Turn on MTV and Grab the Aquanet, Baby: The 80s Are Back in This Phoenicia Contemporary for $299K

  |  September 13, 2022

Today on our Phoenicia tour, we’re visiting this time capsule of a home that’ll have you thinking you’re back in the 1980s…in a good way.

The 1984 contemporary measures 1,372 square feet and has two bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths.

Enter through the front door into a large, open living/kitchen/dining area with a beamed, cathedral ceiling, propane-fed stone fireplace, fully tiled floor, and decor that’s just barely a decade past the Brady Bunch. But details like the center beam and those triangle windows at ceiling height show off the home’s good bones.

Those are beautiful sliders out to the deck, but that wood paneling on the adjacent wall just zooms us back to 3rd grade: We’re home sick from school, so Mom’s cooking up some Lipton chicken soup on that almond-toned electric stove. Then we’ll sip some Tang and watch “The Price is Right” with her on the couch, while she folds laundry and tries not to drop ashes from her cigarette.

The rest of the kitchen echoes that era, with wood-grained Formica countertops and wooden cabinets that don’t quite match. And that’s a throwback wallpaper pattern on the backsplash and above the cabinets. But the side-by-side stainless-steel fridge looks new.

Behind the kitchen is the secondary bedroom, all done up in Laura Ashley-esque floral wallpaper and a beige wall-to-wall carpet—both of which the new owners would likely want to update.

Vinyl floor tiles, a long Formica vanity, and more floral wallpaper highlight the hall bath, which has a tub/shower combination glassed in with those sliders that are notorious for falling off their tracks juuust as you’re about to duck under a hot shower.

The primary bedroom is bigger than the secondary bedroom, and looks like it has double closets. Yes, it’s also got that wall-to-wall carpet and—you guessed it—floral wallpaper.

It’s also got a surprise.

An ensuite bath. And if the wallpaper on the walls isn’t enough, there’s more of it on the vanity itself. The listing says the home has two full baths and one half bath; it’s hard to tell from this shot whether this is the full or half bath.

The basement is finished into a rumpus room that would have been perfect for sprawling in front of the TV on a Saturday morning to watch cartoons (we’d wager there might still be cereal stains on that carpet). It’s got a utility room/workshop, and four good-sized, well-lit closets (although we only really see three here).

It also has this laundry room…

…with swinging saloon doors into a bathroom.

The wraparound deck is accessible with stairs from the ground, or mullioned sliders from the dining room. There’s a one-car, attached garage under the house, and a whole-house generator for those nasty winter storms. The property sits on almost a half-acre and is close to Phoenicia schools in a walkable neighborhood not far from Main Street. And the price, in this market, cannot be beat.

If this nostalgia-rich home sparks your inner ’80s love, check out 12 School Lane, Phoenicia, with Faye Storms of Ruth Gale Realty.

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