When I was a girl, my parents had an old 1950s hardcover of The House at Pooh Corner that they read stories to us from at bedtime. My family loved Pooh and all of his friends. When my kids were little, it was my turn to read from that battered blue book.

So I was excited to hear that the charming country retreat where author A. A. Milne was inspired to write about Pooh for his son Christopher is on the market for £2 million (about $3.1 m). Let’s take a look!

A. A. Milne bought Cotchford Farm in 1925 as a country retreat for his family.

“It was here, amidst the beautiful Sussex countryside and surrounding woodland where the wonderful stories of Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh came to life,” the listing says.

This 3-story, Grade II Listed Country House dates back to the mid-16th century (with later additions).

The house has 6 bedrooms and 3 baths.

It had another famous owner–Brian Jones, the musician and founder of The Rolling Stones, lived here until his death in 1969.

The property sits on 9.5 acres.

The garden has stone statues of Christopher Robin and characters from the Pooh stories.

“The local area is now commonly referred to as ‘Pooh Country,’” the listing says, “and places in the books such as the 500-acre wood, Galleons Lap, Poohsticks bridge and Pooh Corner are all based on nearby locations.”

“The remainder of land comprises a partially fenced field with a stream running along the southern wooded boundary. ‘Pooh Sticks Bridge’ is half a mile up stream.”

For more photos and information about the property, check the Savills UK listing and Curbed. (Thanks to all the readers who wrote me about it!)

More Authors’ Houses:

• Mary Kay Andrews Beach House
• Sarah Ban Breathnach’s English Cottage
• Emily Giffin’s Traditional Southern Home

I love a great makeover, and I’m a sucker for sunrooms, so this is one before and after I had to show you. When Jenna Sue moved into her house, it had a sunroom, but it was pretty blah, as you can see, with beige carpet and vertical blinds.

But it’s boring no more, with new flooring, comfy seating, and lots of beachy blues to cheer the space up. Take a look!

She got these Brimnes day beds at IKEA. That metal end table was black, but she spray painted it Valspar’s Exotic Sea.

The new flooring only looks like wood–it’s actually tile, which is more practical for a room like this (wish I’d thought of that for my sunroom!).

She built the coffee table on wheels herself and says it only took 2 hours, “including waiting for the paint to dry!” (DIY details here.)

I think her black cat might be the best accessory in the room, though:

For more photos and all the details about the makeover visit Jenna Sue’s blog. She runs a design business in Florida and has more inspiring room makeovers you’ll want to see.

P.S. If you missed the before & after of mine: Julia’s Sunroom.

Hooked on Beachy Before & Afters?

• A Beach House Makeover on Tybee Island
  
• A Dark Living Room Goes Coastal
• A Beach Cottage Remodel
• See ‘em all!

This classic red-brick house is the one that Steve Martin’s character Neal owned in the 1987 John Hughes comedy Planes, Trains & Automobiles. He spent most of the movie trying to get back to it in time for Thanksgiving.

Now it’s on the market in Kenilworth, Illinois, for $1.799 million. Here’s how it looks today:

John Candy played Del in the movie, who ends up traveling with Neal.

Interspersed with scenes of them being stranded in airports, sleeping in seedy motels (“those aren’t pillows!”), and watching their rental car go up in flames, we saw Neal’s wife and 3 kids back at the house, waiting for him to get home.

We only get a few glimpses inside the house…

So it surprised me to read on the IMDb website that 7 interior sets were built for Neal’s house. It took them 5 months to create them and cost $100,000, “which angered Paramount executives and caused turmoil on the set.”

If they spent all the time and money on them, I wish they would have filmed more of the rooms for us!

The blue tile in the kitchen doesn’t seem to go with anything else in the house:

Love the headboard in their bedroom and wish we could’ve seen more of it:

Okay, so here’s how the real interior of the house looks in the listing today:

It was built in 1916:

“Stately, red brick center entry Colonial…with 3 car garage, 2 blocks to Lake Michigan, features 6 bedrooms, 3.2 baths, first floor library, sunroom, first family room, eat in kitchen, finished basement & 3rd floor!”

Like it? For more photos and information, check the listing by Barbara Mawicke of Coldwell Banker. (Thanks to Sue for telling me about it!)

A lot of people have pointed out the similarities between the Planes house and the one from John Hughes’ classic comedy Home Alone, which was on the market recently, as well. Some have even asked if they’re the same house–but as you can see below, they’re different.

