Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Falling in Love

Over the weekend my husband Dave and I went to a few open houses in the Heights with Dave's brother and his wife, who are contemplating a move to Houston (and the Heights specifically) from south Florida. During our tour, we stumbled upon this house:

Although not yet completed, the house is on the market and hosted an open house on Sunday. I couldn't resist -- I had to take a peak inside. Unfortunately, I'll never look at my own house the same way again. It's absolutely stunning inside. If God truly is in the details, than this house must be holy. Here are a few snapshots I took on my tour:

This is the wine closet (yeah, I know) off the formal dining room. I absolutely adore the chandelier (can you tell I'm a bit lighting obsessed of late?). The brick back splash is great, too, and gets picked up elsewhere in the house (e.g., the floor of the utility room).


This is the butler's pantry that connects the kitchen and the formal dining room. It stretches on for ages and the other side (not pictured) opens up into a huge walk-in pantry. Completely envious of all the built-in storage.


Oh the kitchen. This is probably my favorite room in the house (unless the wine closet counts as a room). I love how the cabinets extend up to the very high ceiling and how the upper cabinets over the island have glass on both sides, allowing more light into the kitchen from the backyard. I think my favorite part though is the faucet and sink. After living with a divided sink for 2.5 years, I would kill for a giant single basin like this one. Too bad the view out the window is of another house -- a house like this should have a window looking out into a courtyard or garden. At the back of the house past the kitchen is the giant mudroom (with even more storage surrounding a built-in bench) and utility room. There's a formal living room (with fireplace), a powder room, and master bedroom/bathroom on the first floor as well. These rooms are all lovely and I encourage you to check out pictures on the listing, but by far the most unique feature of the home is the staircase and landing:

I have no words. Beautiful built-in bookshelves with custom moldings flanking a beautiful stained glass window? Fantastic. Now, I only need to win the lottery (unlikely since I don't even play) or inherit millions from some distant and long forgotten relative. Ah well, sometimes it's fun just to dream.