October 23, 2023

How are you holding up, friends?

It has been a heavy week around the world, so today, I’ll do my best to bring a little levity to your inboxes. I’ve got a delightfully charming little fairytale cottage to share with you. After that, I hope you’ll enjoy a few happy 🌈Colorful Cottages, a bunch of 🚒Former Firehouses, some 🏔️High-up Habitats that are not for the faint of heart, and we’ll finish it off with some 1960s beauties with some really 🔼Rad Rooflines. Then we’ve got the most saturated time capsule ever, formerly owned by the “Plumber to the Star,” in this week’s ICYMI.

Now, onto our fairytale cottage. Welcome to Friends Street in beautiful oceanside Pacific Palisades, California! This charming address is host to an even more charming Tudor cottage:

And all 2,020 square feet of this adorable home sitting on a tiny 0.2-acre parcel can be yours for the low, low price of…

$4,999,000. 😱 That’s right; if you’ve got a cool five mill, you can call this quaint house your home. Weeps in broke Gen Z😭

I like many of this cottage’s features and appreciate the cozy corner fireplace.

I also like that the architect found ways to make small spaces feel much bigger, like these flying arches in the upstairs bedrooms…

The en suite bathrooms have the same sloped ceilings, so tall people beware in the showers.

The communal spaces in this cottage feel cozy, and some buyers might be tempted to update them, especially the kitchen, which has some nostalgic mid-1990s tile countertops and backsplash:

While there isn’t much in the way of a yard (and by that, I mean most of it is artificial turf)…

There is a sizable deck and a quaint balcony off the upstairs bedrooms.

This property probably isn’t the best for hosting large parties, but you could pull off a small dinner party. After all, your friends and family will be hitting you up just to come over for the view.

That’s the money shot. No, seriously. The value of this property comes from the location and the view. If this cottage were plopped in the middle of Kansas, it would probably cost 90% less.

As much as I like this one, it’s a hard pass from me because there’s not a lot of bang for my buck. The view is fantastic, and it’s filled with character, but $5 million is pretty steep.

What do you think? Is this one truly cottage-core, or is it a cottage-snore?

🎃Next week, I’ve got an extra-special Halloween edition. For the true-crime fans among you, I’ll share a famously terrifying house and some interesting takeaways from a Haunted House study done in partnership with the Real Estate Witch and Estate Media.

Til then, please take care of yourselves and each other!

More Hidden Gems & Outright Disasters

ICYMI

This week, a truly fabulous time capsule hit the market in Palm Springs, California. At first, I thought it was so impeccably kept; it had to be a modern recreation, which are pretty popular in Palm Springs.

To my surprise, this home’s custom-made period furniture, archival velvet flocked gold foil wall coverings, and deep pile wool carpeting are not only original but helped to win this house the Palm Springs Modern Committee’s Residential Preservation Award.

The bold Palm Springs icon was designed by architect Robert Lewis in 1965 and was decorated in 1969 by Jack Stephan, also known as "Plumber to the Stars,” who lived there with his wife, Barbara, until his death in 2014.

ICYMI, go ahead and watch on TikTok or Instagram and learn more about this one-of-a-kind house!