Street of Dreams- Favorite Houses

Portland Street of Dreams- Fizzy Party's Favorite Houses 

Woo Hoo!!! You're back.  I took a little break from my Street of Dreams recap to bring you a solar eclipse party.  Did you take a moment out of your day to watch it? That was something wasn't it.

Ok, we took a look at houses four and five at the Street of the Dreams.    One of those being my least favorite.  Than there was the BIGGEST house on the block.   

Now lets look at the two houses that I liked the best.  First up, my fav.  The Barclay- 3,670 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and 1 half bath.  The landscaping of this house is kind of what I want our front yard landscaping to be.  Less grass, more texture and shape. 

Since Fizzy Party is all about parties, I focused on the party spaces in the houses.  Right away when you walk in to the right was this great little 60's inspired lounge.  I could just picture inviting friends over and serving an old fashioned cocktail while listening to some jazz.  And I'm not into jazz music.

I didn't get any pictures of the outdoor entertaining spaces because there was WAY too many people out there.  I couldn't get any good shots without having a bunch of people in them.

House number one, The Oregon Dream 2017- 4,822 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and 2 half baths.  While the farmhouse style isn't my style, the outside of this house did intrigue me.  Let's pop in and check out the entertaining spaces.

I knew there was a reason I liked this farmhouse style house even though farmhouse isn't my style.  There's a whole mini house on the property that's just for entertaining.  There's a basketball court in that house and an outdoor bar.  That little door on the left is a bathroom. Because who wants to walk into the house to use the restroom ;)

This was one of my favorite spots, the fireplace.  What a great spot to sit with friends sipping hot cocoa with a fuzzy blanket wrapped around you.

In case it rains, like it does in the Portland metro area, there's a fireplace under cover too. Oh yeah.  At first I thought, if this was my house I'd remove that t.v. but than I changed my mind.  It would be prefect for outdoor movies all year long.

I really tried to get a shot of this entertaining space without people in it but it was impossible.  I'm not a big pool person because they're a lot of work but I do like that hot tub and the shallow pool seating area.  Perfect for hot summer days.

On the other side of that bar is an indoor basketball court.  I'd probably change that into an indoor party space or a gym.  I'm not a big basketball player.

Thanks for touring the Portland Street of Dreams with me. What was your favorite party space of these two houses?
Leave me a comment and let me know.

Related: Portland Street of Dreams 

Portland Street of Dreams-Outdoor Entertaining

Portland Street of Dreams-Outdoor Entertaining 

Welcome back, 

Now that we've toured houses four and five, let's take a look at the BIGGEST house on the Street of Dreams tour in Portland.  The Nevaeh, 7,100 sq ft, 7 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms and 1 half bath.  This house has a main house, a mother-in-law's house and a smaller guest house in the back.   Now let's take a look at the entertaining spaces. 

Bar area.  Both Storypiece and I thought the candy jars were a fun touch.

Pool anyone?  If I had the space I just might have a pool table.  It would be fun to play on a rainy day with friends. Rules wouldn't apply of course.  We'd play just for the fun of it.

Now this is a backyard entertaining space.  Pool with basketball hoop, slide, hot tub and that little house in the back has a bathroom in it.

Not only is there a basketball hoop in the pool there's also a court behind the pool.

After a game of basketball and swimming in the pool it's time for lunch at the outdoor dining table.

Every year at the Street of Dreams the outdoor kitchens are my favorite area.  Funny, because I don't like to cook.  But I do like to grill.  I wonder how hard it would be to build one of these outdoor kitchens. Has anyone done it? Leave me a comment and let me know.

What did you think of the Nevaeh's entertaining spaces?
Leave me a comment below,  send me a tweet, or come on over to my Facebook and leave a comment.

The School of Entertaining is now in session

My friend who recently bought a house is all excited to start entertaining.  Something she felt she couldn't really do in her small apartment.  I for one am excited too. Someone else to throw the parties so I can sit back and enjoy.  I LOVE throwing parties, but lets face it, sometimes a party girl just wants to enjoy someone else's party.

School is now in session. Let the lessons begin.

LESSON #1  Just because you have an apartment and not a house doesn't mean you can't entertain.  I'm all about the mini party.  So all you apartment dwellers, throw a party. It doesn't have to be big. Your guests will have just as much fun.

Now my friend is a newbie to entertaining and will make rookie mistakes.  We all do, don't let any party diva tell you she doesn't make mistakes.  That's like an actress/model with a 10 for a body telling you she never works out.

My friend had been bragging for a month about how amazing her home-made pizza is. She sent out an email to me and another friend and the date was set.  I bet you're thinking the email invite is lesson #2. Nope. For an impromptu mini party, there were 4 of us including her husband and herself,  an email is just fine.

My friend set the time for 1:00 p.m. and said we'd have pizza and watch a movie.  Both of us arrived at 1:00 p.m. -ish but we didn't eat until 3:00 p.m.  My stomach was objecting.

LESSON#2 When you set a time for a party where you'll be cooking food for your guests you want to have it ready within 30 minutes to an an hour of your guests arrival.  Both of us were expecting to eat sooner.  The reason for the delay was my friend was giving a house tour. I had seen the house already. Problem was, it was the long side tracked version of the tour.

The pizza WAS delicious. She used Trader Joe's pizza dough, herb and something I think. We got to choose our ingredients.

This was really good pizza. After we ate pizza and salad we watched the movie. During the movie my friend decided to make cupcakes because it sounded good.

LESSON #3  Don't make cupcakes with an electric mixer while your friends are trying to watch a movie you invited them over to watch.  Neither of us could hear the movie while the mixer was going.
The other guest had to leave before the cupcakes were done because of the late start.  I stayed.

My friend has been trying to perfect this chocolate cupcake recipe from The Joy of Cooking  .  She's been tweaking it trying to make it richer and more chocolatey. Sadly, this batch was on the dry side.

Are you gasping that I would write all this about my friend. Aren't I worried she'll see this, you're thinking. Not at all. I already told my friend all of this.  She asked for advice and appreciates it because she knows without feedback, how else will she be able to perfect her entertaining. Plus all my friends know I'm known for my bluntness and not to ask me my opinion if they can't take it :)