In honor of Mardi Gras, I thought I’d point you to some drama happening in New Orleans right now with it’s infamous NOLA Tree House for artists.

First, it really is an amazing splash of lights and color.  I find it very visually appealing, but also emotionally awesome since I was a child of the 1960’s and 70’s… you know hippies, groovy, cool, artists.  However the surrounding community and the city don’t share the same views because of noise, sanitary, and safety issues.  As a result the city is evicting the residents and ordering the tree house to be disassembled.  From the Best of New Orleans Blog, here are links that tell the story,

Legalize the Tree House! The city sends a cease and desist order.

On the one hand, here you had this magical tree house and a great group of residents that were putting on just killer parties and we thought that treehouse organizers’ efforts deserved coverage and some exposure. On the other hand, how was the City of New Orleans going to react when they saw a tree house on the cover of Gambit with a story about all the crazy parties?

Not Cool: The Art House is Being Shut Down Completely, Residents to be Made Homeless. The marching orders came.

The residents have been giving until 4 p.m. CST to evacuate the home and have been told by the NOPD that if they don’t vacate, they will be considered squatters (an arrestable offense). The Louisiana SPCA is also there because of the dogs owned by some of the residents.

NOLA Treehouse: TREME Civic Association’s Side of the Story. (Key in complaining about the ruckus).

The first rather conspicuous violation of the HDLC rules was the address on the building that was totally not in keeping with the scale or design of the building.The neighborhood organization was not happy with this but felt in time they would be cited by the HDLC and be required to change it. And then the complaints started to come in concerning music being played until all hours on the weekends. Additionally there were complaints about trash on the street and in the neutral ground.

(Lesson learned: Don’t mess with the neighborhood association!)

NOLA Art House: The Fire Department’s Side. (This is the serious stuff.)

On the January 25, 2010, the NOFD inspected the property at 1614 Esplanade and found numerous fire code violations that would put the occupants in harms way in terms of bodily injury and property damage. The life safety and code violations are based on the change of use or occupancy, primary means of escape, electrical code infractions, and the lack of detection, alarms or communication systems to name a few. A copy of the statement explaining these violations was issued to the project property manager on January 25th. An inspection was conducted today and none of the violations were corrected.

That’s all there is, but I suspect it’ll be hard to keep a good artist down.  I think it would be amazing to see another similar structure sometime, but with proper zoning and safety features in place.  Good luck to the artists!

And let the good times roll, New Orleans!

Photo 1 by Justin Gordon from Facebook.
Photo 2 by NOLA ART House from Facebook.

We spent a good part of yesterday evening rearranging the living room furniture so we’d have room for the Christmas tree.  We did something we’ve never done before - put the couch in front of the window.  It was the only way since I picked up a recliner for my mother-in-law this year to help her back pain.

We have decided to save on our electric bill this year and not put up outside lights.  It makes me sad, but sometimes sacrifices must be made.  I’m not going so far as to not use tree lights, but if I decided against them this would be a great alternative!

HT: Brittney from San Francisco (and she found it via Flickr).

My favorite new architecture site is Inhabitat.com which features archictectural marvels from around the world.  This modern house is designed with wood pallets and other shipping containers.

... the modest home is composed of two 40′ shipping containers and two 20′ containers. The use of wooden pallets on the exterior of the home gives it fantastic texture, but also has purpose — they provide shade and allow the home to be naturally cooled, since air can move freely between the slats. The containers meanwhile, are completely weather tight and provide the necessary structural capacity for the home.

Go here to see more pictures of this modern wonder!

I’ve spent two of the last three days showing homes to a buyer who has just four weeks to find something, negotiate, get a loan, close, and move in.  Fortunately, qualification is not an issue.  However, finding a house is.  I’m getting sick (literally!) of going into nasty houses crawling with mold.  And the things we’ve seen are crazy!  I give you part of my day in pictures!

The itsy bitsy spider was about the size of a half dollar.  Very very creepy!

I’m not sure what this was, but I had to stop and take a picture!

And finally this.  As if half doors weren’t enough for this already freakish bathroom, they put on SALOON doors.  It’s had me laughing all day!

Have you seen any interesting bathroom pictures lately?

I feel sad for Jon & Kate … along with their eight children.  Having watched my friends struggle and fail in their own marriages, it’s such a painful process. Sometimes life just happens so fast.  Meanwhile, Jon & Kate’s house they lived in during happier days is on the market for $315,000.  Located in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, it has five bedrooms, three bathrooms, and nearly 3000 square feet.

Want to see more?  Follow this link. You can contact their agent Debbie at Brownstone Real Estate Company directly for more information.

Out of curiousity, I looked up on my MLS the least expensive house in the area to the most expensive.

Here’s the least coming in at just over $6,000.

And the most is a pricey $38,000,000.

Actually both have strong merits … affordability v. beauty.  I am 100 percent sure I’ll be somewhere in the middle (toward the lower end, truth be told), but it’s nice to dream of what could be - on both houses.

Almost 3000 square feet for less than $200,000.  It’s a buyers market!

No bad MLS pictures today because there were none that were so bad that I shuddered.  In fact, there were many really nice ones from which to choose.

My Favorite!

And the rest of my favorites from the week!

Have a great weekend!

I’m deeply disappointed to not have found this site until now.  The challenge: find the most interesting house in your neighborhood and take a photo. Send it in.  Here are a few!

Go here for more!

In my travels last week, I went through several historic towns on the way home through Virginia and West Virginia.  I saw two or three houses with doors on the second floor leading to … air?  Here’s one of them.

I wanted to feature this home, however, not for the door but for the rock work on the wall next to the house.  I’ve made the picture bigger so hopefully you can see some of the amazing detail.

I love it when art appears from the most unexpected places!