Posted byCan we take a minute to talk about our dream homes? I believe we all have (at least) one, right? You know, that one house that you always drive by on your way to work/the grocery store/your favorite vacation spot. That one house that you day dream about owning. You know… if you suddenly came into a million (or more) dollars. That house?
Well, torture upon tortures, my dream house is on the market right now. This is MY “that house”:
Oh and did I mention that this house has been teasing me with its awesomeness ever since I was a child? And it’s no wonder that the house stood out to any kid. The history of it is that it was designed and built by Adriana Caselotti — best known as the voice of Snow White in the original 1937 Walt Disney production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Of course, when you’re a kid that means you grow up thinking “that’s the house that Snow White lives in!” Now, the shoddy logic of why THE Snow White would chose to live in a small bungalow in the middle of Los Angeles instead of in a castle in the woods was lost on a young Megan. But still, the house was magic to me.
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So, when I saw there was an open house I jumped at the chance to go and –Jesus-bisquits! — it’s EVEN COOLER THAN I EVER IMAGINED inside!
From the listing:
Architectural features include a hipped, cross-gable roof, 3 dramatic cross hatched clerestory windows and soaring 18′ vaulted ceilings. With it’s flared eaves and notched an exposed rafter tails this home has a clearly defined Asian feel and is reminiscent of a Japanese Tea Garden Pavilion. The open floor plan which spans 56′ is ideal for intimate or large scale entertaining. Other features include 2 en suite bedrooms, custom designed bar, additional half bath and sliding doors leading to the side deck which create an effortless flow for indoor/outdoor living. 2 car attached garage.
Join me on a virtual open house:
Here’s where my heart breaks even more:
The house is currently listed at $995,000 which is down from its original listing price of $1,095,000 because it’s been on the market for over a year. I’m sure the reason it’s not selling is because this house is SO full of character that it would take someone like ME to come along and say “perfect! I wouldn’t change a THING.” So it sits there, vacant and for sale, so close (2.4 miles away!) yet so far, with its perfect owner (hi!) too poor to snatch it up. And I worry that when someone finally does, they’ll completely gut it and ruin the amazing vibe.
So here’s my question:
Anybody out there want to help me buy a house? 😉 Just kidding. I want to know if any of y’all have a dream-big dream house too! And I wanna see it.
I love this house. My dream house is the one from the Movie Practical Magic. I’m not a house person but if I were to ever have all the money in the world THIS is the house I would buy/build. The exterior was just a shell and the interior was made on a sound set. But I would take all these picture and recreate it. Even the little cottage to the side.
http://hookedonhouses.net/2009/10/25/practical-magic-a-victorian-house-fit-for-a-witch/
http://www.amasveritas.com/film/setting/house.html
Is there anyone out there that wouldnt love this place?
Oh yeah! I freaking LOVE that “house.” Good call on that one!
What a beautiful house! I love it.
that is cool, but this is definitely my dream house: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/12/garden/12puzzle.html
only i’ve no interest in living in an apartment in nyc. but the place itself is swoony. i have a bit of a thing for secrets in houses, and this is one of the most elaborate i’ve seen (though hidden rooms are cool too!).
Oh wow. OH WOW! This is so amazing!
THAT is an amazing find. Holy crap! That should be its own post!
I have been lusting after that apartment for years. years!
more puzzle/secret passage houses!!
Uh…we apparently looked pretty similar as kids!
I love the living room/bar/bath/deck set-up in that house. In fact I might have to steal it for my next Sims house.
I don’t think I have specific dream house. Although a house in town came close, the outside looked like a kind of fairytale cottage and the inside was very ye olde farmhouse with cunningly hidden modern gadgets (like a microwave designed to look like part of the old fasioned multi-door oven). As a bonus it manages to be both right in the middle of town and in a quiet area. Sadly the price was about the same as this place. 🙁
Other than that I think the closest I’ve come is actually a converted farm house in La Hidalga, Tenerife that used to be home to the Atlantic Whale Foundation (they’ve since moved to a more spacious base).
It was kind of a jumble because it was built to follow the slope of the hillside so everything was at different levels and connected by a series of terraces which was the main appeal for me. But it also had a great mix of indoor and outdoor space and beautiful murals and other random details hidden all over the place.
That’s life in the DC metro area. Or at least the Virginia side of it. So many lovely older homes and people who have the money to buy knock them down to build McMansions.
That shit breaks my heart!!!
