Step Inside This MAGICAL Fairytale Tudor Cottage! You Won't Believe What's Inside!

hi everyone my name is Ken welcome to this house!  today we are exploring a storybook tutor house   located in afton missouri this house was designed  by carl rife a very noteworthy architect here in   the st louis area now before we even go inside  there's a lot of charm to kind of talk about   so we noticed this very unique cyclopean  brickwork out front immediately and the   local legend has it that he would wheel around  wheelbarrows full of bricks and stones and have   the neighborhood children just kind of chuck them  up at his house so that's just a really fun story   it probably isn't true but it just goes along  with this house so let's go check out the inside walking inside of this house this is like  nothing we've ever seen before the entire   interior is stucco stone and brick as well as  local wood types one of the first things that   we really notice is this old mail slot here and we  saw the slot for this just next to the front door as we walk further into this house we  of course just pass through an archway   now directly above my head are all of these  exposed beams and this kind of delineates the   path to the kitchen which we'll get to soon but  first i want to point out there are these little   statues of bears carved out of wood poking out  of the walls so this is the story of the three   little bears um just like the fairy tale so we  have the baby bear here we have mama bear over   here and then over here on the far side watching  the door and guarding the house is papa bear so as we kind of turn into here we  come into a very large living room this has a lot of amazing details there is an  original chandelier there are exposed beams stucco   walls over on this side we have pointed arches  above the fireplace and the built-in bookshelf over here we have this amazing leaded  glass with these stained glass details   now these could be family crests i'm not entirely  certain and there are just these little beautiful   bits that are kind of put in here with mix  matched hardware which is all once again   original to the house now off to this side is  a sun room so we can go ahead and explore this and this sunroom is really lovely we can see we  just passed through this double set of french   doors here and over on this side we can see  that the beams follow the curves of the house   and this is all screened in so these aren't  actually windows it makes it more of a four   seasons room above us are exposed beams and of  course these are structural for the house there's   a ceiling fan out here there's a swinging bench  now something really interesting once again we can   see the cyclopean construction with the bricks how  they're just mashed together in a way that doesn't   really have any rhyme or reason but it still  supports the house that's just very interesting   now this little window here is once again another  leaded stained glass window and this is going to   look directly into the kitchen so let's go check  that out walking back inside the house we are now   going to head over to the kitchen which is down  this spiral staircase so come on through here rounding this corner we now come down the spiral  staircase into the kitchen and this is that little   window that we saw on the other side of this  out in the sunroom just so we know where we are   so as we come through here this brings us to a  small hearth room and it has a fireplace over on   this side and it is non-functioning but it's just  super cute of course it has shelves on either side   exposed beams on the ceiling and over on this side  is a double french door with its original hardware   and a skeleton key and this is going to take you  out to a side patio and we'll explore all of that   in just a little while making our way this way  this will actually bring us through a rounded   archway into the actual kitchen and over here is a  country charm stove now this is actually a replica   and is not original to the house it was put in  here in the 70s and something really charming is   come take a look at this this is how you actually  work the stove and i'm not even going to finagle   with this because i have no idea how this actually  works but here's another reference to fairy tales   we can see a little mouse that's sticking up out  of the oven here and if we turn around and look   above this archway there is another little  mouse that's coming out of the woodwork here moving on now from the kitchen we come into this  little closet space and the ceiling has really   started to drop here there are built-ins on this  side and this is a giant pantry now through here   there are shelves on the walls in front of us is  an exit to the backyard once again with leaded   stained glass and we'll explore all of that  very last so come on through here and let's go   upstairs now this takes us up to four steps which  is going to take us up to the landing and this is   where we very first enter the house now here's  the staircase that's going to take us up to the   second floor so come on up here and immediately  facing us is a built-in and it's got original   pieces on it so the original hardware original  poles and we're going to start seeing this as   we kind of travel throughout the bedroom so come  on up here passing around this piece of built-in   furniture we now come into the bathroom so let's  check this out there are mosaic tile floors   which are done very colorfully all around  the base here the tub is encased in brick   and over above the tub is a leaded glass window  with its original poles which is deeply inset into   the wall and then there are actually hollywood  lights that are surrounding the mirror over the   pedestal sink and something really interesting to  notice before we exit is that there is a pointed   pediment above the store there's even a knocker  on it so it's just a way of asking if someone's   in the restroom and then this hardware is really  interesting it has been twisted and coiled   and it's just not quite like something we've ever  seen before so let's get a closer look at this moving on from the bathroom we now come through  this open archway and we're going to go down just   a couple of steps to bring us into what could  be considered a bedroom originally this room was   designed by carl reiff to be his architecture  studio and unfortunately he never actually got   to live in this house because the bank ended up  taking it away from him before he could move in   so it said that he died of heartbreak now of  course this house has been occupied ever since   we can see the beautiful natural lighting  that comes in here with these deep sills   that have been heavily distressed beautiful  windows that look out over the garden   and we can imagine that he would have really  enjoyed this space for drawing and you know   maybe someday someone else who has a passion for  architecture or the arts will be able to utilize   this as a studio as it was originally intended now  there are these massive built-ins over here and   let's actually get a closer