Often the desirable keywords that pop up in real estate listings are descriptors like "pool," "updated electrical," "Viking range," etc.
This listing's keywords are vintage flair, antique furniture, and reading nook. I like those words.
Those are the words that matter when we're talking about a classic New England shingle style home built around 1850.
Here's that reading nook, with stained glass windows that inspire a cheerful color scheme:
I love it when a house I want to decorate just looks like it was made for a specific designer. In this case, we're pairing with Parish. Those braided rugs and vintage flair reminded me of Sister Parish's style:
That flair may be a bit too vintage. Here's an updated take on the same room, by Sister's daughter Apple:
The fireplace in this Vernon, Connecticut home is three-sided and creates this little keeping room in the space between the family room and dining area:
If it were mine, I'd pair this dining room with Parish protégé Libby Cameron:
That cheerful, American Country style would also work in this kitchen:
The realtor touts that it's an eat-in kitchen, so that's what the listing picture focuses on. There's also some stainless steel appliances, but those aren't the keywords here.
More importantly, there are also two walk-in pantries! Those should be keywords.
Just for fun, here's Sister's daughter again, in her similar walk-in pantry:
Rounding out the first floor is this half bathroom:
On the second floor...
there are five bedrooms and two bathrooms. The house has 4,021 square feet.
This master bedroom really reminds me of this one, designed by - guess who?
These rooms are easy to imagine in Sister style, too:
On the third floor there are two more bedrooms as well as a bathroom and sitting room:
Last but not least is the basement, which is unfinished but spacious:
The house is adjacent to Lower Bolton Lake, which has a beach and a boat launch area that make it great for fishing and kayaking.
Vernon, Connecticut is about 15 minutes northeast of Hartford. In 1808, "the northern half of Bolton was set aside to form the town of Vernon." Then in the 1960's, the town of Rockville was set aside to be folded into Vernon too.
That seemed to just mess everything up. I'm joking, but it did make it difficult for me to find a good historic map to overlay. Instead, we'll look at the invasive aquatic plants of Lower Bolton Lake.
Our Bolton Road house is near a plant collection point in the purple zone for Elodea nutallii.
The good news is that it's a native waterweed, so presumably not as threatening as that darn Myriophyllum heterophyllum (in the dark blue zones).
However, Vernon is more notable for its water mills than its waterweeds.
Vernon's keywords are cloth, Presidents, and expansion. They're all on that sign.
The Old House Dreams listing is here.
