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ILONA ANDREWS

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author

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Comments

  1. Can’t get the photos to show, but if they are anything like the one you posted then this is a serious cat ? lover ???

  3. When I worked as a real estate agent I once went in a house where everything was pink. There wasn’t even an accent color like white. Just multiple shades of pink. Pink walls, pink carpet, pink tiles, pink counter tops and pink drapes; everything was pink. It was a $600,000 home in Denver that was listed at like $400,000 because it was going to cost at least a $100,000 in remodeling to remove all the pink. When you walked in you could tell that the owner had something wrong with them. This was not the home of a healthy individual. The cat house just reminded me of that place.

    • You have that issue in Denver too? When my husband and I first started house hunting, one house after another here in northern Ohio suffered from the Pink Blight. We’re talking gorgeous 100 year old woodwork – painted over in latex paint, pepto bismol pink. Marble, stained pink. (I hadn’t even known that was possible!) Floors. Ceilings. Light fixtures. The only answer I ever got as to ~why~ all the horrid pink was a shrug and the strange statement “It was the Greeks back in the 80’s.”

      I’ve shown photos to several Greek friends. They all refuse to accept any of the blame and I frankly don’t blame them. I had kinda hoped though it was just here that suffered from it, and now it sounds like some kind of migratory illness.

  4. OMG! I love my cats but wow. Looks like it was a cute little house that’s fallen into some disrepair aside from all the cat wallpapering. The need to cover every surface with a different color or something seems really odd to me, and I worry about what happened to all the cats that probably lived there not long ago 🙁

    20 Acres! Hope someone manages to makes it nice again.

  6. I like cats as much as the next Crazy Cat Lady, but that’s a bit OTT. Do you suppose humans actually lived there or was it reserved exclusively for the cats?

    Most of that is cosmetic and could be taken care of when it was remodeled and updated (which it would need to be). It appears mostly cluttered, rather than dirty, but the thing that would really worry me would be if it smelled or not.

  7. Weirder than the arts and crafts house? You sure know how to find the craziest houses!

    • Yep weirder than the craft house. Holy only. You can make a great cat friendly house without going this overboard.

  8. They’ve finished abusing the poor house and now they want to get rid of it? Good luck with that!!

  11. Wow ! That is seriously weird . I agree it is weirder than the craft house. Even the description admits it needs a do over .

  12. I find that chilling. There’s somethin’ bad wrong with whoever did that. I love my cat. Loved all of them. That? Do they even love their cats? Or just the obsession? I liked the idea someone put forth-burn it down and start over. Without the cat stuff.

  13. My weirdest house was a mobile home. It was old and pretty much one long room with a separate bedroom and bath. The interior was painted on two sides, longways separated down the middle. The owners were UT fans. Everything was painted (table, chairs, toaster, sink, oven top, EVERYTHING) was painted orange on one side and white on the other. Seeing it was like being struck with a weird kind of color blindness.

  14. Oh my, that’s a serious cat palace – for the new owner’s sake I hope it doesn’t smell as loud as it looks…

  15. One person’s dedicated is another person’s OMG-OW!Myeyes!-they-need-help.

    “Contemporary eccentric”? I wonder how long it took that real estate agent to come up with that full description. And that agent must be truly, truly desperate for a listing to take that one on.

    Do they even have cats? It looked like they had play areas for them, but how did those stuffed animals on the polls survive the cats? And, what, they couldn’t find any outdoor decorations? Come on! Embrace the crazy!

  16. When I saw the title “The Cat House” it’s a good thing I saw the pictures because my mind thought of brothels in Nevada because they could also be called cat houses.

    I love cats. Had two of them when I was younger. I agree with the others: burn that monstrosity down and start over. Yikes!

    • Agreed. I can’t handle the sheer busyness. Also worried about the smell, and I have a pretty strong stomach.

  18. I wonder if there would also be dead bodies or dead cat bodies under the house, in the yard….
    So creepy.
    *shudder

    • Maybe it’s like “Where’s Waldo?” The only way you’d be able to find them against those backgrounds is if you see them blink.

  20. That definitely rivals the post of the crazy house with the walls that looked as though the house was crying blood.

  21. Yep, in need of a bonfire for sure. The exterior truly did not prepare you the inside at all. Yikes! For practicality, it could be used as an assignment for firefighting training.

  22. Wow. That’s terrifying. And I worry for the person who decorated like that. Because that’s obsession. The very unhealthy kind! More scary is how normal it looks on the outside…which goes to show, looks can be deceiving!

  25. Somehow I can see this overdone cat house making its way into one of your stories 🙂

  26. What happened to the owner? Did the cats get her/him? And the cats … are they taking the sale money to buy a town in Nevada or South Dakota? Wow. Sandblaster indeed!

  27. Funny this weekend I bought a vintage ceramic cat knick-knack to keep my other vintage ceramic cat knick-knack company. Now I’m wondering if it’s just the beginning of a slippery slope. They do look cute together though, now for some wallpaper….

