Could this be a TIKI party room?

You're right that it looks better with more bold colors. In particular, the door needs to stand out.
That's a basic "curb appeal" principle in my mind.

..sbim

txmod, as an fyi, you should be able to attach all those photos by uploading them to tikicentral. At the moment, they are all missing, and I'm hoping that this is just a temporary problem with photobucket. I'd love to see these houses.

Chris

Are you still having trouble seeing them? They are showing up for me. I guess (hope) it was just a temporary photobucket issue.

Txmod those houses are beautiful!

While driving around this past weekend in Lubbock, looking for estate sales, my wife pointed this house to me.

http://www.westmarkrealtors.com/westmark/properties/residentialDetailnew.asp?MLS=9949668

It sickens me to know that with all the Dolly Mack houses here, that no one has taken an interest in restoring them (much like the community in OK). When I saw this house I knew it was the house. It's my dream house, even though I wasn't expecting a pool. I can see us raising a family here. But there is a problem, I can't afford it. I can't afford it to the fact that I am in a debt managment program and I have to scrounge for extra cash to help pay the mortgage on our current house (45 miles east of Lubbock, mission style house). I can't afford it to the fact that every graphic place I have have applied for turns their nose up at me. I don't even know how to start to freelance my work, but I fear the house will be gone before that happens.

My current house is ok, it's just not what I dreamt that my wife and I would spend the rest of our lives in. The house also would suit a retired couple. This house (linked above) is almost to the "T" in design of house I grew up in. I wish there was a way I could win some money or something to snag this house before someone gets it, and ruins it's luster. Any suggestions?

I think that house would look good with Brown siding, black trim and chinese red on the doors. Alternately, avocado looks great on midcentury doors.

I don't live in Memphis but this is the same house as ours. Alot like an Eichler but more asian feeling. We bought our Futurama from the original 1959 owners and We love it. It was featured in Look magazine in an article titled "The house with a Pool in it's Parlor" in 1959. It was also featured in a True Romance magazine article, lol! Also, It was featured in the local newspaper when it was built here in Nampa.

Home of the Future
Dear Vance: I picked up some old magazines at a garage sale, and a 1959 copy of True Romance contains an article on "Story-Book Homes." What surprised me is that a model home in the state-of-the-art "Futurama" design was constructed in Memphis. Is it still standing today? -- B.N., Nashville.
Dear B.N.: I certainly didn't think so, because all too often my explorations in search of buildings from the past have taken me to parking lots or overgrown fields. Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered that this particular "Story-Book Home" is not only still standing, it looks as good as new (opposite, above).
As your magazine article explains, "Story-Book Homes" were a series of mostly traditional home designs, among them the "New Orleans," the "Regency," and even a model called the "Abundant Villager." And these were special homes indeed. "Not even movie stars or millionaires can live a more luxurious or thrilling life than you can in your fabulous Story-Book Home," the article declared. What made these homes unique, or so their designers claimed, were the ultra-modern features and materials incorporated into each home. "For instance, the double insulation, the special roof decking, and the moisture-proofing are positively not combined in any other houses. And the beautiful and durable Flintkote Flexachrome vinyl-asbestos floors are easy to clean and require no waxing." What's more, the kitchens even featured Westinghouse appliances. Apparently, that was a big deal at the time.
Local builders could purchase these plans -- for a whopping one dollar! -- and in the Memphis area, developers W.D. Jemison and Sons erected several "Story-Book Homes" in the Forest Lakes subdivision they were developing around Beaver and Otter Lakes in Raleigh.
The "Futurama" home (below) was the most unusual of all the designs, described as a "home of the future with a magnificently simple exterior of great dignity and hospitality." Inside, "huge, exposed natural beams make this house look as strong and durable as it truly is." The deluxe model featured "a vast living room with handsome fireplace and shoji-screened entrance. A huge family and TV room surrounds a magnificent scientific kitchen with formal dining, which overlooks a beautiful 32-foot indoor swimming pool (heated and filtered)." The bathroom was tiled with "the revolutionary new Formica," which has a "smooth, gleaming surface that saves cleaning time and work for Mother."
Oh, there were plenty of other marvels. The master bedroom "offered all the elegance of your own private villa on the Riviera." And that indoor pool, just off the bedroom, was always available "for a relaxing, nighttime dip -- in complete privacy, unhampered by bathing suits!"
This article ran in True Romance magazine, remember.
As far as I can tell, only one of these was constructed in Memphis, at 3991 Lakemont Drive.
"When it was first built, the home was featured in the Sunday newspaper, and my mother took us to see it," says "Futurama" homeowner Jan Beaty. "I was only 14 years old at the time, and never knew that would one day it would be my home."
Beaty and her husband purchased the house in 1970. This was quite a change from their previous residence, a small home in Frayser. The "Futurama" still had most of its original features, including the indoor swimming pool, sunken bathtub, separate "his and hers" bathrooms, and brick fireplace.
Over the years, Beaty has made quite a few updates. She lightened many of the darker paint colors that originally covered the walls, added a cedar-lined attic in the home's distinctive rooftop "turret," and completely modernized the kitchen. Moisture from the pool weakened the overhead beams in that room, so when she had those rebuilt she also replaced the original styrofoam-panel ceiling with a more environmentally friendly material, which absorbs moisture.
"One of the features mentioned in the magazine article was that you could just open the door leading to the swimming pool room and that would draw moisture into your house, like a humidifier," says Beaty. "Well, they omitted the fact that if you have chlorine in the water, that's not a good idea. Your whole house smells like chlorine."
Beaty also added more windows at the rear of the house to give a better view of the lake. "It's so beautiful, looking out there. That's what's kept me here all these years; you just have such a sense of spaciousness."
"I don't know why these homes were featured in a True Romance magazine," she says, "but it really was a 'true romance' story. My husband and I just adored each other, and we really had fun here. It's really been a wonderful home." M ----------------------

