Last Saturday my wife, Laurel, and I toured the most expensive houses in the 2023 Salem-area Tour of Homes. Naturally we figured they'd be the most interesting, since money talks when it comes to home design.
Our first stop was the $1,586,016 (nice precise cost) house on two acres near Jefferson offered by Bergby Construction. It's a 3,947 sq. ft. one-level.
The living room had a clean modern look.
As did the kitchen.
Out back a very large water feature was partially filled. Laurel believes this area is groundwater limited, which made us wonder how neighbors on other small acreages were going to like having this home's well used to fill the pond and keep it full during dry months.
We'd love to have a covered outdoor seating area like this, but our 1973 house was built way before such was fashionable.
The walk-in shower actually was a walk-through shower.
Past the walk-through shower were not one but two large walk-in closets. We were envious, since our closets are only suitable for being walked into by very small animals.
In the utility room there was a washer, dryer, and something else. It seemed to be some sort of device for dewrinkling clothes, maybe? Never seen anything like it before.
A great feature of the house was a separate living area the size of many stand-alone houses. Living room, kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms.
In this area a walk-through shower leads to a toilet.
Then we visited a $1,650,000 house with 2,513 sq. ft. on Coates Crest Way offered by Foksha Homes. We liked this home more than the Jefferson house, largely because of the more attractive setting.
This countertop in the living room was striking. Really unusual. It looked like it was shining with light.
Which it was, being backlit with LED lights.
I also liked the look of this unusual bowl.
A retaining wall looked much better with blocks that appeared more rock-like.
Here's a wide view of the back-lit counter and dining area.
You can either watch TV or flickering flames. Or both.
An outdoor seating area has a nice view.
A walk-in closet was attractively designed.
The master bedroom has large windows well placed to reveal the beautiful surroundings.
I talked with Oleg Foksha, the builder, for quite a while. I'll share what I remember of our conversation in another blog post. Foksha shared what it is like to be building houses in Salem these days, given all of the land use rules he has to comply with. I enjoyed our conversation.
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