  28. Can you imagine the discussion on how to stage that place for the photos? “Maybe if we stack some books on the shelves, it will distract people from seeing the rest of the cat craziness.”

    • You know I’m a little taken aback by the realtor. Why on Earth would you go to such an extent to advertise that? 41pictures! It has this totally haunted look! I definitely agree with the burn down concept.

      • My guess is when you are tasked with selling something like that you have to go with it. It’s not like you can hide it. Out there somewhere is someone who will think that place is glorious. I can just imagine the meeting where they discussed how to list it. Might as well go for broke. That is a pig that even lipstick won’t help so you might as well offer it as a pig. No holds barred.

  29. I see that and think, what does the realtor say to the potential home buyer. “I know it not what you were looking for, but it has great potential. It just needs a fresh coat of paint…. and maybe a little elbow grease.”

  31. For 20 acres i would leave the house alone, and build a new one. Whenever the kids misbehave i would send them to the cats house as punishment.

  32. Okaaaaayyyyyy. That doesn’t so much cross the line as obliterates it. I’m worried for the current owner and any cats that lived there. And worried about how many cats were there.

    It is like a four year old cat lover hyped on red cordial was let loose to decorate the place. “I want the cat picture on the floors! Moooorrre pictures!!!!! I want a biiiiiiggg castle for them to climb! A real one! And I want to see all the stuffed cats all the time!!!!!!!”

    I love cats. This is something else.

  33. I enjoyed the Realtor’s description as well as directions to find it. It totally reminds me of how my Mom’s family gives directions. Turn left at the big red barn (recently painted brown), and the right at the gas station…

    I got the feeling someone was house bound over a long, long winter. With nothing but cat toys and imagination,
    All work and no play…

      • If they were circus cats, I could see it. If not, if Stephen King reads this blog, we may see another book written by him courtesy of the Book Devouring Horde. 🙂

        Back to work which is not making houses look like what we see here.

  39. Were the people who lived there happy ? If they were, then good for them. Don’t let anyone tell you how to live your life or define your style.

    • I agree, so the house is OTT but don’t judge the people in it – none of us know them or their lives!

  40. On a bit of a tangent, I’m now imagining a Dragon whose hoard is stray cats. Crazy Cat Dragon. 😀

  42. Holy hoarders, Batman! And to think, those pictures were taken AFTER they had the house “cleaned out” to sell. /shudder.

    • Oh, man, that is a tough call.

      And you know what else is interesting? On Patty’s blog they mention that they got a new kitten because the last one had been killed. The name of the new kitten? Curran!!

    • It looks like Kate won! I didn’t see an announcement, but when you click on the bracket graphic, it has Kate in the winning spot. Unless she’s just winning at this point.

  44. When I saw the blog title I thought it would be one of those houses where they added ledges to the walls and holes from one room to the other for the cats to go through. The house is from 1992 so personally I would only pay them what the land is worth and start over. There is no coming back from that. Think of all the dust in the stuffed animals alone. Achoo!

  46. You know, when the realtor says “take a sandblaster to it” it’s got to be really bad. I can’t decide if it would be better as a Halloween House of Horrors or as an effective interrogation tool/location.

    I am wondering what happened to the cats living there… I have a rather horrible suspicion that they ended up at the local animal shelter when their caregiver died/was hospitalized. Also wondering how long it took them to clean & clear out that house enough to photograph it.

    Or, you can just burn it with fire.

    • Forgot to add that with all the ‘lovely’ cat decorations, you’ll also probably have the company of poisonous snakes and scorpions. Oh, joy.

  47. If a realtor can sell this, they deserve a “Salesperson of the Year” award.

    My eyes are burning…

    • You know how the IT professionals love to write up the craziest/stupidest/oddest tech calls they get? I’m betting Realtors have something similar. If so, I bet that house wins the top award for 2017.

  48. I just want to know what happened to the person(s) who lived there. They had this seemingly normal house in the middle of nowhere that they then carefully constructed into a cat shrine. They lived at the cat shrine. They slept at the cat shrine. They ate at the cat shrine counter. They permanently affixed cat stuffed animals to stair rails like bizarre totems. The cat shrine is remarkably clean too. Look at the stuffed animals! Those bad boys are super easy to mess up, but they have no stains and still look soft and fluffy. Who builds and then leaves a cat shrine?? What happened to them??? That level of dedicated insanity does not leave lightly…..

  49. FLEAS!
    We treasure our 3 cats, but the collars or drops don’t keep the fleas outta our house in rural Mississippi. I hate to spray poison, so I tried a pan of water with a touch of liquid soap & a (night) light above it. At night the fleas are attracted to the light & land in the water & drown.
    We now have pans in various rooms.
    They work.

    • Ooh great tip. I’ll have to remember that when we move out of the city apartment. Thanks

  50. My 6 year old who is obsessed with the beanie boo big eye kitties says that the house is “AWESOME!” and that she wants to do that to her room.

    No. Hell No. No.