Here's a pic I shot and developed in our frontroom soon after the move 2 yr's ago.

I'm glad to see so many modern home enthusiasts on this thread.
ST

txmod
If you had these homes (as you could have already guessed by now.) in California, you would now be a financially happy boy.

So....

What sort of financial tax hell would it be if someone like me were to buy one of these and rent it out? I mean I have no concept of what it would require to do this.

I mean 89,900 for a frikkin cool house. Whats the rental market like? Could you do it and make or break even?

Hey, it's great to see a barber's chair in someones living room too! We have a black 'n' chrome 'stick shift' 1940/50s Belmont (sadly covered with all kinds of valuable worthless junk at the moment) here at Tiki Towers in England. Here's a photo I took recently of our gaff in the warm 'Surrey' sun!

The moai over the front door will have a butane flamer eventually. What you can see is the first floor dining room window and the main bedroom windows on the second floor. It was built in the late 60s early 70s and was low cost social housing! See it can be done developers!!

Have FUN at home folks! - Trader Jim (Make mine a Mai-Tai!).

Congrats toulouse....please show us pictures on the progress of your home set-up. I'll bet it is pretty thrilling. :D

Gah!! Cant look at prices outside Bay Area-- Eyes burning!

A nice 1950's ranch house ready for tikization in Westchester (Bakersfield Ca) can be had for $350 k and there are even some fake Eichlers.

On 2007-04-01 13:52, TikiGardener wrote:
So....

What sort of financial tax hell would it be if someone like me were to buy one of these and rent it out? I mean I have no concept of what it would require to do this.

I mean 89,900 for a frikkin cool house. Whats the rental market like? Could you do it and make or break even?

Well I'm not 100% sure about that here in Texas. But I will say this, if you did buy the one I mentioned for rental, I would like to be first in line. I'll even put this current house up for sale! Besides you know I'd never change the appearance and only would replace fixtures and what not that complimented the house. I drove by it last weekend while in town and I swear isaw a few vehicles in the drive way. It made me sick to think someone who doesn't appreciate the house will probably buy it b/c it's cheap and has a pool.

...so, I could sell my 350 sq. ft. Manhattan studio and for LESS money buy an AWESOMELY cool 3500 sq. ft. vintage swank pad!!!!?

...but I'd have to live in the reddest of red states...and every other driveway on the block is stuffed with a giant freakin pickup truck...??? (see photos)

no thanks...I'll stay where I am. :)

On 2007-04-02 13:05, Tiki Kollektor wrote:
...so, I could sell my 350 sq. ft. Manhattan studio and for LESS money buy an AWESOMELY cool 3500 sq. ft. vintage swank pad!!!!?

...but I'd have to live in the reddest of red states...and every other driveway on the block is stuffed with a giant freakin pickup truck...??? (see photos)

no thanks...I'll stay where I am. :)

And you wish to explain to me how red states can turn blue by another method? Be brave! Ok I know, politics etc...

