Hooked on Houses

On the last day of each month I like to just stop and take a moment to thank you all for everything you’ve done to support, encourage, and spread the word about my little blog. I also like to link to as many of my blog friends as possible and return the love.

One day, when my son was about four years old, I asked, “Where did the time go?” Without missing a beat, he said, as if it was obvious, “Into the past!”

Where did May go? Into the past. That must’ve been the whooshing sound I heard.

If you’re one of my regulars, read on to see who I’m thankful for this month and some other blog notes, including a solved mystery, some sad goodbyes, and a picture of me as a little boy.

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It looks like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have decided to give birth in France this time around (the twins are due this summer). At the Cannes Film Festival, Jolie told reporters, “We are certainly thinking of France.”

According to French newspaper Nice Matin, the dynamic duo just signed a 3-year lease on a $70 million chateau on the French Riviera.

The pre-Roman estate sits on nearly 1,000 acres in the South of France and is called Chateau Miraval. Let’s just say it ain’t shabby. It has 35 bedrooms and boasts a vineyard, lake, moat, forest, and 20 fountains. There are both indoor and outdoor pools, his-and-hers gyms, and an enormous banquet hall. The driveway alone is three miles long.

You know it’s big when they need to take aerial views to show it all. Take a look!

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What I should have been doing tonight: working on some of my writing projects that need attention. You know, for my real job that I actually get paid for.

What I’ve been doing instead: searching for old decorating books on eBay and then waging a bidding war on a vintage one from 1965, simply because it features this photo of a kitchen that I couldn’t take my eyes off of. I can’t help it. I love looking at crazy old rooms like this. If nothing else, they make me grateful that I didn’t have to decorate a kitchen of my own in the ’60s!

Alas, I was just informed that, despite my best efforts, I lost the bid to someone else who was willing to spend way more on it than I was. Sadness.

And now, sigh, back to work.

If You’re Hooked on Retro Rooms, Click Here.

P.S. Speaking of work, Hooked on Houses reader Diana is having a fun discussion over at her blog Please Sir today about what readers do for a living–and what they wish they could do instead. Hop over there and join in. I’d love to learn more about what you guys are doing when you’re not talking about houses with me!

Remember that bedroom room I showed you with the layers upon layers of crown molding in it? I asked the question, “Is there such a thing as too much crown molding?” And boy, did you guys have a lot of opinions on the subject!

Well, Hooked on Houses reader Susie, who has a fun blog called Hillcrest Acres, wrote and asked if I’d post photos of the rest of the house. I thought if she was interested, maybe the rest of you would be, too, so here they are.

This is a newly constructed home in New Hope, Pennsylvania, selling for $3.25 million. It has 5 bedrooms, and 5.5 baths.

I have to say I find the name a little pretentious, especially considering it’s in Pennsylvania, not France. But whatever. The house is fun to look at, and that’s the important thing. Let the gawking begin!

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Country crooner Kenny Rogers is selling his 9,000 square-foot mansion in Atlanta, Georgia, for $7.95 million. (Should I try to make a joke here about how, when it comes to real estate, Rogers knows when to hold ‘em. . .and he knows when to fold ‘em? Um, probably not, if I want you to stick around.)

Rogers told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Every wall, every ceiling, every floor is different” from when he bought the house in 2006. “I touched every inch of this house.” He purchased the home in 2006 for $2.8 million and spent $3 million on the renovation.

He’s moving to a 150-acre ranch near Athens, where a new home is under construction. Take a look at the place he’s leaving behind:

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Hooked on Houses reader DaK sent me these photos of textured ceilings that are in swirly, spiral and sunburst patterns. It was one of the most unusual ceiling treatments I’ve ever seen, so I just had to show you.

And, of course, I have to know what you think. First look. Then discuss.

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I’m back after spending three days with the in-laws in Amish Country. Did you miss me? I loved coming home to all the comments you left while I was gone. I hope you had a great weekend, and that the weather wherever you are was as gorgeous for you as it was for us (sunny, 70s).

My husband’s parents (who are Baptist, not Amish, btw) live in Elkhart, Indiana, and the back roads we take to get there are always scenic.

It’s like stepping back in time to see the rows of simple white farmhouses, the red barns, the women in bonnets and long dresses, the men in suspenders, and all the horses and buggies. My daughter Lily is crazy in love with horses, so she wore herself out pointing them out to us today.