My dream house is an old mill turned home that is on the way to a favorite swimming spot. It went for sale a couple years ago, and considering it has 11 acres plus a guest cottage was very reasonably priced at $260,000. Unfortunately that was approximately twice my house budget at the time. I did go look at it and took a TON of pictures. I will find them and put them up in the offbeathome flikr pool!
Yes upload them and put a link in this post too! I wanna seeeeeee.
Here’s a fun old video of an elderly Adriana Caselotti talking about her experience as Snow White on a community TV show – it looks like some of the scenes might have actually been filmed in this house! (wooden walls and such – similar looking piano)
http://youtu.be/PFfgRmZXJT0
YES! That WAS filmed in her house at that very piano you see pictured above. Oh man, thanks for finding this!
I saw a different show years ago with her, and there was video of her still singing outside by her wishing well for kids that would show up. I could kick myself now for never finding out /where/ and going so I could meet her.
There’s an old tower in my home city, and until just a few year ago I did not know that people lived in the top of it! There’s even a glass orb on the very tippy top that they can sit in. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/garden/21who.html?pagewanted=all
Shut your face — that is AWESOME!!!!
I used to work in the Smith Tower back in the mid-’00s, and there were always the most awesome rumors about who lived at the top. When the NYTimes published this article, I was terribly disappointed. WHAT? It’s just some quirky rich people?! What happened to the crazy old heiress who’d supposedly lived there for 60 years?! (I don’t think she ever existed, but I was still disappointed.)
We used to go up to the top (the room with all the Chinese furniture) quite a bit because my dad worked in the building. I never considered that people could go higher than that. I like the idea of a Grey Gardens-type lady holed up there. I’m curious what will happen now that the building owner is in bankruptcy (and if anyone wants my Groupon for going up the tower, let me know! I moved out of town).
This is my dream house of the moment! I can’t bring myself to drive by it though because I don’t want to ruin its allure. It’s been on the market for at least 6 months and I think it’s even a foreclosure. In my mind it has a killer sprawling staircase, hardwoods everywhere, and tall ceilings!
http://www.redfin.com/GA/Smyrna/3861-Ridgewood-Dr-SE-30080/home/25494438
That kills me when they don’t post pics of the inside. That’s the juiciest part! ha. Especially when the house looks that interesting from the outside.
It can also be a big disadvantage in selling the place. Any time a property listing doesn’t include inside photos (or there are none of an important room like the kitchen) it makes me wonder what’s wrong with it that they don’t want you to see.
This place – http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1511-W-Demeter-Dr_Freeport_IL_61032_M89650-08023
It used to be listed as “La Hacienda”, but the name is no longer there. It’s over 6000 sq ft and is located in IL, about 30 minutes form where my mother lives. My husband and I have been drooling over it for a few months now. I mean, it’s only $285,000 (yeah, ONLY) where as if that house was here (in CT) it would be a million dollar home at least! It has art deco bathrooms and a spiral walkway and wings for goodness sake!!! Oh man…I am so in love with it.
HOLY CRAP! You’re not kidding with the whole “only $285,000” thing. My mind is blown — only $285,000 would get you mayyyyyybe a tiny condo in my part of town. 😉
I love this post!! Love this house! And love all the responses! This should totally become a weekly reader submission post!
Sounds awesome — GET SUBMITTING!! 🙂
Agreed! I am LOVING all the links in the comments, I’d love to drool over some more fantasy homes.
Is it bad that my second thought when looking at all these links (behind “wow!”) is “I wonder if I could make something like that in Sims”?
(And now I’m also wondering if that needs a second question mark inside the quotation mark. It’s nearly as bad as the issue of where to put the smiley face!)
I like that about you. 🙂
I totally had the same thought about The Sims. 🙂
I just added two photos of my dream house to the Flickr pool. It’s in England, near my father-in-law’s house. My husband and I were walking along a river, through the woods, and there it was. I made him take a few photos because it was so beautiful.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kate_the_jet/6802836559/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kate_the_jet/6802840937/
The house from the film “Casper” has always been my dream house – I love that round open entranceway with the double staircases
That is a cool house! I do NOT have a hard on for time capsule kitchens – I would get rid of the appliances and countertops and floor tile, though I think the cupboards might still be good. I DO however have a hard on for really cool panelled walls. But only if it’s REAL wood. None of that fake crap. However, this is hampered by the fact that it only has 2 bedrooms and cool as it is, most people want more. I can’t believe the price though…what happened to the housing market crash???? Seems like they’re asking the moon because of WHO owned it, not because of what the house is or where it is.