Let’s compare the two, shall we? Here’s another shot of the Planes house:

And the one from Home Alone, which is bigger and lacks the third dormer that the Planes house has.

It’s one of my favorite movie houses ever. You can see the interior photos of it here:

The Real Home Alone House For Sale in Winnetka, Illinois.

Hooked on Houses from John Hughes Movies?

• Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
  
• Miracle on 34th Street
• Home Alone
• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
• Mr. Mom

Over the years I’ve featured a lot of houses I liked, but Fig Tree Cottage is one of my favorites. So I was excited to hear from Alison, the owner of this Cotswold-style cottage, that it’s for sale. If I lived anywhere near Queensland, Australia, I’d be tempted to buy this sweet little place with the white picket fence…

The listing says:

“A rare opportunity to own one of Tamborine Mountain’s icons in the heart of Olde Eagle Heights. This enchanting and captivating Cotswold Cottage was lovingly hand-crafted to replicate all features of Olde Worlde charms.”

“As you enter the cottage walking through the quaint doorways you are instantly transferred back in time.”

“There is a traditional kitchen overlooking your country garden to give you inspiration whilst cooking,” the listing continues.

The 2 bedroom, 2 bath cottage comes fully furnished.

“This gem is currently a very popular holiday accommodation, with bookings right through to the end of the year and comes fully furnished. Having said that it would also make a very comfortable home.”

“The lounge is inviting with timber beams and dormer windows. The combustion wood heater for the cooler winter months emphasizes the cosiness of the cottage.”

The property is for sale by tender and closes June 4 (so make a bid if you want it!).

For more photos and information, check the listing. Thanks to Alison for letting me know about it! You can read my original post about the house here.

Hooked on Cottages? Click Here to See More!

If you’ve ever tried to sell a house, then you’ve probably had some issues with the potential buyers who walked through it. Maybe you found mud tracked on your carpet, back doors left unlocked, or things moved around (or missing). Some sellers resort to posting signs like “Remove Your Shoes” and “Turn Lights Off Before You Leave.”

But one For Sale by Owner couple went a step further when they put their house on the market–they created a hand-out of “Property Viewing Etiquette” for everyone who requested a showing. Their list of do’s and don’ts included:

• Be on time for the viewing.
• Leave the children and babies at home (“this is not a playground”).
• Don’t criticize things you don’t like about our house in front of us.
• Don’t waste our time if you’re not a serious buyer.
• Tell us what you like about the house and thank us for showing you around–it may make a difference in how negotiations go later on.

You can see the entire list at About Property. When I mentioned it on my Facebook page, it sparked an interesting discussion about “viewing etiquette.”

Cheryl wrote, “It took us a while to sell our home and I would add:

1. Please do not use my bathroom and then not flush.
2. The Christmas gifts under the tree are for my family and not a gift for you for visiting.
3. Please return the blow dryer, colander and potted plant you have taken.
4. Please ask your kids not to go into our drawers and leave our clothes on the floor!”

Yeah, that’s pretty bad. You wonder what the real estate agents were doing while their clients were raiding Cheryl’s rooms?

Natalie added, “It’s weird to come home and find ‘seat’ marks on the bed and used hand towels in the washroom.”

Not everyone was a fan of the couple’s rules, though. Some felt that in this housing market, you shouldn’t do anything that might put potential buyers off.

Kristin wrote, “I suspect these sellers also make you remove your shoes upon entering their house…which I find disgusting.” Joyce agreed: “One seller made my husband take his shoes off and almost didn’t let him in the house because his clothes were a little dusty. We were insulted.”

Making This Home featured one of the friendliest “Remove Your Shoes” signs I’ve seen:

Does it offend you when homeowners expect you to leave yours at the door? I just do it automatically, whether there’s a sign or not. (One of my pet peeves is when people climb into tubs on shows like House Hunters, shoes and all.)

What do’s and don’ts would you like to tell anyone looking at your house? As a house hunter, would a list of rules put you off?

P.S. It could actually be way worse than any of these scenarios. After I showed you photos of this strange house, I learned that the real estate agent got caught doing all kinds of things in it while his clients were out of town. Yikes.

