Tasteful Friends, what do you think of this Galveston home?

Fucking hideous.

It looks like a wing of public school that was built in the 70s.

R2 my first thought!

I love this house. Sure the colors are a bit much, making it harder to judge. Strip it down and it has a structure you can do a lot with; or perhaps just minimal. Looks like there may be room for a pool.

Same thought as R1 and R2. Or a post office. I didn't expect to like it, but I do. A lot.

I was prepared to hate it after seeing the outside, but I find the inside charming as hell. You can tell people with a sense of fun and whimsy live there.

I don't know much about architecture. Would that be considered mid-century modern?

The exterior is a bit grim, but the interior has some nice architecture and is generally pleasant.

What parts of the decor didn't disappear with the owners would be removed or covered over pronto. There's way too much "whimsy" for me; it looks like it was decorated by a committee of little girls and a pair of adults who buy all their "original art work" drunk at auctions aboard cruise ships.

Other observation: Goddamn but Galveston is ugly.

If it were on the east or west coast I'd like it a lot more. Texas is a nonstarter.

Definitely owned by some homos.

it has a nice balance of original details (such as the original sink and toilet in the powder room) and modern upgrades.

I love it. I would not want that much blue or in that shade, but it's really fun.

Burn it to the ground and collect the insurance money.

It's weird. I love it--the outside as well. I hate their taste in art and wall decoration, but everything else is nice. I like that the whole front is windows, and yet they have privacy. This is the case, in fact, wherever there's a large window. It was cleverly designed.

Love the blue kitchen, even!

Don't you get dizzy looking at the extreme contrasting colors and way over-the-top decorations? What's with the wall of repeated pictures of a Royal? Please tell me who ever created this monstrosity was on a drug trip and drunk. Only thing that makes sense.

Maybe if I saw it stripped down of most of the decorations and strange color scheme I'd like it more.

I don't like anal retentive total design statements, no matter how nice every scrap of decor may be.

What a lovely view of the refineries!

It reminds me of a doctor's wing of a hospital built in the 60s, but it's unique and functional and despite the questionable decor I like it

Galveston! Oh Galveston!

When you are in the bathroom you can see the sea birds flying in the sun.

In this house, in Galveston

Looks like a library, but I do like it.

You had me until Galveston. OP can kindly go fuck itself.

Flood risk, you say..?

Odd house. Thought it was a repurposed elementary school from the front.

I think they did a great job on the interior and in the garden. Fun, colorful, not your typical grey and white shit, and looks lived-in and comfortable.

I looked at the closet and saw bright colors and mainly men's clothes - so I assume they're gay, but then the kids rooms threw me off. (I know some gays have kids, but it still isn't THAT common).

There's not much curb appeal for the front, but it's a very good and unique design inside. Not all of it is to my taste, but they did the most with what they have.

Refreshing.

R25 - I take that back - I see women's sandals and chunky heels now (unless it's used for drag).

This is a fun couple. And they have a good eye for design without spending too much.

I love it too. I'd have to do some updating in spots, and the grounds need definite improvement. That turquoise in the kitchen and that bath is noxious. And I'd rip up all that parquet flooring. I absolutely hate parquet flooring.

A number of people think this house is fun....Well, it's not my idea of fun.

I like or can bear everything else but the kitchen. The color is just too overwhelming and monotone, at least in the photos. Artistically I get why and I do appreciate the boldness but it's hard to imagine anyone cooking there real food.

Love, love, love the inside (minus some of the artwork). I'm not quite sure about the outside of the house.

Paint is the easiest thing to change about a house.

That is the side of the island that smells like sulfur and it faces Texas City. It's like the armpit of Galveston.

I love it. One of my top 5 Tasteful Friends ever! Extra love points if that's real period-correct vinyl composite tile flooring on the basement level.

My only tiny quibble is that I'd prefer the kitchen passthrough to open onto the dining room, not the living room.

Tragic it will all be washed out to sea in the next hurricane.

What on earth is that. . .artwork on the dining room wall? Is the horse's head spewing blood!?

I agree, r6 -- I didn't expect to like it, but I actually do really like the bold use of color, and I also like the art on the walls (except for that hideous thing over the fireplace).

I don't even hate the kitchen, which is unusual for me.

What I do dislike are the surroundings -- from the pictures, it looks like the house is on a postage stamp, and everything around it looks unattractive, even the "harbor view".

Looks like a bus layover area shelter/edifice.

I like a lot of it - turquoise was a popular late 50s early 60s kitchen color, so I understand the choice, and like the idea of everything in the kitchen being one color; but I’d have gone with a different color.

I’m sure the parquet floors are original. I know at the time they were considered quite stylish, but that’s a finish that has dated into looking very cheap and too busy. I’d replace all the parquet floors with white terrazzo, which also suits the style and period of the house; and may actually be more disliked here on the DL than parquet.

R37 - you can tell they were on a fixed budget. They left quite a few things untouched - and that's ok. The parquet isn't through the whole house.

And white terrazzo tile, while appropriate for mid-century if you want to be a purist, is fucking ugly and belongs only in big commercial buildings like courthouses. It was a mistake to ever put that shit into a residence.

Yes, I'm a hater.

At least these people are not Deplorables. There's a "Women for Wendy" placard in the QEII room. I think that is from Wendy Davis' unsuccessful gubernatorial bid in 2018.