Maybe I’ll get a friend or family member who still lives in the area to do a drive by!
“I would get rid of the appliances and countertops and floor tile” OMG! I felt that like a stab in my heart. 😉 Nooooo not the avocado washing machines!!!
Also, trust me, that price is WAY cheap for the area! People are taking a hit selling their Hancock Park homes at 1-3 million. So you can imagine what it was like before the economy tanked. PLUS this is a block away from the super bougie Larchmont Village, where celebrities get their dining and shopping on. So it’s ALL about location, location, location not necessarily who owned it.
I would love the cottage from The Holiday – talk about a dream! there is a local house i’ve always dreamed of, an old dilapidated cottage in what is now a fairly built up area; a very elderly couple lives there and keep the lawns immaculate but the house itself has needed a new paint job for about two decades. It’s probably a wreck inside, but i love the cottagey look to it!
The theme of my dream houses is always “small”. I don’t want to clean a huge place, and I already feel like I have too much stuff.
I specifically dream of some of these tiny homes: http://rosschapin.com/Plans/Cottage/1plansCottagespage.html
They sell floorplans so I could build one myself, but of course I’d have to have some land to put it on, in find a place that would be zoned to allow me to build whatever I want. I’d also have to get over my fear of home-ownership.
But if I could find a way to turn one into a treehouse…
Agreed — I’m all about the small homes when it comes to my dream house. I used to have fantasies about buying back the house I grew up in, but with 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms and 4,503 square feet of home, I’m like — how would I ever be able to even maintain that!??? That thought alone stresses me out.
i love tiny home floorplans! i mean, i love tiny homes in general, but the floorplans particularly always seem like a puzzle to me; like “i wonder how useful we can make ___ square feet?”
I definitely feel like small homes take a lot more consideration and planning and design than big homes. Which is probably why on Extreme Makeover Home Edition (a show I love, btw) the houses are huge; they just don’t have time to put in the thought when designing specific space roles and traffic flow and built-ins – easier to just build ’em huge and fill with furniture. Big homes are pretty, but small homes definitely hold a special place in my heart.
Man, you should start up a fund to get you your awesome house. I would totally donate so that someone could get their dream house, if its so available and so close to where it would need to be! And then you can have the dream of someone wonderfully rich and benevolent stumbling across it and saying, “yes, I want to fulfill this person’s dream, especially since hundreds of people have already donated to it” and voila! 🙂
I AM CURRENTLY ACCEPTING DONATIONS!!!! 🙂
This is my dream home: http://www.heaveninthehills.com.au/
It’s sooo pretty, it’s in our favourite area and we could have friends come and live on the property with us. I especially love the converted railway carriages!
These guys built an amazing accurate replica of the house from The Munsters that I’d be happy to take off their hands… http://munstermansion.com/home.html
Also the J.O. Frye house:
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/58073760.jpg
Sigh.
http://i39.tinypic.com/2zyelc6.jpg
Grabbed this picture off of the local historic society’s site, I can’t find the listing because I can’t remember the realtor selling this house, but I’ve ALWAYS loved this place. It’s being sold with a sister house (brick, next door, not quite as charming), and it’s on an ENORMOUS plot of land with a huge private pond. And all of the trees. I’ve actually considering moving to an apartment complex across the street, only for the hope that my window might overlook this place.
The address for the house is 1110 E Ft King St Ocala, FL, if you’re interested in seeing just how great it is. The sister brick house is at around 1138.
So, uh… if anyone wants to share a plot of land and a pond but live in the brick house (and also be ridiculously in debt)…
http://www.schrackrealty.com/details.php?id=671
I have been in love with this house (from the outside, at least) for years. If only hubby and I had that kind of money…*sigh*
I have two, one from my childhood: http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/howden.htm The other as a teenager: http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/ca_unk32.htm
There’s a house SOMEWHERE in a suburb near mine that is my dream house. I don’t even remember what it looked like. We were driving somewhere one day and I pointed to the house and said “OMG I MUST LIVE THERE ONE DAY” and we’ve never been able to find it since. It has led to A LOT of driving around aimlessly looking for it, which inevitably leads to an adventure or a visit to our favorite bbq place nearby. 🙂
BTW: Snow White Tiki House? I DIE.