There are the clothes lines like this one outside every house (the Amish don’t use anything that requires electricity, so washers and dryers are out). They mostly wear blue, black, and white clothes, as you can see on the line.

I snapped some photos as we drove home today to show you. One picture was taken through our bug-splattered windshield, and it’s not going to win any photography awards, that’s for sure. In the interest of truth in advertising, I should probably call this post “Julia’s Crappy Photos from Amish Country.”

But who knows? Maybe some of you have always wanted to see what Northern Indiana looks like through a dirty windshield. This post is for you.

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Happy Memorial Day weekend to my American readers! (Happy regular weekend to everyone else!) I’m packing up and heading to Northern Indiana to visit family members for three days, but I didn’t want to just take off without saying goodbye first.

I also wanted to post a picture of flowers for Memorial Day, but this bunch on my kitchen windowsill were the only ones handy. They’ll have to do.

Who are you remembering this weekend? Our town has lost a lot of soldiers to the war in Iraq recently–one 19-year old was killed last week after only five weeks of duty, and Matt Maupin’s body came home last month. There have been way too many funerals for our local boys lately, and our yellow ribbons are looking pretty faded, tattered, and torn. Our thoughts are with the soldiers and their families.

I have a few more things to say that have nothing to do with houses. If you’re one of my regulars, read on.

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As promised, today we’re taking a tour of this charming yellow-painted Victorian home in Columbia Tusculum, which was the first neighborhood founded in the Cincinnati area (then known as Losantiville) in the late 1700s. (To read more about it, check out yesterday’s post.)

It was on the market earlier this year and I found interior photos on the MLS site (it sold in February ‘08 for $205,000). According to the Hamilton County Auditor, it was built in 1890 and has 2 bedrooms and 2 baths.

Let’s take the tour!

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I recently discovered Amber’s blog Snapshots of Life, which featured some amazing photos of Columbia Tusculum and its famous “Victorian Painted Ladies.” I was excited because these houses are beautiful, of course, but also because they’re not far from where I live here in Cincinnati. Somehow it had never occurred to me to show them to you. I asked Amber if I could show you some of her pictures, and she graciously agreed.

Remember that home show tour I showed you pictures from last week? Afterwards, we drove over to Columbia Tusculum and took some photos of it, too. Dave patiently drove up and down the steep hills of the historic neighborhood at about 10 m.p.h. so I could snap as many photographs as possible (let’s just say we got honked at a couple of times for blocking the narrow streets as I tried to decide which houses to focus on), so I’ve got some of mine to show you, too.

Columbia Tusculum is the oldest neighborhood in Cincinnati, founded in 1788 at the junction of the Little Miami and Ohio Rivers. This was shortly before Cincinnati–originally named Losantiville–was settled. Columbia Tusculum opened the first school in the Cincinnati area in 1790. For years it was known as a steamboat-building town and was very prosperous. The oldest home still standing was built in 1804.

Okay, ready to gawk?

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Back in February I posted photos of 1950s kitchens from an old Better Homes & Gardens Decorating book I had just bought. It continues to be a popular post all these months later–apparently there are a lot of people Googling “retro rooms.”

I had promised to show you more photos from the book “in weeks to come,” but those weeks turned into months. I remembered my promise today, though, and scanned some more for you.

Today I thought it would be fun to look at some 1950s living rooms. Some look more contemporary (as in something you might see in a magazine today) than you’d expect. Others look seriously dated. Either way, it’s fun to see what passed for fab fashion 50 years ago.

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You guys know how much I love crown molding. But as I was perusing the MLS listings today, I found this master bedroom that had so many layers of it that I had to stop and ponder: is there such a thing as too much?

I don’t know. I was staring at this picture and pondering it, but I’m still not sure. Doesn’t it look a bit heavy, like it could all come crashing down on you as you lay in bed one night? Or am I crazy, because the more crown, the better, no matter what?

Let me know what you think!

UPDATE: To see photos of the rest of the house, click here.

Celebrity couple Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany have put their limestone mansion on the market for $8.5 million. According to Sotheby’s International Realty, their Brooklyn, New York home has 9 bedrooms and 3.5 baths:

Here is an opportunity to own one of the all time great houses of New York built at the turn of the century. Located on a corner lot directly across from Prospect Park, sunlight fills the grandly proportioned rooms all day long through oversized windows.

