What's "UP" With That House?

Every year our local HBA (Home Builder's Assoc.) hosts a parade of homes throughout the valley and this year was no different.  Lots of homes in lots of neighborhoods with lots of differing price tags.

I have always enjoyed going and seeing all the new homes and trends in building and decorating, but I haven't been in the last couple of years.  I guess I kind of got tired of traipsing all over the valley and with the price of tickets and the price of gasoline and having to cart around one, two or three sometimes unwilling family members on my whim seemed more than it was worth.

But this year . . . well this year, they did something different, something unexpected and something that had me completely charmed and I just had to go.  One of the builders built a replica of the house from the Disney/Pixar movie "UP".

The attention to every little detail was amazing, every thing about Carl and his personality was felt in his chair, his lamp, his end table, the masculine squareness of it all.

It was equally evident in Ellie's things, soft rounded corners, her tall wing back chair, round lamp, round end table, oval picture frame, teacup and saucer.  Just like what you saw in the movie.

Really very sweet, like Carl and Ellie themselves.

Really loved the kitchen.  It had a decent sized pantry and the turquoise blue appliances were all new and energy star rated.  So bright, so cheery and welcoming if a bit on the small side, there wasn't a whole lot of counter space.  The retro styling really seems to be "in" right now.  

Even though I loved the house and found it charming and whimsical the rooms were on the small side and I wasn't a big fan of the layout.  The house itself was narrow and the lot small.  The back yard though small was fully fenced and had a covered patio just outside the kitchen door.  The master bedroom was on the second floor and the two other bedrooms were in the basement, no bedroom on the main level.  It did have plenty of storage and a very, very small room just off the master that had been decorated as a nursery, but could also be used as a small office.  You might be able to fit a twin bed in the room, but not much more than that.

The builders worked very hard to make the floor plan livable in today's market while maintaining the charm and authenticity of the house in the movie and the house had already been sold prior to the the opening of the parade of homes.