Tasteful Friends, your French Country Cottage Awaits!

The gardens are the only really nice thing about the property, most of the house, especially the kitchen, is meh.

It's beautiful, but dear God the cost of keeping that garden up would be horrendous. I love the house even though parts of it (the kitchen especially) desperately need some alterations.

I like the bones of the house. The "window treatments" and wallpaper make everything look ugly, so just ignore. The kitchen needs to be renovated, especially the tile and grout on the counter surfaces. Price seems really reasonable $699K, but yes lots of grounds maintenance. Bathroom has already been renovated.

I don’t care what anyone says. I WANT IT!

Those kitchen cabinets could be made to look perfect for that house. In my opinion they need a pickled finish. But get rid of all that tile. I do like the huge cooking alcove. Actually I would make it a bit smaller. Seems they currently have 2 cook tops. They must really like to cook.

Hopelessly middle class!

I love it. Not the decor, but after all, that isn't staying. But the house and grounds are beautiful.

Who lives surrounded by painstakingly created gardens and yet NO windows in the kitchen, in CT, no less.

Surprised the house is over 3,200 sf! That’s not really a “cottage”

The entire inside of this place is ridiculous but I love the landscaping!

What's a 'pickled finish'?

They had me until they went inside.

R11 this is a pickled finish.

It's gorgeous OP, and the inside just needs a bit of painting and maybe new counters in the kitchen etc. I would take it in a second.

That’s nice, R13.

Bahahaha! No one can have it! It's ours now!

The garden is wonderful. It’s also very high maintenance but if you like to garden then it’s doable. The interiors can easily be changed.

$508.00/mo property tax is outlandish.

Yes, a well done pickled finish can save the most heinous looking cabinetry.

The grounds are an unthinkable burden. It'd be impossible to keep up with. The house is cute, minus the Burger King tiles in the kitchen and the over use of wallpaper.

Not Pierre Deux, that's toile de jouy.

It'd be fun to buy and then let the gardens get overgrown and mysterious while you sit in the cupola pining over your missing love.

From the obit of Pierre Moulin, one of the founders of Pierre Deux:

In the mid-1970's, Mr. Moulin found something else so old it was new: Toile de Jouy fabric, the fine-lined historical-document prints that had captured the imagination of the 18th-century French. With its depictions of American Indians, balloon flights and Lafayette's battles, the material was by then passe; most of the printing rollers had been turned into lamp stands. But Mr. Moulin unearthed some in the basements of French factories, and he and Mr. LeVec invested heavily into putting the patterns back into production. Decorators pounced on the toiles, using them for pillows, wall coverings and bed skirts.

Do you really think 500 bucks a month is a lot for 6 acres and a 3000 sf house R18? Doesn't seem like it to me.

$6k is not much for property tax, R18.

If there is a separate school tax in that locality, then it could add up.

I don't think the formal gardens go very well with the house, which is rustic in style (once you pare back the exuberantly overdecorated interior). Also, R17, I don't care how much you love to garden, there is no way those gardens could be maintained without a full-time gardener. That expense has to be taken into account when considering the quite reasonable price.

Gardens like that call for a mini-chateau or an imitation Stately Home of England.

All the elements are pretty (except the ugly kitchen), but I don't think they've been pulled together very well.

I would remove the hedging in the middle of the garden and let the rest of the garden go wild. I like a formal garden layout with informal planting.

Connecticut's in trouble economically. Plus the 5 to 7 percent state income tax, and the 6.35% sales tax, downgraded bond ratings and the decline in population and thus state tax revenue.

I'm fine with the house, taxes, the kitchen after a re-do, whatever, but the gardener's salaries are a deal-breaker.

Bienvenue chez moi! Je suis française, salopes!

R18 where do you live, a flyover state? We live in NY and pay $23,000 a year in property taxes.

R29 not everywhere is New York.

It's a dressed up ranch house, but Roxbury is a very nice town. You could stop by the Sondheims for a cup of sarcasm.

