Photos by TK Images Real Estate Photography
This latest time capsule house — from friend-of-the-blog real estate agent Robert Searcy — is a mid century modest jewel box of a house at just under 1,400 sq. ft. Listed at a mere $110,000 — this Houston, Texas time capsule home is a sight for sore eyes. Impeccably kept by its original owner — this house is chock full of glowing wood paneling, stunning tile work, original window treatments and retro cool appliances — like the fold-down electric burners, above. Let’s step inside…
Photos by TK Images Real Estate Photography
What a lovely exterior — note the three cut-outs in the brick masonry sheltering the front door… and how about the long low planter built under the bedroom windows to the left. This is a small, “simple” house — but the detailing is wonderful.
From the listing:
Meticulously maintained mid-century modern ranch designed by Herbert Caldwell & custom built by current owner. Open flowing layout with staggered living areas and open dining with oversize sliders to expansive deck & lavishly landscaped backyard. Loaded with cool period details such as bullet lamps, unusual vintage flip down cook tops, pristine original tile baths & hardwoods under carpet in BRs. An architect designed quality home with character in an up & coming close in historic district for less than rent!
- Price: $110,000
- Bedrooms: 3
- Baths: 2 full
- Garage: 2 car attached
- Year built: 1956
- Square footage: 1,375
- In Glenbrook Golf Course Community
- Other amenities: dishwasher, disposal, microwave, electric range and oven, electric washer/dryer, gas heating, A/C, fenced back yard, deck, brick veneer exterior.
Photos by TK Images Real Estate Photography
Our tour begins in the kitchen — which is light, airy and welcoming. This galley kitchen makes practical use of every bit of space — and comes complete with warm wood cabinets and a fabulous vintage laminate pattern that doesn’t stop at the counter top, but stretches up the wall as a back splash, as well.
Photos by TK Images Real Estate Photography
On to the dining area of the kitchen, where one can eat their meals bathed in natural light from the generous patio door and enveloped by the warm wood paneling. Such a cozy place for a cup of coffee, don’t you think? Start paying attention to all the darling shutters used throughout this house.
Photos by TK Images Real Estate Photography
Just past the eating area, is the family room. The floor plan of this house is wonderfully open and spacious looking for its modest size.
Photos by TK Images Real Estate Photography
Photos by TK Images Real Estate Photography
The formal living room — painted a cheery soft aqua — continues the house’s theme of open space with large windows allowing natural light to pour in.
Notice also, there is not an excess of color in the interior design of this house. The lovely woods are the starts, accented by soft whites and blues, for the most part. It’s “less is more” — but still very cozy.
Photos by TK Images Real Estate Photography
On taller windows, the charming louvered shutters are stacked.
Photos by TK Images Real Estate Photography
The double bullet sconce lighting is consistent room-to-room, although the sconces are black in the living areas (against the wood walls) and brushed brass in the bedrooms.
Photos by TK Images Real Estate Photography
Day beds put together at 90-degree angles — mid century interior design and decorating versatility at is best. And yum: Ethan Allen Custom Room Plan furniture.
Photos by TK Images Real Estate Photography
The bathroom is filled with lovely tile work, original features and even a vintage shower curtain and towel set. A beautiful space.
Photos by TK Images Real Estate Photography
We don’t get to see much of the second bath, but it also looks to have impressive built-ins and decorative tile work.
Photos by TK Images Real Estate Photography
The exterior and plantings also look like they were lovingly maintained. The tree — with the deck designed around it — is terrific.
Photos by TK Images Real Estate Photography
We sure hope that this mid century modest gem of a house will be discovered by someone who will cherish all of these wonderful original details — and continue to take care of them — preserving them for another 50-60 years.
To buy this house…
- Here’s the listing for this lovely 1956 ranch house.
- Here’s the listing agent Robert Searcy.
Thanks again to Robert and to TK Images Real Estate Photography for permission to feature these photos here on Retro Renovation.
Our other stories from Robert Searcy and his time capsule listing — YUM:
- 1957 “Swankienda” house — 24 photos.
- 1957 “Sputnik” house — 15 photos.
- How to sell a mid century house full of original feature — we hear from three experts.
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Oh what a beautiful, beautiful home!! It is super stunning all the way around from the gorgeous walls, to that soft aqua paint. Ohhhhh, I could move in as is!!!! Someone in the household must have been a painter as I noticed lots of brushes in the Ethan Allen bedroom. Perfect place for a craft room! I surely hope the people that do buy it keep it as is and appreciate everything that’s there. It’s a jewel! Love all of the furniture, too! My love of pink would fit right in! LOL 🙂
This is just about the best time capsule house yet. The landscaping is nicely done, the backyard is attractive and private, and the interior seems tasteful as well as comfortable. Some of the decorative touches seem more from the 80s or 90s, maybe, but well executed. The price makes it a real steal.
I’ll clarify that to me it’s the best time capsule yet because it is slightly bigger than our ’59 ranch. It would move us up from 1.5 baths to 2 full baths, and from a one-car garage to a two car garage, and give us a couple hundred more square feet. And, a privacy fence. And it’s in better shape. At a price a few thousand less than our house. Too bad it’s four states away.
I think this price reflects how close it is to Houston Hobby airport… I bet it can get loud… although I wouldn’t mind at all! This is the proper way to do paneling! Too bad “The 70’s” never got the clue!!!
