Friday, January 16, 2009

Someone didn't get the memo



"Uh, Toaster Oven? Yeah, we were all kind of going for a theme, you know? Phone wore its dial, and Cabinets all came with their steel fronts. Even Bathroom Floor agreed to dress up in pink and gray. So... what I'm saying... look, it's nothing personal, but toaster ovens don't really go with what we're trying to do, okay? So, if you wouldn't mind just, you know, going for a walk or something? Thanks, man. No hard feelings, right?"

(Via Metafilter.)

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay, so it may not be from this decade, or even a recent one, but I have never seen a house on this site that is this immaculate... The close up of the bathroom fixtures show no smudges, the bedspreads have no wrinkles, the floor doesn't need vacuumed!!! It was almost perfect until they left the stack of 5 gallon buckets in the basement, and that pesky toaster oven hanging out in the wrong kitchen...

GaryM said...

You really have to read the listing's description to appreciate this place.

At first, I thought Sara was pulling our leg, and these were photos from the set of the "Donna Reed Show."

Then, I thought that Refrigerator should admit that he's just standing in for the white Frigidaire who stepped out for a moment.

In the end, I think someone should make a museum out of the place. $130,000 would be cheap for a museum, especially one that authentically represents American Suburbia of the 50's. It's very impressive.

Glory von Hathor said...

Wow. It's astonishing!

When I look at that place, I hear a jingle.

And I want to look in the wardrobes.

Unknown said...

oh, man, toaster oven or no i would snap that bad boy up! loving the appliances! except said toaster oven.

Mortimer's Mom said...

I was just going to send you that link! How seriously cool is that house? Time Warp! love the bathroom tile.

V- said...

Ok, I adore this house on every level. That's such an awesome collection of vintage furniture. I must run out and buy starched curtains and tablecloths and some Life magazines and a pipe for Ward, err.. hubby.

Andrea said...

I just can't figure out why the family only lived on the lower level and never the main floor. And if so, where did all the furniture come from? Maybe from the lower level? It's certainly not new for the staging.

Anonymous said...

I didn't quite get this one, gotta look at the whole listing for that one.
Now that it's done, I fully appreciate the find :)
Down to the pink and grey floor...

Leigh said...

I feel like if I went into that house, my long-dead grandmother would suddenly appear holding a freshly baked pound cake. It IS in some kind of time warp, right?

Arden said...

How can that happen? It's creepy as hell. I would love to hear the story behind that one.

Anonymous said...

I knew that had to be a Missouri house, both of my grandmas live in houses just like that!

I can't believe they only lived in the basement. I wonder if the owner had a touch of OCD or something.

Brandy said...

I just can't figure out the WHY of it.

Were they so afraid of a bomb that they lived in the basement for 50 years? And WHERE in the basement? The pix don't really show the liveability of it...

Although for $129K, I would LOVE it! And I'd think a studio would snap it right up for a period set!

Anonymous said...

I appears that there is a radiaton leak somewhere outside this house as the windows glow! Too much light pours in through every opening.

Anonymous said...

This is giving me warm fuzzy memories of my Italian-American childhood... overlain by a thin layer of panic that I might actually move a chair and forget to put it back, or track dirt on the carpeting.

Must phone therapist now.

Karen said...

Love it. It's soo immaculate (much like the shrine in the backyard - yeah, that would be the first thing to go in my opinion). It would be great if you could negotiate all the furniture along with the house - it would be a shame to separate them.

Herding Grasshoppers said...

I love it!

And so intriguing... who lived downstairs? Why not upstairs? And they were allowed up for Thanksgiving, but not Christmas or Easter?

So many questions!

Does June Cleaver come with the house?

Anonymous said...

Wow. I'm honestly awestruck but...Jeez, I really get the feeling that is someone's incredibly sad story of some disorder never properly treated. I'm not trying to be unkind, but they lived in the basement for pretty much fifty years? I don't think that's a good sign.

It's lovely to look at and quite the time capsule but I have a feeling it would be incredibly sad, and creepy to witness. It's not so much preserved as it is seemingly embalmed.

Sorry, I love your site, these posts usually crack me up beyond the telling of it, and I love the comments left by people too. What this one really made me think was that I'm so freaking glad to be me. This place was chilling to me.

Anonymous said...

Ooooh. I want this house. I'll pay asking price but they have to leave every stick of furniture and all the linens and curtains stay.

I want to go mix up a pitcher of martinis and play canasta. I don't even know what canasta is! And I don't like martinis.

fposte said...

Oh, my God. WANT. That wood! And the touching shrine to the Madonna in the backyard. Do we think that the plastic protectors on the carpet upstairs were part of the owner's preservation mania as well?

I am taking this as a bit of a reminder to enjoy stuff now and not to save it for a best that never comes.

Anonymous said...

I want this house and every single item it holds. It's perfect.

Anne said...

WOW, it would be really interesting ( or Creepy) to know the story about the person(s) who lived in the house/ The furniture is worth a lot to the right buyer.
Great post!

Anonymous said...

For some immigrant communities this was typical (certainly typical of my, and my husband's, families). People would buy a new gem of a house, decorate it with new and very good quality furniture and then build a second kitchen and bath in the basement and do all of their real living in there (or often in the garage in good weather). Bedrooms were used, but the carpets would be protected with plastic.

Kitchens, dining rooms, main baths and living rooms were preserved as a showplace and used only for special occasions or company. In some families, every non-used room got a huge cleaning and polishing once a week too. Keeping the nice things nice was a way to show that the family was prosperous. It's just a cultural custom.

Anonymous said...

Saw this listing a few weeks ago on Retro Renovation, and yes it's my dream home. But I didn't notice the toaster oven before, kinda funny! Anyway, if I felt like moving a coupla hours to St. Louis, I'd be buying this place in a heartbeat.