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Featured Homes Click here or a full list of all of my Milton and Boston area listings—many with virtual tours. For feature stories about some of these exciting properties, keep reading. Or, to learn how my experience and expertise can help you connect with the perfect buyer, call me at 617-947-6219.
Ready for Life in a Neighborhood? Want to Plant a Garden
Next Year?
Ask many families where they spend the most time, and they’ll tell you: the kitchen. If you were to become the proud new owner of 31 Denmark Avenue, “the kitchen” would assuredly be your response. Imagine walls the perfect soft shade of sunny yellow, handsome maple cabinets, new Corian countertops and stainless steel appliances, including a convection oven. Then admire the gleaming hardwood floor that connects this functional space to an open dining area. This is the place you want to be. Of course, a light-filled, well-equipped kitchen leading to a deck is good stuff, but the other pluses—inside and out—add up quickly. In fact, owners Allison and Frank Vardaro spent 14 happy years here with their family, and call their decision to move closer to their jobs “bittersweet.” “We love the home and the neighborhood,” Allison says. “The best part about Denmark Avenue,” Allison says, “is that it is a cul de sac. The kids on the street are always riding their bikes, rollerblading, playing a game of pick-up kickball or wiffle ball. It’s a treasure of ‘yesteryear’ when children can play on their street while, their parents and neighbors sit on the stoops and visit. Our neighborhood also holds an annual Easter Egg Hunt for all of the kids with games following the hunt. There is such camaraderie here.” Denmark Avenue is a five-minute walk to Andrews Park, a 10-minute walk to East Milton Square and close to Wollaston Beach, Marina Bay and Blue Hills Reservation. Several grocery stores are within a 10-minute drive; one is within walking distance. Despite the benefits of a friendly cul de sac, the home is just one traffic light—and one mile—away from the access ramp to 93 North. The Red Line is also just a mile away. The whole town is enjoying schools that are newly renovated are about to be renovated. Back at 31 Denmark Avenue, the conveniences continue. The classic Colonial features newer tilt-in windows, maintenance-free white siding, beautiful woodwork and—because the home is set high—a dry basement. (The height also gives a great view of New Year’s Eve fireworks from the attic, Allison says.) And, if one of your must-have features happens to be a fireplace, then you’ll enjoy a cozy winter in front of a crackling fire in the oversized living room. The Vardaro’s home was built in 1950 by its first owner, who also built three other Denmark Avenue homes. Allison and Frank are the home’s second owners.
The dream is the details: well-loved expanded Cape seeks new owners
“People who drive by stop to look at the house because it’s so pretty,” says Irene Standler, who, with her husband, Mel, has enjoyed the 53-year-old home at 32 Lafayette St. for 51 years “This is a great house. The inside’s even better than the outside, “ Irene says, as she shows off the fireplaced living room with its picture window “This is the only room in the house that doesn’t have a closet. The house has such great storage space that you can’t help but be organized in it.” To focus on small things might be to put the cart before the horse: Are a recessed ironing board built into the kitchen wall, a laundry shute that spans three floors, new windows that open on a tilt for easy cleaning, a cedar closet, or a 17-foot custom-built closet compelling enough to change your world? Maybe. If not, then the largest lot of Lafayette Street with a privacy-enhancing row of mature rhododendrons, a sunny eight-window family room with cathedral ceiling or neighbors who have graciously helped Mrs. Standler shovel snow might add to the impression that this is a little Cape that can meet a household’s needs. In fact, with nearly 2,000 square feet of living space, it’s not such a little Cape after all. The Standlers pride themselves in having made the home comfortable and convenient, while keeping it up to date. In addition to installing new windows, the couple replaced the roof about five years ago. Visit either of the two full bathrooms, and you may not notice much, which can be a good thing: nice wallpaper, tiling that looks new, shiny fixtures. The tidiness and care evident here are typical of the home and its yard. The large yard, accessible from the family room and the basement, invites planting gorgeous gardens or playing a rough-and-tumble game of tag (take your pick, or there’s room for both). More opportunity for making this sweet three-bedroom home—with it’s spacious closets and windows that are hard to count—is found in the basement, which already boasts a kitchen-bar area, a separate boiler room and a laundry room lined with antique pharmacy shelves. The partially finished space is ready for definition as home office, play area or spare bedroom. When the Standlers move to their new home at Fuller Village soon, it’s hard to say what they’ll miss most. On a tour in which she talked about her love of tulips and about her longtime neighbor who taught her to garden, Mrs. Standler points out an evergreen “lollipop” tree in her front yard. “A neighbor’s cat snoozes under that tree almost every day. I’ll have to take a picture of that.”
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