel nightgown while reading a Sophie Kinsella novel and sipping hot chocolate. Frankly, I’d like to see Rhonda Byrne explain that one to me. 

If you’re reading this blog, I’m assuming that you are someone who would appreciate this house. So go ahead and enter. If you win the Dream Home this year, just promise you’ll invite me over to see it–and I promise I won’t be (too) bitter.