More in Real Estate:

• What We Want in Houses Now
• A Real Estate Horror Story
• 5 Things That Sell Houses Faster

Remember Bronson Pinchot, the actor best known for playing Balki on the sitcom Perfect Strangers? Since then, he fell in love with the small rural town of Harford, Pennsylvania, and started buying old, neglected houses that he felt deserved rescuing. Now he has a show on the DIY Network called The Bronson Pinchot Project that follows along as he restores them with his crew of local contractors.

After getting sucked into a marathon of episodes last weekend, I thought it would be fun to show you some of his dramatic before and afters. Take a look!

This early 19th-century Greek Revival was the first house that he found in Harford. As he writes on his website:

“It was a July day in 2000. I had only one day on the East Coast before I was due to travel West. I’d seen a very cropped photograph of the house, which then was choked with trees (dying locusts) and wildly overgrown lilacs, and painted yellow (with plenty of fat bugs trapped forever in the sloppy paint job) and with the columns bending bowlegged in all directions and criss-crossed with scarifying spiraling cracks, and their bases rotted out and replaced with concrete.”

He could see the potential in it, though: “When I opened the door, the smell of cinnamon toast caressed me. I fell head over heels. Only a few years later, after year-round work under tarps with turbo heaters in the winter, it looked like this. And it had its own TV show.”

It also inspired him to buy more old houses in the town that were in bad shape.

In one episode, he gives the “Christmas Cabin”–an addition added onto the back of the house (above) that he thinks will be the perfect spot for a tall 17′ tree–a makeover. Here’s how the addition looked before:

And the fireplace wall after–with a mantel salvaged from an old house (one complaint–the afters are often still being shown at the end of the episodes while credits flash over them):

As you can see, he remodels houses so they look, well, old. Most of the salvaged wood he uses is not repainted because he likes the patina of it.

He began collecting architectural salvage in the late ’80s and now has houses to use a lot of his pieces in–like that fireplace, and the bust above it, which was so heavy it had to be built into the wall.

New (old) French doors were added to the room for more light, leading to the garden:

The kitchen in the Christmas Cabin before:

And after:

Bronson loves to disguise refrigerators and other appliances. In this case, the fridge is stealthily hidden behind this cabinet (below)–see the handle he’s reaching for underneath it?

One of my favorite episodes shows him transforming the exterior of another house he owns in Harford, called Decker Court. It was built in 1840, and let’s just say he saw potential in it that I never would have. Here’s how it looked before:

And after:

That picket fence was from the 1800s and had been stored in a local barn for decades before he put it back to use. It kind of fascinates me how he leaves everything looking weather-beaten and worn. This looks like a building you’d find on a back lot in Hollywood. I could see it being used in a period film of some kind.

The kitchen inside Decker Court was pretty blah, too:

He tore it down to the studs, uncovered the original wood floors, and gave it the look of an old country kitchen:

This time the fridge is hidden behind what looks like built-in shelves. Those pieces of china are glued to the shelves, and if you pull on one of them, they open to reveal a fridge behind:

Would I want to live in houses that are “newly aged” and countrified like this? Probably not. But I think it’s fun to see how he has a creative vision for these old houses and executes his ideas in unusual ways. They’re almost like art installations. And I could totally see him working as a set designer, couldn’t you?

He now owns 5 houses, 2 stores, and this tiny Post Office in Harford, which reminds me of the one my grandmother worked at when I was little (he uses it to store salvaged items for future renovations):

Have you been watching the show? Check the DIY Network website for dates and times of upcoming episodes (looks like more are airing this weekend). Bronson announced on his website that the show was picked up for a second season, and they’re starting production on it now. Can’t wait to see what else he has up his sleeve!

P.S. Love Before & Afters? I have an entire page devoted to them. Click here to check it out!

More Posts About HGTV and DIY Shows:

• Yard Crashers Host Ahmed Hassan Replaced
• Sandra Rinomato Quits Property Virgins
• The Truth About Designed to Sell
• See ‘em all!

#1. I don’t know about you, but the only dead bird I want to see in my kitchen is a chicken.

#2. This large living room in a $1.2 million house in Nevada has space for everything…except maybe people.

#3. The reader who submitted this photo calls it “Bambi’s House of Horrors.”

#4. When I can’t fall asleep, I’d rather count sheep.

#5. I just lost my appetite.

Thanks to the readers who submitted these–Jennifer, Cindy, and Scott. If you see something unusual in the real estate listings, send it to me!

