Sea Monsters 'Round These Parts
Maybe to go along with the new Chairtuday Saturday, I should have an “Actually I Think This Is Awesome” Sunday. Rolls of the tongue, doesn’t it? But anyway: actually, I think this is awesome! Sea monsters, on your house! I am opposed to painting over windows (a strongly held position I didn’t know I had until five minutes ago), but other than that: rock on, Poseidon.
Found By: Melinda
Loveliest comment, by glasgowtremontaine: octopi + aspidistra = MEGASNOWDROP
Is the artist well known? Because that seems to be an awfully high price for Texas.
It’s in Austin. That explains a lot. Anything’s possible.
It’s not the artist, it’s the location. And someone will buy it at that price or close to it.
I knew this was Austin when I first saw the picture! Sure enough, zooming in on the ad confirmed my suspicion. This house is in the “historic” Travis Heights neighborhood — a hot area for young, hip consumers. They pay outrageous prices for tiny houses with old plumbing and wiring just so they can say they live in Travis Heights.
“Historic” meaning you don’t think it deserves historic zoning, or “historic” meaning the historic zoning rules are impotent and one can still build monstrosities? (Monstrosities being monstrous houses, not houses with pictures of monsters.) Because I’ve gotten lost in Travis Heights a few times, and every other lot contains a cinder-block-and-corrugated-tin horror that looks more like a Jiffy Lube than a home.
It would be a shame to paint over that. Gives new meaning to “it’s on the left, you can’t miss it.”
You’d expect the inside to have murals all over the rooms too.
It looks so bland in comparison.
As soon as I saw this, I knew it would be in Austin. Very typical–both in appearance and price–of the funky things you’ll find in 78704.
octopi + aspidistra = MEGASNOWDROP
I found some better quality pics and more info on the house on zillow
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/507-Leland-St-Austin-TX-78704/29460073_zpid/
Apparently it’s by a local muralist named Lance Bradley.
You’ve made a sale – want, want, want, want . Though, the right-in-the-corner-beside-all-the-windows bed is possibly a bit exhibitionist. I hope there are curtains.
What’s up with all the Austin hating? People like to live in Travis Heights because they can walk to all kinds of cool stuff: restaurants, parks, shopping, etc. And because they have more money than God, yes, but at least they aren’t spending it on gigantic houses an hour out in the suburbs with gigantic gas guzzler SUV’s to match.
And, no I don’t live in Travis Heights, I live in a neighborhood just East of Travis Heights where you can get much larger houses for a couple hundred grand less than TH. But I understand why people live there.
No Austin-hating from me.
Personally it falls into “it’s a nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there” for me. But love it or hate it, you gotta admit that Austin’s just unique and different from anything else in Texas (and that’s saying something… Texas is pretty diverse to start with!).
There’s a reason all the Texans on here took one glance at that picture (and house price) and guessed it was in Austin.
To each their own.
I lived in Austin for seven years. I worked as a security guard in a Downtown highrise, on 6th street, graveyard shift. You see a very unlovely side of the city when the sun goes down.
To be honest, I don’t hate it, I just watched it change a LOT. It used to be perfectly OK to have a concert in Zilker. Now the people in the overpriced downtown condos complain about the noise. You can’t walk ten feet down the Drag without a dozen panhandlers begging for change. You can park across the street from the police station and still have your car broken in to. You might be able to walk to anywhere in Travis Heights, but the local shops know that and bilk you for a fortune. Among many, many other issues.
It looks like the artwork for a seaside amusement park stall – “Nemo’s undersea tour of the ocean”
Meh, if it’s in 78704, it’s probably being sold as a tear-down.
Hmmm I’m surprised the realtor didn’t say it’s “where the wild things are…”
I’m one of the many who took one look at this picture and said, “I bet that’s in Austin…”
To all the non-Texans visiting: Everything Vivian, Melissa, Janet and AnAceofKidneys has said is TRUE TRUE TRUE. And did I mention, TRUE?
I used to live in a flat with mad hippies downstairs (lovely, but mad) and when the house needed painting Olive wanted to paint the downstairs like a giant fly agaric mushroom and the upstairs as sky. In the end we decided that all blue was cheaper, but it would have been interesting. She was a rather brilliant artist with a fascination with painting (and scoffing) fly agaric mushrooms. I love the monster house
I gotta say, much as I probably would hate to have to live next door to that thing if I owned neighboring property and were worried about my investment, that is a pretty awesome cottage! Fairly well summates the best about home ownership in America (outside of an HOA of course) — it’s my damn house and ain’t nobody gonna tell me what color(s) I’m painting it!
When I go to Google maps to view the area, the neighboring houses looks so plain in contrast that it makes me want to go down to the paint store, buy an entire range of psychadelic colors and brighten up the area.
Hey, it’s got central air! When can I move in?
LOOOOVE it!
The boyfriend and I have a Pirates of the Caribbean room already (down the hall from the Newgrange room) otherwise we’d think about relocating! (And this is a 2-bedroom bungalow, not a mansion
)
Dude! I want this house! And I live in Austin! Of course, despite said awesomeness of the outside, I adore the classic 1930s frame houses in the South Congress area and want one of my own within walking distance of Home Slice Pizza, as this is! Ooooo, if only I’d gotten that winning lotto ticket.
Now, if only I could get approved for a damned loan in this economy…
The *real* reason the price is so high: Since it’s in Poseidon’s neighborhood, earthquake, flood, tidal wave, hurricane and giant sea monster attack insurance are all required and must be stated in the sticker price when selling a home. It’s an obscure Greek law, donchaknow.
I think “Actually-I-think-this-is-awesome” Sunday sounds like a great idea. And, while I know I’m about two weeks too late, do you think “Seaturday” would be a good name for the chair-themed blog day?
Are the “taggers” this talented in the neighborhood?
Actually, yes. The coffee shop on the Drag used to let taggers redecorate their side walls. This guy’s art was very popular there, if I recall.
I thought this was located in a land called Honalee, not Austin.
Jano? That was marvelous. Thank you.
I’m still giggling, and humming Puff.
Hey Sara! Jano just took care of your Loveliest Comment, honey!
Ooh. It was hard to choose, it was.
I’m cracking up that so many Austinites knew the location of this house before looking at the listing. Not because we’ve actually seen it in 3D – but because this is one of the few places in the US where a house like this would even sort of fit in. Believe it or not, I’ve seen weirder.
p.s. I don’t get the Travis Heights thing either – sure, it’s a beautiful neighborhood, and close to all things hepcat, but there are a lot of really nice places to live in this town. Anyhoo, more power to the monsterfolk and I hope they sell their house soon.
re: painting over windows. I think it’s painted on the screen, not the window, which doesn’t block your view out. It is a pretty big thing here in Baltimore, where many rowhouses don’t have front yards and opening the windows means people can basically stand on the sidewalk and stare right into your house from two feet away. It’s pretty ingenious- you can see out, they can’t see in.
Plus, it prevents anthropomorphisizing.
WWWAAANNNTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Must. Have.