Lovely! This house feels like a warm hug to me…the glowing warmth of the wood countered with the accents of aqua is gorgeous. This home was loved and I hope the new owners will love & preserve it to. Gosh, I love wood shutters and have a small stash in the garage I found at a thrift store for “someday”.
SWOON! I agree – this is one of the BEST yet! In case anyone here is a vintage travel trailer lover – if you can’t or don’t own one of those, this house is the next best thing with all that glowy birch cabinetry and glowy birch wall panels! I’m a huge knotty pine fan, but immaculate vintage birch is just as good, and I think under appreciated.
I love vintage trailers! Never had one, I don’t even recall being in one, but have always loved them…especially the ones with the warm birch wood interiors (didn’t even know what the wood was ’til now). I still have a Huell Howser VHS tape of the teardrop trailers and there was one 1930s one that I fell head over heels in love with…again, the warm wood. Now, I wonder if there is a connection to the memory of my dad’s old boat that I absolutely loved, with all the smooth glowy warm wood!
I currently live in the Houston area and would love to live in this house. I’ve been looking for a good mid century home at the right price, found one but the deal fell through. I may be forced to buy new (10 years old or so) and am wondering if anybody on here has renovated a new house to look MCM. any thoughts or ideas on where to begin? I don’t mind new on the outside but walking into the 1960s once they hit the front door. perhaps that’s the next trend….
I am intrigued by the bullet lights pointing at the ceiling. Does anyone have a similar setup, and do you have photos with natural light (the photog here obviously used a light setup for these pics)? I’d like to see if the effect is too diffuse, or if it’s nice and warm.
LOVE this ranch and all it’s orginality! The owners did “right” by this home. Hubby and I have looked at a 1965 Ranch very similar in style to buy. He and I will have disagreements…he will want to upgrade and I want to leave it as it is….especially the pink bathroom!
This is a beautiful home!!! I lived in this neighborhood as a small child. In my opinion the neighborhood is fine, however, there are other neighborhoods, apartments and shopping centers nearby that aren’t so great. Also, the schools are not very desirable. With that being said, I am still surprised to find a house so close to downtown for that price.
I saw a house on Zillow (http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6828-A-St-Tacoma-WA-98408/49298240_zpid/) today that just went on the market. I am so in love with this little place!
Its a cute and unremuddled 1960s home located in Tacoma (and for the location, its fairly inexpensive.)
Very simple and clean-lined with so many original features (and still all in good shape).
Its so hard to find places that remain unmolested (read: “updated”), so seeing this little house made me smile. 🙂
Nice find! If I still lived in the Seattle area, I’d totally want to buy this one. I love that the ad says it was last sold in 1979 – 2 long time owners in its history and obviously they both loved the place. The yellow range in the kitchen is great. I just can’t get over the condition of everything!
Okay, who can fill me in on those fabulous flip down burners? They’re awesome. I’d love to find some of those for my home. Super space saving.
Lindel,
We had those exact burners in our ’50 mid-century modern. We had to replace them, but still have them. They would need work (modern wiring) and one burner on each wasn’t working. They are cool, we had to replace them when we re-did the kitchen. If you’re interested (or anyone else) shoot me an email (ex11b90@yahoo.com) I can send you some pics. They are Frigidaire, the knobs are slightly different, I suppose because ours are 6 years older. Have had them sitting around for 7 years, would love to see them go to a good home!
Jim
Hey Jim,
Email has been sent! I will anxiously await you reply. Thanks.
It is a lovely home, but I am not surprised by the pricing, given the location. Over the years, the area between I-45 and Telephone Road has been rather dicey. In fact, you can read about Telephone Road here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_Road
I grew up in Alvin, Texas — roughly 20 miles from this home and this was not a part of Houston that we went to unless absolutely necessary. 🙁
That’s okay, I wouldn’t go to Alvin unless it was absolutely necessary either.
This house seems so tiny to me when it’s described as 1400 sq ft, but it seems as spacious and welcoming as a home could be. The furniture that matches the walls so well is to die for. I have liked previous capsule homes, but this one blows them all out of the water–especially given the price!
After Katrina, I considering relocating to Houston; had this home been available, I very likely would have done so!
I would love to buy this house fully furnished. So beautiful!
Oh, those cut-outs! Drool!
I also love how they painted the trim to match the walls in the living room, I think that’s one of the easiest ways to make a room look more Mid-Century than Martha. And it really helps showcase your furniture and accessories too as a montone backdrop let’s those strong shapes and detailing really stand when you eliminate the contrasting baseboards and door frames.
Of course I’m a little prejudiced as that’s what I did in my living room too, and darn near the same color. 🙂
Can you tell me the name of the aqua paint you used please
The Frigidaire “flip-out-stove-top”… does anyone know the actual product name for this item? I simply MUST find one to purchase and I am not having any luck with my search… thanks 🙂
What a cool, unmolested MCM! Jewels like this are being scraped off their lots in our 1950s Fort Worth neighborhood and are being replaced by artless, pretentious, gigantic McMansions with no redeeming architectural qualities. Sad, sad, sad.
I have the exact same fold down frigidaire RBW84 cooktop. Would love to buy yours or know who repairs it and where you get parts.