On 2007-04-02 13:05, Tiki Kollektor wrote:
...so, I could sell my 350 sq. ft. Manhattan studio and for LESS money buy an AWESOMELY cool 3500 sq. ft. vintage swank pad!!!!?

350 sq ft?! That's the size of my freakin' living room! Gawd I would love to live closer to a city center, but no way could I live in a shoebox. Where to put the tiki bar?!

Yes, 350 sq ft would send me into cabin fever. On the other hand I don't need the space I have. The rancher I bought has a 24'x25' room above the garage that I don't ever go into. Thank goodness it is on its own a/c so I don't have to keep that running on it.

In all my Glenbrook picture posting, I didn't put any of my little rancher, I had a thread on lottaliving:

http://www.lottaliving.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=8620

As for being in a red state, oh well, it doesn't stop me from having a bumper sticker in bold red that reads.. "W - Our Scarlett Letter"

[ Edited by: txmod 2007-04-03 10:19 ]

350 sq ft?! That's the size of my freakin' living room! Gawd I would love to live closer to a city center, but no way could I live in a shoebox. Where to put the tiki bar?!

LOL....Actually I was just scheming a way to shoehorn in a Witco tiki bar and two stools, but you're right, it won't fit!!...then again....do I really NEED a bed???

But seriously, NY'ers don't need home tiki bars because we just..elevator down, jump in a cab, and in two minutes we're at Waikiki Willys or Otto's Shrunken Head suckin down Mai Tais....AND...we can get as drunk as we like cuz we dont have to drive!!! :)

Aw, MAN, Txmod!!
Your kitchen is straight out of an Architectural Digest! BEAUtiful!
Nice lighting, too. I guess it helps to know how to light homes if you're a realtor, huh! :wink:

alice b

On 2007-04-03 13:28, Formikahini wrote:
Aw, MAN, Txmod!!
Your kitchen is straight out of an Architectural Digest! BEAUtiful!
Nice lighting, too. I guess it helps to know how to light homes if you're a realtor, huh! :wink:

Txmod -- I second that -- Awesome interiors! big ups! But put a tiki or some Witco in there man!!!!

PS -- no cabin fever if your 350 sq ft is on the 18th floor with expansive midtown views! :wink:

I tell you, unbelievers:

Houston has become an incredibly great place to live. It used to be known by some as Helltown, but it has changed. I grew up here, moved away for college (at UT in Austin, home for many weekends) and afterward, but moved back about 5 years ago.

Houston boasts:
1.) the cheapest housing among cities in the nation (you would DIE if you knew what I paid for my 2/1, 1300 sq ft house (with a big yard, 10' ceilings, hardwood floors) in one of the coolest areas in town: The Heights. Die. Or hate me. And then die.)
2.) more restaurants per capita than any other city
3.) the "Second Nicest City" rating in the US (behind Rochester, NY) according to a national study a year or two ago
4.) a great museums and art scene (traditional, folk, weird, and really weird), e.g.:
Art Car Parade: http://www.orangeshow.org/artcar.html
The Orange Show: http://www.orangeshow.org/orange.html
The Beer Can House: http://www.orangeshow.org/beercan.html
5.) a great theater scene
6.) a reputation for hospitality like no other after Katrina
7.) proximity to the ocean (Galveston is 45 minutes away)
8.) proximity to Mexico (not as close as San Diego to Tijuana, but drivable)
9.) did I mention the high employment rate? GREAT job market.
10.) great antiquing (although we ain't no California for cheap yard sale tiki). But 2 weekends ago, I finally scored one of my top Holy Grails: a Bali Ha'i Tiki Bob from an antique mall (an MCM booth!) in a nearby town for $7.50.
11.) and now you know of the grooviest MCM neighborhood outside of California!

Downsides:
1.) humidity. No way around it. Except AC everywhere. We became a boomtown when AC became readily available.
2.) a crappy music scene (except for the occasional very bright spot like the band I used to be in, Clouseaux). But we're 2 and a half hours from Austin (whose housing is now MUCH worse than Houston's.)
3.) the rating of "second fattest city". We slipped from first last year. But do you know how they figure that? # of restaurants divided by # of health clubs! See #2 above. My friends are not tubs of lard. Houstonians can afford to eat out (see #9 above), it's often too hot to cook at home, and we have great choices. Hey, if somebody else wants to heat up their kitchen, fine!

