Category Archives: Wrought Iron Gates

Monaco’s two-bedroom apartment for sale

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House Hunting in … Monaco

By ALISON GREGOR

Set in Monaco’s quiet garden district, this two-bedroom apartment on the fourth and top floor of an elevator building is on the market for $2.2 million. The building, dating to the early 1900s, has corbeled balconies and elaborate wrought iron accents.

With 750 square feet of space, the unit has been renovated in a traditional style incorporating modern elements like automated lighting and stereo systems.

The large foyer doubles as a kitchen/dining area, with appliances hidden behind elegant wardrobe-style doors. The kitchen island, which accommodates stools for dining, is adorned with mosaic tiles. Beyond is a wainscoted salon with an ornate coffered ceiling and a floor in a large red-and-white checkered pattern. The walls are plastered in Venetian stucco. French doors open to a decorative Juliet balcony.

On either side of the salon are the bedrooms, which have similarly elaborate ceiling moldings and Venetian stucco walls. The bath has old-style brass fixtures by the English company Heritage Bathrooms and a glass-enclosed shower with a rain showerhead. LED lighting in the shower can be reset in different colors. A clamshell sink of ceramic on a stone base was handmade in Naples.

The building is on the main avenue in the district, the Boulevard du Jardin Exotique, but the apartment faces a quiet street at the rear, said Bernard Koning, the principal owner of ABK Real Estate, which has the listing. The unit comes with an on-street parking space and a 22-square-foot lower-level storage space.

The Jardin Exotique district, which is on the border with France, has small shops for necessities, but the apartment is a 15- to 20-minute walk from the Carré d’Or, Monaco’s center in Monte Carlo, where casinos, luxury shops, hotels, restaurants and the priciest real estate are found, Mr. Koning said. The Jardin Exotique district is the site of Monaco’s new train station, and buses run frequently along the boulevard, taking about eight minutes to arrive in the Carré d’Or. The closest airport is Nice International in France, which is about a 25-minute drive with no traffic, Mr. Koning said.

Until the real estate bubble burst in 2008 there was a steep increase in real estate values in Monaco; some homes doubled in price, Mr. Koning said. The global financial crisis cut the number of transactions by more than half, and prices fell 15 to 35 percent.

Values appear to have stabilized, but homes are taking time to sell. “Business is slow at the moment,” said Julie Alejo, the owner of EIP Agency. “Potential clients are showing interest only in high- or low-end products.”

Yet the market did get a lift as of last June, when a new law reduced closing costs by about 40 percent, said Émilie Mazza, a co-owner of Mazza Immobilier. In the long run, said Tim Swannie, a director of Home Hunts Luxury Property Specialists, the lack of a personal income tax in Monaco will help maintain a climate favorable to real estate. “Monaco’s tax-haven status ensures the market remains buoyant and prices stable,” he said, “so investment in Monaco real estate continues to be attractive.”

This apartment, priced at about 23,500 euros per square meter, would cost at least 60 percent more if it were in the Carré d’Or, Mr. Koning said. The apartment has been listed for three months and is priced lower than the average apartment in the Jardin Exotique, which is about 25,000 euros per square meter. “It’s an older building, which some people like due to the character, but other people don’t care for,” Mr. Koning said.

Only 20 percent of Monaco’s 35,000 residents are Monégasque, so the market sees many foreign buyers, most typically seeking modern apartments close to the Carré d’Or, the beach area of Larvotto, and in Fontvieille, a district reclaimed from the Mediterranean in 1981. Many older residents are French, as the French government did not collect income tax from its citizens residing in Monaco before 1963, Mr. Koning said. A stricter policy since then has discouraged French buyers, and today there are more from elsewhere in Europe, particularly Britain and the northern countries, he said.

Mr. Swannie says Monaco also has buyers from Italy, the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa and the Middle East. Russians have been major buyers over the past five years, Ms. Alejo said.

There are no restrictions on foreign buyers, though background checks are required, Mr. Koning said. Most buyers hire agents, who typically charge about 3 percent of the purchase price, agents said. The listing agent gets 5 percent, which is paid by the seller. The transaction itself is handled by a notary, who typically charges about 1 percent.

The June 2011 law reduced to 4.5 percent the registration tax charged on a typical property sale, according to Rosemont International, a financial consulting company with a branch in Monaco.

Most buyers pay in cash, but it is possible to cover as much as 70 percent of the purchase price with a mortgage, Mr. Swannie said.

from nytimes.com

A Lake Travis 2004-built house

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A Lake Travis home ready for a permanent family

By Nicole Villalpando

Jill Taus Hackett and Chris Hackett’s 2004-built house on Lake Travis is an ideal vacation getaway, but they planned for it to be more. The couple, who live in Las Vegas, intended to make it their permanent home when they bought it about five years ago, but plans quickly changed.