All of the original wood carving surrounding the windows and mantels as well as the elaborate plaster work on the ceilings remains in tact and in perfect condition.There are fireplaces in all of the public rooms (living, dining and kitchen) as well as in 3 of the 4 master bedrooms.

There is a full servant’s quarters on the top floor consisting of 4 small bedrooms, a full bath and a large storage room.The original stained and leaded windows exist in the baths and in the large skylight at the top of the grand staircase.Central air-conditioning has been added and there is a large, fully landscaped garden at the rear of the house which is gated and private. This property is simply outstanding in every way.

Take a look!

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Architect Richard Neutra designed the Kaufmann House in Palm Springs, California, in 1947, and it still stands as a prime example of modernist architecture.

The house was commissioned by Edgar Kaufmann, a department-store tycoon, who had hired Frank Lloyd Wright to build Fallingwater in Pennsylvania the decade before. After Kaufmann died in 1955, his Palm Springs house stood vacant for several years, but later had a series of famous owners including Barry Manilow.

Its auction at Christie’s last week made international headlines. The auction house expected it to sell for upwards of $25 million, but in the end an anonymous bidder scooped it up for $19.

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We’re at our final stop on the Cincinnati Preservation Association’s house tour in the North Avondale neighborhood. And I think I saved the best for last.

The Mack House, a 7,000 square-foot Tudor Revival-style mansion, was built by Jacob Mack in 1931, and featured a round half-tower that you can see here. It looks like Rapunzel should be peeking out from those leaded-glass windows on the third floor of the tower, but the original owner’s mother-in-law actually lived there, and as far as I know, she was free to come and go as she pleased.

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This Tudor Revival-style home was built in 1915 by Stephen Gerrard, who was known as “the Cantaloupe King.” He was a truck farmer who built an empire by shipping cantaloupes from Colorado to the Midwest in refrigerated railroad cars. He went on to invent the refrigerated truck and popularize iceberg lettuce in the U.S.

Sadly, when the Great Depression hit, Gerrard’s empire collapsed and the house sank into disrepair. It was abandoned for 13 years in the 1970s and ’80s, but rescued in 1989 by the current owners. The grand old house was riddled with termites when they found it, and they estimate there were at least 100 cats living there. Their renovation efforts earned them a merit award from Better Homes and Gardens.

The Gerrard House sits on the highest point of the North Avondale Ridge. It has 15 rooms and 7,000 square feet. The walls are rock-faced limestone, and gargoyles, gables, and elaborate chimneys evoke the Tudor Revival style. Iron gates guard the entrance.

Take a look!

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The Belvedere, one of the first luxury apartment buildings in Cincinnati, reeks of Jazz Age glamor. The high rise was constructed in North Avondale in 1925 and was one of the stops on the home tour we went on last weekend.

The apartment units originally featured up to 6 bedrooms, as well as separate servants’ quarters. Most residents had maids and drivers. The Belvedere apartments were converted into condominiums in the 1980s and many were divided into 2 and 3-bedroom units to make them more affordable and practical.

There were lots of fun details in this building, such as the cursive “B” burnished into every single doorknob, the brass elevator indicators that point at the floor levels they’re on as they move up and down, the mail chutes, the wrought-iron chandeliers, and the hand-painted ceilings. Take a look!

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It’s time to show you the actual houses that were on the North Avondale Home Tour last weekend. This 1937 Normandy Manor, known as The Levine House, will be our first stop.

But first, to set the scene, I’m going to tell you how I embarrassed myself a little that day. I don’t know why, since it would be easier to let you think I’m always stylish, unwrinkled, and pulled together when I’m out in the world, but I sort of feel like you’re all my friends now, and friends will love me even when I’m a total dork, right? (Please say yes.)

I’m not putting the story here on the front page, though. Click “more” if you want to know what a mess I can be.

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This was one of the houses we walked by on the house tour through North Avondale. This three-story home was built in 1908 and has 6 bedrooms and 4.5 baths, with a total of 6,500 square feet. It’s currently on the market for $860,000, so I looked up the interior photos to show you (see the MLS listing here).

It’s a lovely old home, but as I looked through the rooms, one of them stuck out like a sore thumb. It made me think of that game we played with the Telford Mansion recently:

“One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn’t belong.”

Take a look and see if you agree that this particular remodel left one room looking like it was grafted on from another house altogether.

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Let’s continue our walking tour of North Avondale now and see what other interesting houses we can find– like this pink one with yellow trim, which looked like something out of a fairy tale.

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