One drawback is that it's adjacent to the Bolivar Ferry docks. Ferry Road can get very backed up with cars waiting to board the ferries, so there's that traffic to deal with. Fortunately, it appears that there are some alternative ways to enter the neighborhood that can keep you off Ferry Road.

Ridiculous! Look at how tiny those lots are.

Link doesn't work.

There are almost 40 comments here, R41, discussing this house. So obviously the link works. Maybe the problem is on your end.

R33 It’s lasted through many, many hurricanes so far but point taken!

R38 - I didn’t mean terrazzo tile - I’m talking the real deal - poured like concrete and polished into big unbroken slabs - just like in a Courthouse.

I think it looks great in the right home, but I ripped up the cheap 60’s parquet in my high rise condo and just had the raw concrete slab it was glued to ground smooth and sealed with a high gloss polymer (which was much cheaper than installing terrazzo - I looked into it). Thankfully we don’t have to live in each other’s homes.

The QE2 wallpaper isn't terrible, but every other painted/treated surface in the house is. I feel like I'm drowning just looking at that hideous kitchen. I would never choose to live in Texas. If it were elsewhere, I might consider it.

Looks yummy!

Is it a converted school?

Boxy but nice.

If I’m going to have coastal risk, I’m going to see that water, dammit.

[quote] the whole front is windows, and yet they have privacy.

Privacy? Where? Those floor to ceiling windows look right onto the street just feet away and the neighbors on the other side. Anyone driving by could look right into this house. It would be like living in a fishbowl (not to mention the traffic noise right outside the door.)

I wonder how far non-porn Brandon lives from there. And whether he likes bold, bright colors like that.

A horrible house that looks like a doctors office from the outside.

There is so much wrong with it. But I mostly don't understand the kitchen. But that huge old tree in the backyard is beautiful.

A wonderful, happy home. It would be fantastic if it belongs to a couple of homos because I spy a whole shelf of caftans.

Girls...that closet was caftan heaven!!!

It’s beautiful! I’d take it just the way it is. If it wasn’t in Galveston. Thank God they left the original tile and didn’t try to put in wood flooring, because in Galveston, the whole first floor is going to be under water. Move it to a better location.

It would appear to be at the very furthest eastern edge of inhabited Galveston.

Well, I hate Galveston - so we are starting off on the wrong foot. I do find the exterior of the home to be very interesting if not particularly striking. It does appear to be some sort of 60's era small public building, but the initial listing photo drew my attention and it isn't a listing that you could pass up exploring further. The finished plywood interior walls are "period cool" but I can only imagine what a toll the climate, humidity, FLOODING, etc., will take (or have taken) on them. I love the floating walls and the clerestory windows, but hate the jalousie windows. The parquet is pretty terrible and would need to be replaced ASAP. Most of the homes around it look one step up from trailers; why is this particular home listed for over $500.000? In a not-so-tony part of Galveston (of all places)? Good luck with that.

Imaginative, lots of fun. Love it.

The galley kitchen is horrific.

In the 90s I had a 70s era villa on Ibiza with travertine floors and it was chic but I would have preferred glittery terrazzo, which I adore in a southern home.

If you sit in a certain spot at the dining room table, you have a large depiction of a horse’s penis right at eye level.

The inspiration for the horse painting perhaps?

A closet full of caftans! I'm in love.

[quote]I mostly don't understand the kitchen

Sadly, I do.

My mother spent a lot of time in a relative's home in the 1940s and 1950s that had a kitchen that opened up into a large porch area painted that exact same shade of blue, even on the ceiling. She said it was really common in the early 1900s, especially on porch ceilings for middle class folks, but smaller homes owned by people of lower income brackets often had the whole porch and kitchen area painted that color. In cheaper homes the kitchen and porch were attached and mostly open to keep it cooler in the summer.

When she remodeled in the mid 2000s she had the porch turned into an enclosed mud room, painted that same shade of blue. She loved it, it reminded her of childhood.

I think nowadays most people use a less tacky color of blue and just do ceilings.

😄😄😂🙈

Hideous

God what an ugly building, I hesitate to call it a home as it looks like something a power or utilities company would have as a plant building. It looks exactly like a phone exchange I once worked in years ago. Both the telco and the power company built a lot of buildings in exactly this style here in the 50's 60's, and 70's, some were offices but most were equipment/ plant buildings housing switch gear, transformers etc

The interior is only moderately hideous, all the colour is its saving grace. If it was all white and minimalist it would be even worse. As it is it has character which makes it at least bearable. Most of the art is horrifyingly ugly, at least that will go with the owners. Even then decorating this extraordinarily ugly space to make it at least beautifulish at first glance would be a massive challenge

These people think they have great taste, but they make two major mistakes in my idea of taste and decorating....having the TV the main vocal point in the living room and after spending all that money on this house, they couldn't get rid of a cheap ass shower curtain and replace it with glass

The blue kitchen is the stuff of nightmares. Why would you redo the kitchen with carrera (!) marble and a sub-zero... and keep the old, contractor-grade (and that's being generous for a shack down by the chemical plant) cabinets? But it's hysterical that you're all worried about a hurricane because the real danger is that chemical plant/refinery spewing cancer by the bucket.

Wow! That house has a tremendous amount of character. Such bold decorating choices and bold colors.

There's a lot I love about it, especially the unicorn painting in the dining room. I like the QE2 study and the Star Wars bedroom. Love the bright colors. Love the unique layout.

Exterior leaves much to be desired.

The exterior is a hoot and the design might actually be flood friendlyish.