Chris Hackett, who is a business and financial consultant for startup companies, was pulled to California, where both his grandparents and mother were ailing and later died. It was never the right time to move to Austin.

The couple say they love the friendly nature of Austin and being on the lake. They loved the home’s location down the road from the Oasis and by a park. And they enjoyed going to Longhorn football games. They also liked that it was closer to her parents in San Antonio.

They now rent the home for $600 a night to vacationers, many of whom have family reunions there, but are hoping to see it sell to a new family.

They have put 7086 Comanche Trail on the market for $1.275 million with Lynn Robin of Capital City Sotheby’s International Realty.

Though great for a vacation home, this 3,799-square-foot house would also make an ideal setting for a full-time family because of its location in the Leander school district. It’s a gated home that provides a full backyard with a pool as well as the waterfront outside the gates.

From the front door, guests spot the xeriscaped front yard behind the gates. This space feels more like an intimate courtyard. The home opens to a grand two-story foyer with inlaid tile in the shape of a star and a wrought-iron chandelier.

The foyer forms a line of niche archways on either side. The office is at the front of the foyer. A half-bathroom is nearby. A wine room is ready to be finished by the stairs to the second floor.

The master suite is tucked off a small hallway and feels like a private, hidden retreat. It offers a fireplace and access to the back patio. The massive master bathroom provides two large closets with multiple built-ins, a triangular-shaped aerated tub in a corner with two windows, a large walk-in shower, double vanities and a dressing area. It’s a favorite spot for the Hacketts.

All the bathrooms in the house offer interesting decorative touches, especially in unique sinks.

A second master suite rests upstairs. This bedroom offers a balcony with views of the lake. The bathroom is sizable, with a large closet as well as attic space for storage.

Across the foyer from the office sits a bedroom with a full bathroom. This bathroom is done with a ranch theme with a rope design in the sink.

The bathroom flows to the hallway by the large laundry room and the two-car garage. This hallway naturally leads to the large kitchen. A large island with granite counter and stone below provides plenty of prep space as well as the sink. The oven/convection oven, microwave and gas range are built into a wall of stone. The range sits under a stone arch. The kitchen also offers a built-in office area as well as room for a coffee bar.

The kitchen naturally flows to the breakfast nook, with windows overlooking the backyard and the large living room with 20-foot ceilings. A stone fireplace sits in the corner of the living room. In another corner, a full wet bar is efficient in space.

Doors lead to the stone-covered patio and pool. The backyard offers mature trees as well as grass. The wrought-iron fence that surrounds the back of the property features a gate for access to the lake. The Hacketts had a path built to make for an easy walk even in lower lake levels.

It’s not hard to see the vision of a relaxing space for raising a family or inviting friends over for a weekend.

“The best thing about the house is how peaceful and private and quiet it is,” Chris Hackett says. The couple and her family have loved sitting on the back porch with a beer and looking out over the lake. “You’re seeing the sailboats go by . . . how tranquil,” he says.

from statesman.com

Guitar Mansion

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New owner turns historic Guitar Mansion into graceful home again

by Caitlin Sole, Heather Riske

David Guitar purchased the Guitar Mansion in 1859. An earlier version of this story listed an incorrect date.

Almost everyone who visits Guitar Mansion has a story to share about the historic antebellum home.

Elena Vega, who spontaneously purchased the home at 2815 N. Oakland Gravel Road in 2010, said a man stopped by earlier last year and insisted there was a tunnel inside the house.

Another visitor mentioned a second stairwell with private access to the bedrooms, though neither the tunnel nor stairwell remain today.

Ghosts are common topics at the mansion, which was built more than 150 years ago. Members of the Missouri Ghost Hunters Society reported encountering several during a visit in December 2002, including a young boy and several slaves.

The house got its name from the Guitar family, who moved in during the 1860s, just as the Civil War was rupturing the country. The house changed hands several times over the years until Vega and Pat Westhoff bought it, restored the building’s utilities and moved in last January.

Before their purchase, it had been vacant for three years. Previous owners included Ward Dorrance, an MU French professor who lived in the home from the 1940s to the 1950s, and historian Miriam McCaleb, who helped secure a place for the mansion on the National Register of Historic Places.

It was most recently used as a wedding reception site and for bed-and-breakfast lodging.

At a public auction on Oct. 18, 2010, Vega surprised herself by buying the house for $155,500. When bidding began lower than she expected — at $75,000 — she was moved to jump in. The contest was largely between Vega and one other bidder.