    • See? That’s how it starts. When she’s an adult and she wants to decorate her house, so won’t necessarily remember why, but that she’s always wanted to have it decorated that way, and in 20 or 30 years we’ll be talking about her obsessive decorating, and it’ll be all your vault. 😛

  51. Wow. That is weird. I love my two cats but no way I could do that! Breaks my heart to think of whoever lived there with such OCD. Whoever buys the house has a lot of work to do.

  52. I got a great bargain on my 1700 sq ft house because the previous owner had at least 9 cats. No kidding. One of the neighbors told me she tried to count them all, but lost count at nine cats.
    The odor in the house was so strong my real estate agent showed it from the curb, standing next to her car claiming she had to “… return a few calls”. I viewed the unoccupied house in between breaths , running outside for a gulp of fresh air before sprinting through the next room. The air stung my eyes leaving them glassy pink and blood shot too. Afterwards the odor was trapped in my hair. Ugh!
    But, I liked the neighborhood and the house had a great layout. I made an offer and it was accepted.
    The colors were “Taste Specific” , minty toothpaste green kitchen cabinets with curb yellow walls & trim. Though I’m sure it made sense in context with their decor, I personally committed to a palate of daring shades of beige.
    It took a lot of work to remediate the smell. Three weeks and three chemicals later, the smell was much decreased and all of the crickets & spiders were dead. It took an ozone machine 2 weeks, room by room, to erase the last of the lingering scent. Thank God, because I was begining to wonder if I had made a BIG mistake. Several years later, I’m glad I took the risk, it has been a happy home.
    When my best friend called to tell me they had got a cat, I had to caution her , “You are now officially 8 cats away from being a crazy cat lady.”
    Amused she replied, “Is there actually a count?”
    “Yes”, I replied with conviction, “Nine.”

    • Cats get such a bum rap because their owners are slovenly. I have two. I’ve had people come into the house to do work who say when one of them pokes their head around a corner, “You have cats? I would never have guessed. I don’t smell a thing.”

      And I think well yeah. Why would you? I change their boxes and make sure they aren’t nervous wrecks peeing all over the place. And of course, both of them are neutered.

      Cats are very clean. Until they get old and then you have the typical aging pet problems.

  53. Wow… You can’t make this stuff up. I wonder if this was a “finished product” or if the original owner was thinking “it could use one more right there…. And there…and there…”.

    • I feel like they had plans to get to the ceiling that there was never time for :-).

  54. Um, nothing to do with horrid cat house, but could we have a snippet please to chase the uglies away

  55. My daughter showed this to me the other day. Her one comment was “Where are the litter boxes?” **SHUDDER** I love cats. A cat owns me, but…,but…No.

  58. Easier to sell than redecorate, that’s for sure. I hope the actual owner is under treatment, seriously. That’s worse than Dolores Umbridge, and (fans of Harry Potter will understand for sure) is saying A LOT.

  60. Unrelated… I’d like an Ilona Andrews App for my phone and I’m thinking of bribing my hubby for one. Yes, everyone… I’m that lazy.

  61. Ilona, totally off topic, but didn’t you say previously that you liked the “British Bake-off” show, or something like that? I think I saw something about a “British Cake-off” (?) show starting tonight.

  62. When I saw that I was gob stopped. must be serious OCD. Digressing – having turned someone onto Ilona’s blog,
    they sent me this link during our discussion of mythical beasts. I present the Owlcat… (and boy are the freaky cute!)

    http://pleated-jeans.com/2016/08/17/cat-owls-are-the-animal-crossover-you-never-knew-you-needed/

    if such were actual a real animal, how wow would it be? Feral cat smarts with owl stealth and flying. Look out Pidgeons, here comes the owlcat…

  63. I have a friend that lives very near where this house is located and asked her about it. Turns out the owner is a 70 something lady who goes by the name of……Kat. Go figure! Every piece of clothing she wears has a cat on it. Every piece. The pants, the socks, the shirt the sweater. She is selling the house because she’s gotten engaged and is moving in with her fiancee. Which of course begs the question(s). Did he see the inside of this house before he proposed and how long will it take her to do this to his house?

  64. I live next dio to a crazy cat lady. She easily has upwards of 20 cats that hang around her house, inside and out. She feeds them, formally and informally. We used to have lots of birds. No more. This is what her house looks like. I’ve started trapping the cats, have them spayed and neutered, given shots, hoping to reduce the population.

    • Sheryl that is such a good thing to do! I just wanted to say I’m amazed and humbled by your good work.

      Feral cats are a real bane to songbird populations (which are already under threat from urban population expansion) and by far the most moral way to deal with the issue is just to spay/neuter the cats, and keep pets from killing birds. Unfortunately, many pet owners are not conscientious and it is expensive to run public programs to spay/neuter cats. I personally have frequently wanted to do so but have been unable to afford to do so privately, so I just want to say I am really impressed by your willingness to take personal responsibility and do something good for your community.

  65. not going to be an easy sale anyway Concho is a very small town near the border between Arizona and New Mexico, mostly ranching and wind farms.

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