Don't knock Houston! Come visit instead. And then stay and buy one of Txmod's cool houses!
F

[ Edited by: Formikahini 2007-04-04 16:38 ]

That almost described Bakersfield to a tee.

Formikahini, I totally agree. I love Houston, and if the humidity didn't almost kill my wife, we would be living there. I love the art scene there and the openess the city shows for the artists (I was a regular to the art car parade & the Orange Show). I love Houston... heck it's even just up the road from Tiki Island!

Well the realtor posted a virtual tour of the house we want: http://tours.tourfactory.com/tours/tour.asp?t=337065

Does anyone know how I can get this house? We are in debt management and our credit isn't so well b/c of our debt. Is there anyway you think they would consider taking my house (that i'm still paying on) as a trade or anything? After seeing the tour, I feel this house was destend to be ours.

Let's see 90k$ for a 3 BR/3Ba w/ a pool? Holy crap!!!! I couldn't buy my detached garage w/o electricity for that. Johnson Space Center is looking better and better.

Surf Tiki, before you go selling your home, loadin' up the truck and movin' the famileeee, know that Unkle John was posting a Lubbock, TX house, not Houston.

We're low priced, but not that low!

Awesome pictures. Very sad about some of those remodels, though. . I'd move to Houston in a heartbeat if I could find a good job. Is there a lot of biotech out there?
And in reply to the original question-- I don't think I would tiki-fy any of those little rumpus rooms. They're too awesome as-is and doing something to them would be a crime. On the other hand, adding a little tiki on the wall or something like that would just make it look like something right out of a SHAG painting. Now that would be cool.

On 2007-04-04 16:47, TikiJosh wrote:
Awesome pictures. Very sad about some of those remodels, though. . I'd move to Houston in a heartbeat if I could find a good job. Is there a lot of biotech out there?
And in reply to the original question-- I don't think I would tiki-fy any of those little rumpus rooms. They're too awesome as-is and doing something to them would be a crime. On the other hand, adding a little tiki on the wall or something like that would just make it look like something right out of a SHAG painting. Now that would be cool.

Job growth is strong here right now.

Just jokin' about moving. Having spent a large part of my life in New Mexico moving to Texas would be .... wrong.

Never a dull moment in fashionable Glenbrook Valley....

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/gray/4770311.html

Resurrecting an old thread, but I got some updated interior pics on this one. The new owners just restored it.

Pull out the cot!!! I'm come'n over to stay. Perfect. Fantastic place! Thanks for posting.

Love it! My wife and I have a ranch style house built in 1989 here in Bakersfield and we have taken it back to the 60's. Bakersfield 1989 is what everyone else had 15 years earlier so our house is almost period correct. LOL

WOW!!! They did an excellent job....great furniture and placement in the rooms. I love the front door too. It is nice to see people that want to restore modern homes like that. I love your pictures...thanks for posting them. :)

I had a chance to buy and "resurrect" one of these beauties.. unfortunately, My budget was $50k short of the asking price.. The people who ended up buying it, of course, butchered it.

This is my latest odd little find in Glenbrook. Who knew Franciscan Starburst also came in a bath tile? Apparently they may have been produced to be used as "trivets" but in the case of this house I went in this week, they were placed randomly in the bath as "accents." Once again, I hope this doesn't end up on the curb in favor of "bead-board" or slate!

Big BUMP on this thread. FYI for any one in the Houston area, or in town on July 13th.

Houston Mod, the local "mod" preservation group, has chosen one of the Glenbrook mod houses as their mod of the month, and it will be held open on Sunday, July 13th from 2 to 4. They pick one mod that is for sale every month and try to draw attention to it so that it helps get a sympathetic person who "gets it" to hopefully buy it and save it.

http://www.houstonmod.org/resources.aspx?sub=props

In addition to the one mod, there will be four other mid-century swankiendas open, creating a sort of home tour. These include a roman brick ranch with a kitchen featured in Atomic Ranch magazine, a boom-a-rang shaped jolly rancher on a ravine lot, and a one-owner all original colonial with lots of terrazzo that looks like Samantha from Bewitched should be living in.

[ Edited by: txmod 2008-07-03 07:46 ]

Wow - just looked at the HOM and it can't hold a candle to the other one you've been posting. The other is fantastic! Wish I could pack it up and move it to the Seattle area (better yet - move it to the Big Island!) Nice tile by the way - looks like the work of Sophista-Tiki! How old are those tiles? Newer?