“It’s my dream to live in an historic home,” she told a Missourian reporter at the time. “I just don’t know if I can afford it.”

Vega lightly taps the antique door knocker against Guitar Mansion’s emerald green front door. The sound, she said, can be heard throughout the two-story, four-bedroom, three-bathroom home.

The door opens into a room with a black-and-white linoleum floor and a curved walnut stairwell, Vega’s favorite part of the house.

The staircase, believed to be original, features a small, carved acorn on the handrail. A music room with a piano and antique red couch is to the left, and a small pink library is to the right.

The family keeps modern appliances, such as TV sets and other electronics, out of these front rooms to preserve the historic feeling of the house.

Signs of the mansion’s historical roots in the Civil War lie both inside and on the surrounding property.

Within the perimeter of a wrought iron fence in the yard sits a vine-covered brick dovecote. Nearby is a wooden gazebo, built within the last decade when the home was used for wedding receptions.

Behind the house, a worn wooden smokehouse and cookhouse, both now used for storage, contain an oversize, rusted tub that remains intact from the original farmhouse.

Neighbors, Vega said, discovered a cannonball in their yard while digging the foundation for their home.

Much of the original architecture and furnishings in the Guitar Mansion hark back to its time when a big Victorian house accommodated growing families and provided a backdrop for gracious living.

Brothers Odon and David Guitar moved to Boone County as children between 1859 and 1862, according to a 1908 edition of a Columbia newspaper. David Guitar purchased the home on Oakland Gravel Road in 1859* and lived there with his 10 children — who shared two bedrooms — for about 40 years.

During the Civil War, the brothers supported opposing sides. Odon served for the Union Army in the 9th Missouri Cavalry, later known as the “Bloody Ninth.” He was recommended as brigadier general by President Abraham Lincoln.

David Guitar’s home was named Confederate Hill, which refers to his service as a captain for Confederate forces during the Civil War, according to a document from the National Register of Historic Places.

“It’s one of the last Civil War-era houses that’s standing in town,” said Liz Kennedy of the Boone County Historical Society.

The Guitar family originally had about 862 acres, according to the National Register of Historic Places, but the house now sits on 6.3 acres.

Much of the land was sold after 1997 by the McCaleb family, after Miriam McCaleb, who lived in the home from 1956 until 1997, was killed in an automobile accident.

Although this is the first historic home for Vega and her husband, Pat Westhoff, she said they have always been interested in older houses.

Since moving into the Guitar Mansion, the couple has made several changes while trying to preserve its historical elements.

“You can’t really see what we’ve done so far, but it’s been a lot of work,” Vega said. “It’s always a work in progress.”

The first thing they did after moving to the Guitar Mansion was yard work. This included cutting grass that had grown 2 feet tall and removing a huge, broken tree limb dubbed “the widow maker.”

Vega also plans to replace the black locust trees on the property with maple, oak and walnut trees — vegetation more typical of the home’s history.

She said the Guitar family used to call the home “The Maples” because the driveway was lined with maple trees.

The couple intends to keep the original glass on the windows, as well as the “cello-shaped” wood carvings on the shutters. The eight fireplaces and abundant chandeliers also will be preserved.

Over the holidays, Vega’s three children stayed in the original bedrooms of the house. The names bear witness to the contentious history of the Guitar Mansion.

One room is called “The Confederate Room” and the other “The Union Room.”

from columbiamissourian.com

The European-style Littlefield home

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The Littlefield is a European-style home that is a joy to explore.

Rectangular stacked-stone veneer covers much of the front facade and flanks the garage door. Soldier courses of raised brick contribute outlining and textural contrast, as does the wavy wrought-iron railing that rims the porch. Classic keystones accent the arches that highlight two front windows, the widest of which has a particularly graceful Gothic transom.

Natural light washes into the foyer through slender sidelights. French doors on the right swing open to access a room that could be a dining room, parlor or perhaps a home office.

Straight ahead is a gathering space that comprises the great room, kitchen and nook. The fireplace offers warmth and color on dark days and chilly nights. Standing at the kitchen sink, you can chat with folks at the conversation bar, enjoy the fireplace flames, serve informal meals on the raised eating bar, and keep tabs on activities inside and out.

Through the transverse hallway right past the dining room, you can reach any room in the house. Three bedrooms, including the owners suite, are to the left, along with a two-section, general-use bathroom. The owners suite has a private bathroom, complete with a dual vanity, deep soaking tub, towel hutch and large shower, and a roomy walk-in closet.

Heading down the hallway to the right brings you to the Littlefield’s kitchen and a pass-through utility room that links with the two-car garage.

