There is something about a clapboard home that draws me in like no other home style can. Perhaps it’s because I spent 6 years of my life living n New England, not to mention every summer a trip to the coast of Maine to the family beach house. Maybe that’s it — the soft blue-gray hues of the clapboard contrasted with the clean white trim and posts — the look evokes a feeling of being settled, of being at the beach, or just of being at home where all is well.
Such is the feel you get from 5403 Neola smack in the heart of coveted Greenway Parks, nestled on a quarter acre-ish lot on the corner of Neola and West Greenway — A+ location. Neola Drive is Greenway Park’s only street boasting one block – it is quiet and rarely traveled, and most of the homes boast huge private back yards.
You are first greeted by that staple of all New England homes, a front porch that runs the length of the home with a slate floor. Classic floor plan: enter the formals off a central hall — living, dining, with family room and kitchen straight ahead. An earlier renovation opened up the kitchen & family room with soaring vaulted ceilings that overlook the backyard alive with trees and a stunning pool. Rooms are filled with light and detailing from the home’s 1936 origins and timeless design by architect Dave Williams in the late 1920’s. His touch is on but a limited number of Greenway Park homes. The kitchen is, I think, charming in a very New England way — on the east coast, kitchens are more functional and no one fusses that they don’t care for the wallpaper or whatever. But if you don’t like, take it off and apply paint. I think the corner bar sink and curved drawers are darling.
5403 Neola Drive has generous room sizes, and hardwood floors throughout. A large kitchen and breakfast area opens to the family room, with a raised ceiling and large windows, offering fantastic views of the yard and pool. The outdoor covered patio is your third living area with the home’s fourth fireplace. Upstairs are four bedrooms, each with sizable closets, and three recently renovated bathrooms, including the knocked-out master bath with clean lines.
But it’s the backyard and pool that grab me — something you would want in a northeastern home, but couldn’t really have or enjoy but for three months of the year. This home is listed with Gretchen Brasch of Briggs-Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty, who knows the value of Yankee thrift: originally listed for $1,395,000, the home has been reduced to $1,299,000. I want to see it loaded with some pumpkins and fall color in the front, kind of like this:
