The average person spends more than a third of their time on earth sleeping, so bedrooms tend to factor into real estate purchases more than, say, game rooms and media centers. Still, some homeowners find ways to personalize their private chambers in some out-of-this-world ways, for better or for worse. These extreme bedrooms pop up when the houses head to market, but might be a hinderance if the buyers aren’t into velvet or chintz or Roman replicas. Then again, if they offer a cool slide to a water wake up, they might help sell the place. Slip a closet door open in this British bedroom, commit to a trip down a dark tube, and, surprise!, find oneself in a stunning indoor swimming pool. Yep, it’s that easy for the buyer of the $3.15M “most daring & innovative house ever built.” The subterranean mansion in Bowdon, Cheshire packs some James Bond wizardry into its master bedroom, but the craziest part of the design might be the absolute lack of windows. Okay, so the jacuzzi atrium features a skylight, but without the morning sun, it’s a good thing the owner can splash more than a little water on their face in the AM. We’ve got 11 more crazy, surprising, extreme bedrooms waiting after the jump. ↑ Designed by maximalist master Tony Duquette’s longtime partner, Hutton Wilkinson, this green bedroom with South Asian influences can be had for $925K, as part of a co-op in Los Angeles. The Wilshire Terrace building brings a few snags, like an all-cash requirement and $2,000-per-month in HOAs. ↑ Palm Springs might be known for its midcentury glamour, but this over-the-top boudoir was bringing down a 3,200-square-foot ranch in the middle of town. The place had its price chopped by $300K before finally selling, more than two years after it was first listed. And yes, the rest of the house shares the bedroom’s taste for oodles of velvet. ↑ Purple reigns supreme in this hideous Australian house, coating the walls of the living room and providing touches of eye-searing violet in the bedroom. That the place was offensive in hue didn’t hurt the sale at all though, it sold for something close to the $625K asking price. ↑ The HDR photography didn’t add a thing to this overwrought bedroom in a $2.15M Huntington Beach, Calif. manse. The bedroom has carved wood stuffed in every available corner, lending the place a less-than-convincing medieval air. ↑ Australia rears an ugly head again with this Sydney boudoir, which features a bathtub surrounded by a sorry replica of a Roman bath. Plus, and we can’t be certain, but the bed sure looks heart-shaped. Tack the cost of custom sheets onto the sale price, this place sold last August. ↑ Faux stone finishing and black leather are the keys to failure in this truly Texas-sized bachelor pad of a bedroom. Part of a $9.8M “contemporary” mansion, this place missed the modern boat back in the early 1990s. ↑ In Russia, a luxury bedroom isn’t complete without some neon green lighting to illuminate the crown molding. At least that’s the impression we got from this master bedroom, part of an extravagant $24M offering outside of Moscow. ↑ The Brits generally prefer their strange in smaller packages, and this cottage bedroom succeeds in cramming in enough chintz to satisfy ten grannies, then doubles it all up with a mirrored wall. The somewhat claustrophobic cottage is for sale at $250K. ↑ High-priced abominations are no stranger to New York City, where this Trump penthouse weirds out with a mix of Asian influences, a giant cracked geode, and tiger print carpeting. The views of Central Park are extreme in a good way, but the price, $24M, helps put everything in perspective. ↑ When model Agyness Deyn did up her Brooklyn bedroom, she took things “under the sea” with a coral mural, seashell light fixtures, and a blue ceiling. Surprisingly, this might be the most sedate room in Deyn’s loft, currently listed for $2.5M, but in contract to sell. ↑ Neon isn’t just a Russian thing, at least not in L.A., where this under-lit bed looks more like a modified Civic than a comfortable place to sleep. It’s part of an $8.9M house with a private disco, neon galore, Hollywood sign, and 10 bedrooms, all available for rent at $29,500 per month. ↑ What to do as a young software millionaire? Deck out an L.A. mansion in a very dated, tacky form of luxury then try to cash in on the $6.5M resale. The trouble is, this opulent master bedroom is located in Woodland Hills, where comps are selling for a third the price per square foot. Location, location, location probably drove the owner to pull it from the market. · Futuristic Bedroom Water Slide For Those Who Really Need a Dip [Curbed National] · Bowdon, Cheshire [Country Life UK] · It’s All Green for This On-The-Market Hutton Wilkinson Bedroom [Curbed National] · PriceChopper: Best Little Whorehouse in Palm Springs Reduced [Curbed LA] · Australian Temple of Technicolor Madness Actually Finds a Buyer [Curbed National] · HDR Photography Jazzes Up “Tuscan Remodel” in California [Curbed National] · “Cleopatra-Style” Bath Near Sydney Bids the Market Adieu [Curbed National] · This Gargantuan Ten-Million-Dollar Texan is So ’80s it Hurts [Curbed National] · Massive Russian Manse Alight With That Super-Special Glow [Curbed National] · Mirror Only Doubles the Patterned Horror in this Brit Cottage [Curbed National] · Trumpiest Apartment in Town Asks $24 Million [Curbed NY] · Agyness Deyn’s Williamsburg Apartment is a Tragedie [Curbed NY] · Neon, Neon, Neon, a Disco, and a Hollywood Sign in the Hills [Curbed LA] · Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dungeon in Woodland Hills? [Curbed LA]