The wallpaper and curtains are too matchy-matchy. The kitchen needs updating. I don't like the marble bathroom: much too high maintenance. It's not that I don't like the landscaping, but as several people have mentioned, it's just too high maintenance. My over impression was favorable, though.

Only on DL will you get discussions about Pierre Deux and Toile De Jouy!

I love that about this place. Carry on...

[quote] there is no way those gardens could be maintained without a full-time gardener.

Is this supposed to be a joke ?

Garden and much of décor is a bit fussy. Seems pretty cheap for sq ft and location.

FYI. this is not in France. Why did you say it was, OP?

Some common middle class frau thinks she's Martha Stewart

Jesus, where I Iive you would get a 2 bedroom condo and the taxes would be higher.

Looks just like that horrible home in Connecticut I visited last year. Now, what did they name their home? Upson Downs? Ghastly! Colonial American decor, indeed!

"Why look," Lucy exclaims to Ethel, "it's Carolyn Applebees home!"

Why would you ask that, R34? The grounds are 6.5 acres. That alone would require a lot time and effort to maintain.

Do you think all of this shrubery just naturally grows this way? When it grows, of course, which you seem to think is a very rare thing. But it is not.

R36, were you often and repeatedly dropped on your head as a child?

The house is beautiful under all that hideous wallpaper and grandmotherly window treatments! It'd be stunning, if redecorate by someone with a bit of taste!

As it is, I swear my late Granny faked her death and has been living there on her life insurance money. It's so fucking mid-century middle class it hurts, because the house was obviously designed for someone with a higher level of taste.

I stand corrected r23. Although I visited the Pierre Deux shop/museum (at the original location in Tarascon) two years ago and it was mostly the small prints like you see on chair cushions. They make shirts out of it too if you want to blend in with the furnishings.

I would look into subdividing the property and taking the grounds down to a more manageable size. The house itself has tremendous potential and wouldn't require massive renovations. The kitchen could be initially updated by painting the cabinets and replacing the countertops and flooring, as well as the appliances. That living room would be amazing with a lighter, fresher decor.

The broker for this property is not doing good work. The photos are terrible.

The wall paper and draperies are already way too busy. That requires simplifying the contents of those rooms for these photographs. Carry that shit to the next room, take the photos, then put it all back, if need be. Flat surfaces throughout the house are filled with clutter. Outdoor spaces are obstructed with lawn furniture. Multiple photos of statues cluttering the garden.

It's okay for real life, if you like that sort of thing. But when you're marketing a house, get all that idiosyncratic distraction out of the photos.

Is Roxbury a hellhole? Is the roof about to collapse? Why would this perfectly nice (albeit dated) house on SEVEN ACRES only cost $700K?

Because it's in a distant corner of Connecticut, a state that's fast going down the shitter.

Is it being sublimated into New Jersey?!

It's no where near New Jersey.

It's actually on a corridor that's pretty popular for 2nd homes and vacation homes. That might help to keep the price down.

I certainly wouldn't want to live in New Jersey.

Are people unaware that not everything in Connecticut costs a million or more?

Why would it? It's becoming part of New Jersey.

The price seems very reasonable for the size of the home and the lot. I find the interior charming if a bit busy. R46 nailed it with the excessive clutter, books aren't decorative accessories when stacked on multiple surfaces. The kitchen needs new countertops, floors and backsplash. I could deal with the master bath but it wouldn't be my first choice. I'd change out some of the toile for the Tom of Finland version I once saw in a friend's house, just to see if anybody noticed!

[quote] I'd change out some of the toile for the Tom of Finland version

I have this on pajama bottoms that I got in Ptown years ago.

Why are there almost no pictures of the exterior of this house? That’s the reason for the low piece. It must be butt ugly.

What others said - the gardens are too formal for the style of the house. And once you get past all the patterned fabric, the bones of the house are pretty great. I could see it as a weekend place.