Okay. As promised, I’m going to show you two houses today, tomorrow, and Friday instead of one a day as I had originally planned. Here’s the second one for today (if you didn’t see Open House #3: Sleek Greek Contemporary, be sure to check it out, too).
Take a look at this traditional home on the market for $2.85 million in Birmingham. It has 7 bedrooms and 6.5 baths. According to the agent’s description on the MLS:
Nestled on a beautifully landscaped private wooded lot in the heart of Abingdon. Gorgeous appointments throughout with attention to detail! Ideal for entertaining with beautiful family room that opens to enclosed Bluestone Terrace with pool, fabulous sunroom and large wet bar that opens to both terrace and courtyard with fireplace, gas lighting, and fountain!
Gorgeous new addition with 2nd two-bay garage (4 deep) with dark stained floor and vented for heating and cooling, beautiful sports room with vaulted ceiling. Beautiful banquet-size dining room! Fabulous master bedroom suite that opens to pool. Large media room. Billiard room, exercise room with mirrored wall, and incredible wine cellar!
Let’s start the tour!
I bet you think I cobbled together photos from two or three different houses, didn’t you? (If you don’t believe me, check out the MLS listing for yourself here.) Some of those rooms really do not seem to belong with the others. And what is that big, empty room with the beamed ceilings? Surely that’s not the “beautiful sports room with vaulted ceiling”? Or maybe it is. After looking at so many of these crazy-big houses, I’m not sure what to believe any more.
What do you think? Would you buy this house if you had the money?
Did You Miss Any Others on the Tour this Week? Go Catch Up!
- Open House #1: French Chateau in Birmingham
- Open House #2: Shook Hill Mansion
- Open House #3: Sleek Greek Contemporary
If You’re Hooked on House Tours:
- Fantasy Open House in Hyde Park, Ohio: Paxton Avenue
- Fantasy Open House in Hyde Park, Ohio: Rookwood Drive
- Fantasy Open House in Hyde Park, Ohio: Edwards Road
- Fantasy Open House in Hyde Park, Ohio: Observatory Drive
- HGTV Green Home ‘08
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s William P. Boswell House (never photographed before)
- Designed to Sell? The Purple Angel House
- The Spite House in Virginia (only 7 feet wide!)
- Cobble Court, a French-Norman Estate in Ohio
- Stokesay Court, the manor used in the Keira Knightley film “Atonement”
- Coco Chanel’s elegant Parisian apartment at 31 Rue Cambon
- 1908 Gaslight Mansion in St. Louis
{ 23 comments }
Ok Julia, yes, I did think you cobbled this one together!
Since I write about rugs, I must say the entry had me from the get go–great Persian rugs in the first few pix. And then boom! Ms. Cobbler put in a few pix that set my vertigo in motion again.:-)
Is that a pair of underwear hanging in the laundry room? Why don’t photographers notice these things?
Vote: Finally have one for the long list. Looooove the brick driveway.
What a gorgeous home. I love it!! It’s both warm and inviting.
That would be a great house to have get togethers in. I
vote for it all the way, but I still can’t see myself spending
in the millions for a house.
I love a lot about this house. I guess I’m just a southern girl at heart because those are the houses I *always* fall for. What I don’t understand is the paneling or the suddenly weird beamed ceiling and all of that green paint. The kitchen seemed less grand than I would have imagined- especially the cabinets. And I seriously hate that master bathroom, well, all the bathrooms really. But I love everything about the exterior, the front living room (while too small for that baby grand piano that’s in there) is beautiful and the dining room is gorgeous.
I totally noticed the underwear in the laundry room. What were they thinking?
I love the way it looks on the outside and I love the different rooms…the cobbled areas seem to be the ones with a more “baroque” feeling to them. Such as side table and mirror that are gold and gilded. Such as several of the bathrooms…I hate the bathrooms – they don’t fit the decor at all. I love the areas that are lighter feeling. A lot of the wood seems really dark. I don’t mind dark wood but it just feels so heavy. I love the kitchen and the chandeliers with the little lamp shades.