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That’s Rather Hideous: A Dozen Extreme Bedrooms That Put the "Boo" in Boudoir
Click here to view the full photogallery. Today, online real estate brokerage Redfin announces the existence of its endlessly amusing new Twitter handle: @REConfidential. Accessed and updated by anonymous Redfin agents, the feed exposes the awkward (and often clothing-optional) side of selling houses, regaling with the sort of tales expect (and, of course, hope for): “then we walked in on two people having sex” or “walked into a vacant home to find 8 gangsters around a table covered with cards, cash, and guns.” (Definitely feel bad for the guy who found a bag labeled “mommy’s milk” in one fridge.) Above, an energetic sampling; full feed’s here. · @REConfidential [Twitter] · What Happens on a Home Tour Doesn’t Always Stay on a Home Tour [Redfin Blog]
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Adventures in Marketing: "Cooking Ramen Naked" and Other House-Showing Horrors
Photo via Freshome JAPAN —Lovers of Frank Lloyd Wright are invited to tour the architect’s influences and work in Japan; the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust is hosting 12-day guided tours for $6,495 not including airfare. [WSJ] WORLDWIDE —New building trend: plans and materials to construct a 680-square-foot backyard structure for aging parents. (Or, “stashing granny in a shed,” as HuffPo says.) The kit costs $17; with permits and, perhaps, a construction crew the total cost reaches $60K. [HuffPo via AOL Real Estate ] MIAMI —Realtor.com has just released a sneak peek of its list of turnaround towns for Q4, and Miami tops the list. Sales of single-family home there jumped more than 50 percent over last year, and median age of housing inventory is down, too. [Realtor.com]
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CurbedWire: Frank Lloyd Wright in Japan; Top Turnaround Towns
After an amazing playoff run , the Giants are facing off against the Patriots in the 46th Super Bowl. And now that Mayor Bloomberg has won cheese curds from Green Bay and sourdough bread from San Francisco , he’s giving his stomach a break and will give a New York City family the chance to savor seafood from Boston—plus much more—in a bet with Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. [ more › ]
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Mayor Bloomberg Makes Super Bowl Bet With Boston Mayor Menino
Last December New York-based DJ Jonathan Toubin was injured in a freak accident while visiting Portland, Oregon. Toubin was asleep in his hotel room when a cab crashed through the wall and pinned him beneath the vehicle. He was in critical condition at Oregon Health and Science University Hospital in Portland—with fractures in his skull base, pelvis, collarbones, ribs, sternum, and many internal injuries including a punctured liver and crushed lungs; since the accident benefits have been thrown for him. Now the New York Night Train DJ has spoken for the first time, to Rolling Stone . [ more › ]
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NYC DJ Jonathan Toubin Talks For First Time After Horrific Freak Accident
We recently rediscovered Steven Siegel’s amazing archive of photos from old New York, specifically from the 1980s, and decided to ask him for his thoughts and reflections about his work as well as the changes that have taken place in New York over the past thirty years. Below are his words, along with more of his photographs from the time. (Previously: 14 photos of an apocalyptic looking 1980s NYC , and Siegel’s street portraits from that era.) [ more › ]
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Steven Siegel Tells Us About His 1980s Photography Days, And A Changing NYC
We’ve been down this golden road before , but it’s always worth remembering that one man’s subway seat is another man’s urinal. Here’s recently uploaded documentation of an individual micturating on this fair city’s subway seats, just as the train pulls into the station at Jay Street-MetroTech. The appalled witness who shot the video sums the scene up succinctly in one word: “Despicable.” [ more › ]
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Video: Man Pees On Subway Seats
That woman who existed in a 90-square-foot Manhattan studio? It’s onward and upward for her: she’s now enjoying the roomy spaciousness of her new 500-square-foot Upper West Side digs that were purchased for a bargain $245K. Curbed NY has details. [ previously ; New York Post; Curbed NY]
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In the “reality” television show Kourtney & Kim Take New York , the two Kardashian sisters deal with overcoming some of life’s most difficult challenges while maintaining the grace of a spoiled teenager slamming the door in her parents face. Like, what do you do when your sham marriage is falling apart right before America’s eyes? In last night’s finale of the show, you can see just how Kim handled this obstacle in her life—as she “falls apart” and “cries” to her sister, acknowledging that she “feels” bad for having wasted everyone’s time and money with her highly publicized wedding vows to Kris Humphries. [ more › ]
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Video: Watch Kim Kardashian Realize She Needs To Divorce Kris Humphries
Sometimes viral marketing campaigns can be pretty awesome, even if they go a little unnoticed. We haven’t received any tips from New Yorkers who saw people flying around the city, but it happened, and now there’s video. [ more › ]
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Video: Did You See Any Human Forms Flying Over NYC Recently?