On 2008-07-03 08:08, beadtiki wrote:
Wow - just looked at the HOM and it can't hold a candle to the other one you've been posting. The other is fantastic! Wish I could pack it up and move it to the Seattle area (better yet - move it to the Big Island!) Nice tile by the way - looks like the work of Sophista-Tiki! How old are those tiles? Newer?

Which other one? The one with the kitchen with glass tile backsplash? (called, of course, the TIKI blend from modwalls)

Sorry - sometimes I forget to look at the dates these were originally posted. I meant to say the HOM you last posted compared to the very first house you posted. I was also going to say the bar in the first post reminded me of Quagmire from the show Family Guy - his infamous comment "Giggidy" jumped into my head the second I saw it! LOL Thanks for bumping this post - I haven't gotten through HALF the old material here yet!

On 2008-07-03 19:12, txmod wrote:

On 2008-07-03 08:08, beadtiki wrote:
Wow - just looked at the HOM and it can't hold a candle to the other one you've been posting. The other is fantastic! Wish I could pack it up and move it to the Seattle area (better yet - move it to the Big Island!) Nice tile by the way - looks like the work of Sophista-Tiki! How old are those tiles? Newer?

Which other one? The one with the kitchen with glass tile backsplash? (called, of course, the TIKI blend from modwalls)

[ Edited by: beadtiki 2008-07-04 13:42 ]

This will actually make it easier. Here are links to the five that will be open. One is a true mid-century modern, a couple are good mid-century ranches, one is very colonial but has great terrazzo floors. (Edit - the links were not working for me but I think I have them fixed now)

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?mlnum=7971813&backButton=Y

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?mlnum=2642739&backButton=Y

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?mlnum=3409676&backButton=Y

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?mlnum=3536620&backButton=Y

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?mlnum=4981736&backButton=Y

This one is traditional but will also be held open, the more the merrier

http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?mlnum=7828441&backButton=Y

[ Edited by: txmod 2008-07-07 14:34 ]

Just a reminder, "mod palooza" is on for today! 2 to 4.

Had a great turn out. In case you missed it, there is always a story in the hood..

http://swamplot.com/two-flags-over-glenbrook-valley/2008-07-14/#more-2618

On 2007-02-22 20:54, Formikahini wrote:
No sh*t!
I'd never heard of it!!

It's NOT in a part of town where I would want to live (outside the loop, and south at that), but if the whole neighborhood is that amazing (and becoming increasingly filled with sympathetic types), I may have to seriously change my thinking!!

Maybe the Heights (where I live) and Montrose aren't the only cool places to live in Houston...
Hmmmm......

This is tooo amazing!!! I had no idea this houston subdivision even existed!!!! DAMMM, AND I HAVENT EVEN FINISHED READING THIS THREAD!!!

Well....it's a colorful place. In case you needed a "visual" for the "Battle of Glenbrook" article in the second or third post down on page 6....

http://neonpoisoning.blogspot.com/2008/07/hate-fags-and-i-wish-i-could-still-buy.html

We still have a few old characters floating around. Not all of them bad. When the writer of the "Battle" article was in there she found yet another one to write about in the hood. A guy that used to be Frank Sinatra's driver

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/gray/4857052.html

There were a bunch of old Cadillacs wheeled out for the open house, I didn't take any pics but someone did send me this one.

[ Edited by: txmod 2008-07-21 18:48 ]

We still have a few old characters floating around. Not all of them bad. When the writer of the "Battle" article was in there she found yet another one to write about in the hood. A guy that used to be Frank Sinatra's driver

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/gray/4857052.html

Thanks for that link. I really enjoyed reading that article.

[ Edited by: Slacks Ferret 2008-07-18 19:52 ]

Nevermind... the house is off the market.

Texas Tikiphiles Unite!

[ Edited by: Unkle John 2008-07-30 21:26 ]

[ Edited by: Unkle John 2008-08-03 19:23 ]

We are really seeing some of the inexpensive mods pop up in Glenbrook in the southern section of the hood. I have been fretting over this one, but I think it landed in good hands, it just went pending. For a whopping $65,000 list (who knows what they talked them down to on actual sales price). A great albeit in bad shape, mid-century modern that was part of the 1956 Parade of Homes show, and was designed by a Mel O'Brien, a Rice educated Architect who went on to get his Masters from Princeton and opened his own firm in Memphis, Tenn. in 1963. He was very successful there. So the house has a sort of architectural pedigree and great design, for less than what some people spend on a high end SUV.