More Bad Real Estate Photos:

• 5 Reasons Why Homeowners Shouldn’t Appear in Real Estate Photos
• A Bear in the House
• In This Trophy Room, There Are No Winners
• See ‘em all!

On TLC’s reality show The Little Couple this season, we watched as Bill and Jen moved into their new home together. Because Bill is 4′ and Jen is 3’2″, it was custom built to make their lives easier. But besides practical considerations like lower countertops and doorknobs, the house itself turned out beautifully. Take a look!

I searched everywhere for photos of the front of the house online but couldn’t find any, so I took a few while watching the show on TV.

As you can see in this photo of Bill on the front porch, even the dimensions of the entry doors were scaled for them, with doorknobs that are placed a little lower than normal:

The couple in their new kitchen, which was designed specifically for them:

They live in Texas “where everything,” Bill says, “is big…except us.”

Love the roomy windowseat in the living room:

The bedroom:

On one episode they hired a company to decorate the house for Christmas:

Here’s a clip from The Little Couple that shows them settling into their new home:

More Houses Shown on TV:

• When Times Got Tough, This Couple Built a Tiny House
• New Owner, New Look for Spelling Manor
• The Victorian Farmhouse on Hot in Cleveland

High Point Market, the largest furnishings industry trade show in the world, is kind of like Fashion Week for us decorating geeks. It’s always interesting to see what trends emerge from it. Here are 6 things that made a strong showing for the Summer of 2012:

#1. BELGIAN GRAYS & PATINAS

#2. THE LOOK OF ARTISAN AND HAND-CRAFTED DESIGNS

#3. EXOTIC PATTERNS INSPIRED BY MOROCCO

#4. BUTTONED UP & TUFTED FURNITURE

#5. INDUSTRIAL CHIC WITH REPURPOSED OBJECTS

#6. PANTONE’S COLOR OF THE YEAR, TANGERINE TANGO

Some other trends were more of what we’ve seen a lot of already, like birds on everything (“Put a bird on it!”), various shades of blue, menswear patterns, and chevron (yep, more zig-zaggy fabrics on their way–reports of chevron’s death were apparently premature).

You can read the entire report on the High Point Market website, which includes descriptions and more examples of each of these trends, as well as a forecast of what’s coming next (think the color purple, whimsical vintage items, and space-age design that the Jetsons would feel right at home in).

Which of these trends are you loving…and which ones could you live without?

Products from the top via Thibaut, Bernhardt, Studio A, Currey & Company, Gus Modern, BoBo, Lexington Home, and Norwalk.

One of my kids’ favorite vacation destinations is the Smoky Mountains. When my son turned 16, he wanted to celebrate by spending Spring Break with our extended family in Gatlinburg.

I spent days poring over all the listings for cabin rentals and it was hard to choose–there are so many nice ones out there. If this amazing property had been on the rental websites, though, it would’ve been a no-brainer. This would be my fantasy vacation spot in the Smokies!

Featured in Architectural Digest, Toad Hall belongs to Kreis and Sandy Beall, and it sits on 32 acres in Tennessee. The architect was Jack Davis, and they brought Atlanta-based designer Suzanne Kasler in to give the log house some English Country Style.

The timber used for the buildings was gathered from old log barns around Tennessee: “They form a robust and richly textured background for the Bealls’ vast collections of 18th- and early-19th-century European furnishings and household ornaments.”

Decorating the interiors of a log house proved to be a bit of a challenge. Kasler told AD: “It’s an English country house made out of logs—a dark surround you’re working with, and everything had to have texture and dimension. Fabrics had to have enough weight to hold their own. Scale and strength were key elements.”

The English-style gardens were designed by Mary Palmer Dargan and are found all around the property. Love this rustic gate that leads to a cutting garden:

There are also some guest cottages on the property. Suzanne Kasler tells AD that the two-room Tadpole Cottage was “built from a simple sketch. The builder just put it together.” She adds that two words that embody the property are “charm and folly!”

Wish I could spend my next vacation here! You can read the article by John Loring and see the rest of the photos by Jeff Herr in Architectural Digest. Thanks to Missy for telling me about it!

P.S. Click here to see Suzanne Kasler’s own Regency-style home in Atlanta.

Hooked on Log Houses?

• Jack Hanna’s Cozy Log Cabin in Montana
• Dolly Parton’s Childhood Home in Tennessee
• Tumble Creek Retreat in Washington