tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740556909864494483.post8482286345355375740..comments2024-03-22T16:30:48.999-05:00Comments on Key West Properties: Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream HouseGary Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03006513292595034076noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740556909864494483.post-35022149572395692392011-08-24T18:33:26.422-05:002011-08-24T18:33:26.422-05:00I remember Mr. Zucca and the ledge. And the Shunk...I remember Mr. Zucca and the ledge. And the Shunken Mills. Never did find out what they were but if you ever get to that part of Connecticut, they are not hard to miss. And the Zuz Zuz water softner. Best lines though by Mrs. Blandings and her paint selections:<br /><br />"I want it to be a soft green, not as blue-green as a robin's egg, but not as yellow-green as daffodil buds. Now, the only sample I could get is a little too yellow, but don't let whoever does it go to the other extreme and get it too blue. It should just be a sort of grayish-yellow-green. Now, the dining room. I'd like yellow. Not just yellow; a very gay yellow. Something bright and sunshine-y. I tell you, Mr. PeDelford, if you'll send one of your men to the grocer for a pound of their best butter, and match that exactly, you can't go wrong! Now, this is the paper we're going to use in the hall. It's flowered, but I don't want the ceiling to match any of the colors of the flowers. There's some little dots in the background, and it's these dots I want you to match. Not the little greenish dot near the hollyhock leaf, but the little bluish dot between the rosebud and the delphinium blossom. Is that clear? Now the kitchen is to be white. Not a cold, antiseptic hospital white. A little warmer, but still, not to suggest any other color but white. Now for the powder room - in here - I want you to match this thread, and don't lose it. It's the only spool I have and I had an awful time finding it! As you can see, it's practically an apple red. Somewhere between a healthy winesap and an unripened Jonathan."<br /><br />Or as the painters would say " Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and White". <br /><br />Classic.<br /><br />Anyway, the film is very post WWII housing boom. If you like this type, check out an earlier film staring Jack Benny and Ann Sothern "George Washington Slept Here". No General Gates and his horse but a similar New York couple seeking the country life renovating a historic house, this time in Pennsylvania.<br /><br />Old films are so hard to beat!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740556909864494483.post-59274110774343648952011-08-24T09:37:45.915-05:002011-08-24T09:37:45.915-05:00The real estate agent pulled one over on Mr. Bland...The real estate agent pulled one over on Mr. Blandings. Yep.<br /><br />He spent way more than he planned. Yep.<br /><br />He got what he wanted in the end. Yep.<br /><br />My point was not to deter buyers from doing renovations or building new, but rather to look at other houses outside their comfort zone. There are some real good deals. You just gotta make them happen.<br /><br />Thanks for mentioning Bunny. Those eastern elites have such snappy names.<br /><br />GaryGary Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03006513292595034076noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2740556909864494483.post-74899818664800895632011-08-24T06:54:15.780-05:002011-08-24T06:54:15.780-05:00Mr. Blandings built a home they would love as a fa...Mr. Blandings built a home they would love as a family. He didn't want a cookie-cutter apartment or have Bunny Funkhouser re-do their own apartment like something out of of a designers image of All-American blueberry pie family. No, he wanted the home in the country on a historical site that surveyed (more or less) a few acres short and at a price that the locals wouldn't pay. He got railroaded, gyped and generally taken to the cleaners by contractors, surveyors, builders, and how can we forget the well driller? <br /><br />No Gary, just put on your new smoking jacket, sit back during a rainstorm and think about how much they really got out of building their own American dream. They learned a lesson and they achieved a beautiful home, more or less. <br /><br />And remember - you ain't eatin ham if you ain't eatin Wham!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com