Fairhope Real Estate: my favorite homes for sale

For a small town in Alabama, fairhope has a thriving, albeit expensive, real estate market. Any home downtown, on the bay, and near the polo fields can run well over $1,000,000, which for a town of 12,000 people, is quite a hefty price tag. But judging by the massive influx of new residents the town has seen over the last few years, there are certainly people willing to pay the price to live in such a wonderful community.

House 1: This home is located in the posh Point Clear Polo Club. It was built by Bill Purvis, who is a well known local builder famous for his amazing craftsmanship, attention to detail, and beautiful designs.

This beautiful home is located on 7+ acres features 5 bedrooms, 5 full baths and 2 half baths, a four stall horse barn, and is currently listed a $2,295,000.

The library

The great room

I love the painted wood ceiling and the stone fireplace.

The formal dining room. The wide-plank floors are gorgeous.

This is one of the few kitchens with white cabinets and marble in Fairhope, I like the blue island.

The luxurious master bathroom.

This home has great views of the Point Clear Polo Fields,

as it sits right next to them. many other homes in the area have their own private

Polo fields.

See more photos and listing information here.

House 2: This newly built home is in the heart of downtown Fairhope and features 4 bedrooms, 4 1/2 bathrooms, a back alley garage, and views of the bay.

Front porches are very prevalent in Fairhope, especially with 2nd story balconies.

Though you can hardly see it, this view of Mobile Bay is the main reason

this house is so expensive.

Light interiors and high quality millwork seem to be the trend in Fairhope new builds.

Probably the only other white kitchen in Fairhope,

the normal kitchen trend in a new build around here seems to be pecky

cypress cabinets and dark granite. homes around here have cypress cabinets and dark granite.

See more photos and listing information here.

House 3: This unique Mediterranean bay front home is situated on two acres and features a guest house, wharf, pool, and boathouse. It is listed at $2,900,000 and has 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, and 2 half baths.

The front facade. I love the huge gas lantern.

The backyard features a terrace, pool, boathouse, and a wharf. Landscaping by Howard design studio.

The carriage house. I love the iron work over the garage doors.
The charming ivy covered guesthouse.
A close-up of the back facade. Most bay front homes treat the back facade as the true "front" as it can be seen by the many boats in the bay.

This has to be one of my favorite fireplaces ever. It goes perfectly with the house.
The gourmet kitchen. I love the stone hood.

Such great paneling! Very unexpected in a bathroom.

And finally, the amazing view of Mobile Bay.

See more pictures of the home and listing information here.

All images courtesy of Coldwell Banker Reehl Properties

Anyone recognize this house?

While looking for inspiration in the London real estate listings (I'm in the process of designing my personal home) I stumbled upon a beautiful home for sale in a very desirable area of London. Built in the 1840's, the townhouse was absolutely beautiful, with a front courtyard, a second floor balcony with beautiful french doors, and classic black front door to the side, framed by a beautiful portico. The more and more I looked at the beautiful home, the more I knew I had seen it somewhere before. All of the sudden, the answer hit me, I knew just what house this was!
It is none other than the London residence from the Disney remake of "The Parent Trap"

The home can be yours for just £14,000,000. I've never been particularly fond of this movie, but somehow this home has stayed implanted in my memory. The interiors of the home are much different from the ones in the movie, and are quite disappointing. The home in the movie was warm and friendly, In reality, however the owners who renovated the home left it, in my opinion, cold and stark.

The warm, inviting foyer in the movie: I have to say I much prefer the set in the movie. The actual home is VERY white. Every room seems to be almost all white.





The layout is quite different in real life than in the movie, two. In the movie, to the right of the foyer was the living room, and behind that the dining room. Right of the living room was a library, and behind that presumably the kitchen. The movie set made it seem that the building was all one house, because of the floor plan, or that the home occupied the first and second floors, and there was a flat on the next two floors. Here are the floor plans of the townhouse in reality:



I know, in the movie, that Lindsey Lohan's character that lived in london (not sure of the name) drew a sketch of the floor plans to explain her house to the twin that lives in California. As much as I have tried, I can't find an image of them, though. If anyone has a picture of them, please e-mail them to me, thank you!

Overall, I have to say I am a little disappointed. The owners seemed to have stripped away all the beautiful detailing that I imagine must have been in such an old upper-class home. I wonder when, or if, this property will sell, since it has been sitting on the market for quite some time. Here is a link to the listing.

Images courtesy of Strutt and Parker estate agents