At the rear of the garage is an exceptionally deep storage-workshop area. A recreation room, bathroom and walk-in storage closet are upstairs, over the garage.

from newsok.com

Wrought iron gate for Maxwell House

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Interiors: Maxwell House

One of the joys of getting out of town is seeing the urban sprawl give way to stretches of green. For those who love a good property find, there’s also the promise of making a discovery.

It’s here, amid the hedgerows and quieter suburban roads, that every wrought iron gate or lane contains the possibility of a gem, be it a comely cottage or Victorian villa.

And so it was for Ann Maxwell and her husband, who had ventured south-east of Edinburgh to view an off-market property in 2001. With an extensive garden and coachhouse, plus the majority of its original features intact – including an old thunderbox and Victorian bath – they knew they’d found something special as soon as they walked into the B-listed house.

However, it was by no means perfect. “The house had been seriously neglected,” recalls Ann. “The fabric of the property required a total upgrade. The roof needed a lot of work, there was extensive dry and wet rot and the entire building had to be re-wired and re-plumbed.”

In short, they were facing a ten-year renovation project which involved getting planning permission at almost every turn. This would have put off many prospective buyers, but Ann – the woman behind the Muir Maxwell Trust – has never been one to shy away from a challenge.

Identifying a chronic lack of support for epileptic children and their families, Ann founded the charity in 2003 after her own son, Muir, was born with the condition. The charity’s remit is to help fill the void, and it has grown from a small operation run from Ann’s study into one of the most significant paediatric epilepsy charities in the UK.

Muir’s safety and wellbeing was the priority when it came to renovating their new family home, which he shares with his two brothers. “It had to function for Muir, who we needed to be able to see and hear at all times,” she says.

Thus – with the help of architect John Forbes – a series of dark, pokey rooms were knocked through to form a flowing, cohesive whole with plenty of light-filled, open-plan spaces. “In some ways we restored the functionality of the building,” says Ann. “We put the kitchen at the back of the house – to where it had been originally – which means it benefits from the morning sun. As the sun moves around the house we then get its benefit in the afternoon and evening in the drawing and dining rooms.”

From here Ann, together with Edinburgh-based interior designer Lizzie Bell, set to work decorating the house room by room. Sharing the same vision – which, says Lizzie, was of “a family house that was warm and welcoming, comfortable and elegant” – the pair layered fine fabrics and finishes on top of one another to create a luxuriously tactile home. “I like marrying wools with silk, linen with voile, and checks with stripes,” she says. “I like using rich colours, anything that will create a cosy mix that invites people to sit down.”

With every big name from Pierre Frey and Rubelli to Colefax and Fowler represented in either a flash of floral fabric or an embroidered scatter cushion, the drawing room is a prime example of what they set out to achieve. Hanging a rich silk-effect wallpaper with full-length chintz curtains, the room is divided into two seating areas. One, which is centred on an open fire and ottoman covered in a sumptuous mohair-velvet fabric, lends itself to cosy winter evenings; the other – situated at the bay window – spells comfort, but in a lighter way. The result is two intimate zones that says “smart” as well as “sink into me”.

This warmth is skilfully carried throughout the rest of the house, although it is expressed in different ways. The dining room is an unapologetically opulent space furnished with decorative antique pieces sourced in Italy and Paris and offset by a cranberry felt covering the walls. Upstairs in the media room, cocooning tones of tobacco, terracotta, camel and cinnamon are used to similar effect. It’s here that the family regularly close the cashmere and wool curtains, recline on the ‘“Maxwell” sofa – a giant daybed that had to be installed in pieces – and watch movies on the eight-foot wide projector screen (which, when not in use, cleverly rolls up to reveal a painting by renowned Scottish artist Peter Howson).

Although an eclectic tapestry of colour and pattern has been used in every room, the secret to this home’s cohesion is a commitment to quality – such as the hand-painted American wallpaper in the family bathroom – and an almost-invisible tonal thread that connects it all together. Everything has also been expertly finished right down to every trim and tassel including fan edging and bullion fringing on curtains and a bespoke border on the four-poster in one of the guest bedrooms.

Despite admitting to running out of enthusiasm at points along the way, Ann finished, most recently, with the garden room. Built by Marston & Langinger, this is a multi-purpose zone extending out of the back of the house. Here, a 12-seater elm dining table and a selection of comfy seating takes centre stage; Ann can work, rest and play while enjoying her newly landscaped garden.

The result is a house of contrasts that ranges from rich and regal to light and airy within a matter of metres. Taken as a whole, Ann has achieved her goal: a beautiful but accessible family house that has been created to share. “It was designed to be enjoyed by many and lived in so that it gives the boys great memories of growing up,” says Ann. And now that it’s finished, she’s making sure it delivers.

from scotsman.com