look at this the wood  grain on here is just gorgeous and it also has   its original hardware pieces so let's just open  one of these up and take a peek inside of here moving on out of this bedroom  we're now going to go up more steps   and this is a good place to point out  that all of these rails and spindles were   handcrafted by carl reif himself so we can  just take a closer look at that for a moment   above the stairs here is a light  fixture that he also crafted by himself   and it's just one of those really unique pieces  that just blends so perfectly into the house   so moving on up here the ceiling starts to  compress again and we come to this pointed archway   and this is going to lead us to an outlook where  we can see over the great room that we very first   saw and this takes us into the owner's bedroom  and we've passed through this pointed archway here   and there's this beautiful door with all of its  original hardware and bracing that we can see   as we start to look around the space there are  some more built-ins that are built into the wall   and the structure there is a closet over here  and we'll just take a peek inside of this now that we've seen everything that's above  ground let's go check out the basement come on   passing back by the entryway there is  actually another opening that the front   door conceals whenever you open it and this  is going to take us down to the basement   arriving at the bottom of the steps we  are first greeted by camelot the horse   and this horse actually contains  a bit of a secret we can open up   these doors here and we find a handle which is  going to take us out to a shed so this is like   a secret hidden room so come on in here and  we'll just kind of glance around this area moving on from the secret room there is  another leaded window right here and it   has its original hardware and this peeks  out once again over the back garden and over   on this side are these amazing built-in  shelves and this is all solid wood original   with the house so let's just take a moment to  really appreciate the woodwork in this room now moving out of this space we're  now going to go down more stairs   and this is going to bring us  down to the winemaking room   but first there's a lovely closet over here  once again with its original hardware mixed   wood types all original to the house and  we'll just take a peek inside of here now making our way to the very bottom of the house  now we're as far down as we can go there is this   old table set up right here and this is where  wine would have been made so we can see that   there's an old sink here that's covered up right  now beautiful hardware and beautiful wood finishes   and over on this side of the basement is the root  cellar and this is where canned goods would have   been stored perhaps the wine would have been put  to ferment and we can just imagine that this was   a very usable and very utilitarian space in the  house over here we can see an original support   beam to the house and above this is the spiral  staircase that took us down to the kitchen from   the living room and we can see the very bottom of  that in concrete now that we've seen the entirety   of the house let's go explore the gardens walking  outside now we can really start to explore this   garden and we're just going to kind of walk  through the yard here there is this adorable   windmill that sits out front now it does look like  it needs a little bit of repair work but it's just   one of those details that's been with the house  for its history and really blends into the space   now right here is in front of the great room  and this is the awning that comes down over the   led glass we can see that there is moss that is  growing on it which just really lends it more to   that fairytale feel cutting back this way through  the yard we're passing by the front door again and   we are going to go explore the backyard so the  way we get there is through this lovely garden   path which brings us downhill now over here  the secret room that we saw behind camelot   while we were inside so come on up here there are  these beautiful granite pavers that bring us into   the backyard and this garden is just breathtaking  there are all of these mature shorter trees and we   can really see the masonry work back here we can  see the tudor swath and timbers that are set above   the brick and over here is a porch now  this leads from the kitchen to the backyard there is a water pump over to this  side and back here in the corner   is an old well this no longer functions for  the house of course this is on public water   now that we've seen the entire property  let's go talk to the listing agent dana i want to thank you so much for allowing us  to tour this home now right before we showed up   something interesting happened can you tell our  audience kind of what went down here it was a   little scary and i was a little freaked out about  it so i apologize for my attitude but this is such   a unique house i think people think it's theirs  and so when we came in there were actually people   in that sun room and i had to shoo  them out and they wouldn't leave so   just in respect to this house and any other  houses you may see it's still a private residence   and unless it's open for viewing or you have  somebody with you i here's a good reminder   it's somebody's house and just because it's  for sale or it's out in the public domain   it's still somebody's public or private house and  be respectful that's all i can say yep and just   because a house seems to be vacant doesn't mean  that it's abandoned or that it isn't cared for   anymore and dana you like to list these old and  unique properties and find new stewards to take   care of these marvelous works of architecture so i  greatly admire your work in the real estate market   here well you know it's it's an interesting  industry and this is the most interesting   house i've ever had i mostly work in suburbia  west county et cetera in suburbia houses that   all look the same so this is extremely nice love  to have that business and you can contact me down   here he's gonna put my website on there but i i  think the size family and the cannabis family for   let me represent them in this house all  right dana it's been an absolute pleasure   thank you so much i appreciate it it's awesome  awesome meeting you too thank you everybody for   watching make sure to like comment share and  subscribe i'll see you next time on this house you

Channel: This House

Views: 592,327

Keywords: fairytale cottage, house tour, architecture, interior design, home tour, cottage, tudor, this house, old house, renovation, old house tour, unique house tour, preservation, restoration, historic house, expensive mansion tour, home renovation, house renovation, real estate, historic preservation, affton missouri, tiny house tour, fall home tour, cottage tour, house tour 2021, home decor, interior design inspiration, cottage fairy, cottagecore, ThisHouse

Id: 5BWCKiJmpxI

Length: 14min 48sec (888 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 15 2021