Alabama versus Texas: Which Home Would You Choose?

I'm having couple time on the couch with Mr. Southern this week as we watch the bowl games and it occurred to me we could have our own house competition. I searched through the listings and found a couple of good examples...

Let's head to Alabama first. I have to admit, and I'm so sorry Trussville, but my expectations were low. I've been through Trussville for work, but clearly not the right parts. There are some great looking homes- several with waterfront views! As we so often see with real estate listings, the photographers are no Blayne Beachum so I'm not sure we get the full impact.

First up, this house is about a block from the beach, and on the market for $900k (if I remember correctly). These are the worst picture qualities- it gets better!

Love the exterior and while I don't want to be anti-tree hugger, wish those couple of trees in the front were not blocking the view.
Creamy yellows used throughout- nice contrast with the white trim and darker wood.


There seem to be lots of nice architectural finishes but with the photos it's hard for me to tell if they're just put on a bunch of big rooms or if the house truly has lots of character. I hope it's the latter.

The bedrooms look a little cluttered to me, but nice large spaces, so lots of potential.

This one is closer to the river... a little more European than "Italianate" of the previous one.

Again new construction, but with the crown molding, archways, large windows, I really like it.

This layout appears to be similar to our house, so I admit I'm a bit partial to it!









Now, let's take on Texas.


For Austin, while there's lots of tradition, I was thinking of the phrase "Keep Austin Weird" and thought this house had so much potential. It's not really my style, but could be Met Home worthy. Unfortunately, the block walls in some of the rooms just left me feeling... institutional rather than funky.

Do you get these last two rooms?

But look at the view out the back!

This next one I can't figure out if I think it's too over the top or just luxe. Again, we return to small pictures so it's hard to see all the details.

I can almost say, who cares what the inside looks like with a pool area like that!

And last my not least, my favorite (of course, it's a cool $11 mil). This is really more of a compound than a house and some rooms may have you question if you're in a hotel or a home. I'd like to warm up a few of the spaces a little more but it's got that super chic white/black thing going on. And a chocolate brown bedroom! And the views!














So the Longhorns might have gotten spanked last night, but I have to give the house award to Texas. What do you think?

-Emmie