Who designed this house?

I went out with my Realtor today to look at houses. These homes were all on large lots and all were less then ten years old. I can truly say I had no idea what was in the head of the designer of some of these homes. Now, I am sure many were designed by the home owners, but they really should have thought ahead to the day they may want to sell their house. So, here are just a few examples of what I saw today.

I have to first start with the people that decline your showing. Some of these houses have been on the market for over 100 days and they really need to think that the reason they can`t sell their house is that they decline showings. One of the houses I wanted to see that was declined, I had already looked at in May, and they declined the first request for that showing too. I will show my house to anyone, anytime. That is a motivated seller, right?

What is this room?  You can see the kitchen in the back
of the picture. The stairs lead to a huge game room. 

On to the Showings.
First, Texas homes do not have basements, so they all seem to have a game room and a media room in their floor plans. Most are located on the second floor. If you do have your game room on the main floor, put it in the back of the house, I don`t want to sit in my kitchen and see the pool table and game room. This house had a huge staircase that went to one room upstairs that was also used as a game room. It is not good when you can`t tell what room is to be used for what. Very confused!

Is the soundproof booth to keep the animal noises out?

Location, Location, Location. I knew we were in trouble with this house when the agent called and asked us to look past the neighborhood. It was in "transition". We were very curious to see this one. The owner did not leave the house when we were there, he felt compelled to show us every room and explain the reason behind every cabinet and door. He built the house himself and it was very nice, but in a very rural neighborhood. Horses across the street, an old barn like structure in the back of the house next door, and it included chickens, and donkeys down the street. The house next door also had a gravel drive with about seven pickup trucks in it. This was in the middle of the day. Hunting party? The house we were looking at also had a recording studio in it, but I am too old to start a music career.  I wish him luck in selling his much loved home.

We couldn`t even get this close to Paradise!

Again with the dogs? We went into the next house and it was so dark inside. The walls were painted dark earth tones and there was just not enough lighting anywhere. They also had a guest house attached to an extra garage in the back of the driveway. It had a two bedroom apartment with kitchen, family room with fireplace, porch with swing, upstairs game room with a bar, and a balcony looking over the pool. It even had one of those chair lifts to go up the stairs. They need a particular buyer with an older child living at home, a renter, or older parents/in laws. Not much to say about the inside of the main house, because it was hard to see. The outdoor space was like paradise, but we couldn`t go out and look at it because of the FIVE dogs running in Paradise. We were unable to see the best feature of the house. Board your dogs during a showing.

Your very own storm shelter that holds eight!

Is that the pantry? I saw a beautiful home with a huge kitchen, a lot of cherry wood cabinets, large frig, double oven, microwave, trash compactor, pot filler, and for reason two dishwashers. Then in the back of the kitchen, by an outside door with a big window, there were cherry wood shelves that went all the way to the ceiling, and then white cabinets like you would find in a laundry room. We assumed it was the pantry, but it was open to the kitchen and the outside door window. Who would want all their food out for everyone in the kitchen and outside to see?  All the appliances were gone in the outdoor kitchen, cabinets were there, but no appliances. This house did have a storm shelter suitable for eight people. Maybe that is what happened to the outside appliances. A tornado took them away while they were in the storm shelter.  Just blows my mind! Get it? Moving on.

Wood beams, river rock stove hood and antler chandelier. 

The last house we saw was what I would describe as a "Rustic Texas" house. Wood and stone everywhere. Animal pelts on the floor and dark wood beams all across the ceilings. A wood mantel on a river stone fireplace. River stone on the pillars in the foyer. When we walked in the Foyer we couldn`t even tell what the rooms were to be used for. They had a dinning room table sideways from the corner, because it would be in front of a doorway if you put it in the obvious place, under the chandelier. There was a couch in the dinning area and a chair in an odd place across the foyer with an animal pelt on the floor.

River rock pillar and a pelt on the floor under the chair.

The owners designed this house just for their family. How do I know this? It was for sale by owner and she called us about the showing and talked to us on speaker phone telling us all about it.They had a huge room, as soon as you came in the front door, to the right, that they designed for their kids as a play room. You really couldn`t use it for anything else, because it was right by the front entrance. Also, you had to go through this room to get to two of the bedrooms. The office was upstairs with a fourth bedroom. No way we would want to go upstairs to use the office every day. The whole house did not flow. One of the closets was filled with camouflage clothing and boots.  By the time I left I didn`t know if I wanted to shoot something, or go fishing. Yikes!

Master bedroom with the brown molding.

Out of the six homes I saw today I really liked one. It had great flow and all the rooms were where you would expect them to be. It had a great outdoor space and the whole thing made sense. The one thing different about this house, was that the baseboards and crown molding were all painted brown. For some reason it really worked in this house.  Plus, they will not show dust like painted white wood does. It had a beautiful outdoor space and lovely landscaping. I will be taking the husband to see this one.


Going out again tomorrow and I will keep you updated. Hope for a better day!