From an architectural stand point, I love it. It has nice crown molding and I love the different ways the walls are featured as well as the wall colors. I don’t love the bathroom’s wall papers and they seem out of date but everything else I like
Like others said, some rooms just don’t fit with the style of the house and others fit perfectly!
No one mentioned the deer heads yet. That totally grosses me out. However, this is my favorite house so far this week. I would buy it! I love the outdoor space with the pool and patio area. I would need to redo all the bathrooms to make them lighter and brighter. I kinda like the vaulted room, actually. It’s unique and would make a fun game room or play room.
Ok, I could totally live here. Just rip out that wallpaper, remove the deer heads and change out some of the furniture and I would be in hog heaven – provided I had that maid or 3 to help. I’m claiming the mystery room with the beautiful arches for my creative/escape room. I will let y’all empty the wine cellar for me though… not my thing. The entry is so very, very welcoming. I probably would warm up the kitchen a little – and not by burning something on the stove, LOL.
It does seem that aomone living there likes to kill things! Lots of deer heads! The house is beautiful ,but it seems to ramble on and on. I would buy this one.
Wow, each day gets better and better. I’d buy this one. I would get rid of all the wallpaper in the baths though.
Can’t wait to see the next one!
Lynn
I’m in love with the exterior of this house, However, the bathrooms look cheaply done with the eighties style hollywood strip lights and cultured marble tops. I’d buy it though, and just remodel some of the cheaper looking things. It has great bones!
Overall, I like it. I would so get lost in that house though! Oh my goodness! It seemed like a LOT of bathrooms! The exterior is beautiful. I can envision big Christmas get togethers and whatnot here.
Love deer heads above the mantle – NOT !
I just found your site today and I certainly do “heart” it. We just put our house on the market on Friday (in Cincinnati no less!), so I pray not to see it show up on your fugly lists!
Rule numero uno when selling your house: Remove all dead animals from the walls and any other place you might be showcasing them!!
Sincerely,
Realtor and Stager
Oh my…
Deer heads??
More Wall paper?? (Do the people of Birmingham have a special affinity to wallpaper?)
A room with all curved furniture? (the one with the big screen TV)
I love the exterior and I love the beams in the oddly vacant room, the house has good bones, but needs a massive purging of the mishmash of styles and colors.
SOLD! Yeah right, I wish! It’s gorgeous – not the decor, too much dark 80s wallpaper – but the bones of the place are lovely!
I guess the deer heads go with the gun rack in the room with the pool table (sports room?)
I wonder if they can hear the noise from the 6 lane road that is behind their house? Or smell the water treatment plant that is less that 1000 ft northwest of the house (I love google maps).
Okay, check it out. I love the four poster bed, and the room it comes in. I detest the bathroom with the red wallpaper with the green leaves. Whose nightmare was that from??! A couple of the kitchen pictures are not wonderful, because they look so plain…just white cupboard doors and tan/taupe/whatever-you-call-it walls. (What IS that color, anyway?) Overall, I wouldn’t mind rattling around in that house, but I don’t think I’d pay that price for it. They’d have to consider my seriously low-ball offer first. So, fat chance.
Pretty, like the mideval looking room with beams, but overall this house looks like it is suffering from multiple personalities.
Ah Julia, why didn’t they check with you about the bathroom make overs before they listed the house. (Hollywood lights, big mirrors). I like this house best so far, but still not shellling out my pretend money yet. (I guess I could hire someone to strip all the wall paper). As a vegetarian, I was wondering where the rest of the deer was living
Okay, the deer heads gotta go!! Hmpf. Love the brick drove…love the rich colors. Love so much of this, especially the front porch. I would so buy this home if I were rich (which I am not even close to being), elegant (which I am not even close to being) and had the furniture to fill it.
Love what you do!!
Hugs,
Sue
This house couldn’t be less my style. Im sure it has great potential but the interior is one giant turn off for me.
The outside of this house and the deer heads were the best thing about it. I would have run into the house very excited and then run back out as fast as I could!
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