Yikes. This just goes to show you that "different" isn't always good. Thanks for posting it!

That's crazy. Now I'm curious to learn about the owner. Must be an eccentric one of a kind person to live there... and here I am thinking I'm unusual for picking blue cabinets lol.

Ps: thats a lovely town you grew up in. Do you still live there?

@Carolyn

Ha, yes, it definitely goes to show just how safe most of our "risky" kitchen choices are in the grand scheme of things.

I actually never lived in Hillsborough -- we lived about 25 minutes away. Because my mom worked for the city, I was allowed to go to their schools. She preferred that I was in school near where she worked so she could be on hand if I got sick or broke my arm or something.

Oh I think I remember driving passed this crazy house a couple times as a kid. Thanks for bringing back a memory. Cool to see the inside. That kitchen is insane!

The outside is studiously ugly, but I quite like the interior for the most part. The kitchen has issues. The peninsula supports create a barrier between the prep space and cooktop, the cooktop is at the end of a peninsula without enough buffer space, and it has downdraft ventilation. And where the heck do you store stuff? Is there a pantry behind that ornate door?

And it has a converation pit!

What an interesting place! I think it's kind of a cool interior. There are so many details to look at. The exterior paint is a bit unfortunate. I imagine it's neat for you to get a glimpse inside after all these years, J.

@Texas_Gem

I also love weird, quirky homes.

These are more typical for Hillsborough homes:

https://www.google.com/search?q=hillsborough+california+home&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMIv_25vp7uxwIVxTiICh2o1wR5&biw=1333&bih=658#imgrc=_

VERY wealthy people. So it's not so much that they want everything to look the same -- more the same level of luxury, I guess.

ETA: While I love weird, quirky homes, I am perpetually torn between:

a) always preferring cheerful,
colorful, flamboyant, unusual fun things in basically every aspect of my life, and

b) wanting my home to make my life easier and more calm.

The latter means a home that is sunny,
easy to clean (preferably one that looks clean almost no matter what I do), and designed so as to make my life as unfussy and organized as possible (smart storage, good flow, everything I need and nothing else). It doesn't rule out color and art, but it does rule out a lot
of the more interesting architectural flourishes you could put in a home.

You're not alone, Texas Gem, I'm with you!

I can't stand planned communities with limited architecture. Houzz recently posted a story about the restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House in LA. It was reviled by a bunch of posters and was controversial when built in 1919-21 to the present day. And I think it's amazing. Of course, Flintstone House isn't in the same league as Hollyhock but I love, and I do mean LOVE, controversial architecture.

We have a beach community near us that was developed in the 60's with an anything-goes philosophy. Oh, I used to love to drive those strange, curlicue streets....you can get lost there pretty easy...and look for the unique shapes and materials used in these homes. Now the town has grown up and most of those homes are being torn down or the uniqueness is being remodeled out of them and it makes me sad. The place has lost its artistic, bohemian soul.

I have a feeling many of you would be aghast at the homes I sometimes sketch out and design in my head that I would love to build if I had more energy and funds. It's not as out-there as the Flintstone but it would definitely make people look thrice or more. If they could see it that is. My dream lot would be too private for lookie-loos.

However, while my dream kitchen isn't conventional it's certainly a lot more normal than this one. I wouldn't work in that kitchen but I love the imagination that thought it up. And, yeah, the DW placement is fine, lol.

x-posting with Jillius: And I would live in Flintstone House before I'd live in any of those other homes you posted. Lovely but so bland in comparison. I would, however, have to do some kitchen remodeling. :)

OMG that kitchen is crazy! When I was a kid we called that house the hobbit house or the Star Wars house and looked for it every time we drove to San Francisco. I had no idea what the interior looked like until now.

After seeing the inside I'm still going with Star Wars house over Flintstones house - it has a definite Tatooine vibe ;)

I don't like the orange at all - it was much better white.

SO agree about the white. I tried to find a picture of that and couldn't!

Here is a blog post with an old picture of it white - and according to the post it was painted silver in 2010, but I guess they went back to orange :/

http://thehandcraftedlife.blogspot.com/2010/10/if-youre-gonna-live-in-house-that-looks.html?m=1

Ha! I love that the author is so morally outraged.

We called it the Beehive House. I think it was a sort of a brownish- beige-tan color when first built, then the bright white, and now the orange. It was listed sometime around 1980 for about half any other house in the area and I would have considered it (worked at Stanford at the time) but needed a co-owner. For some reason my parents weren't interested! I do wish I had toured it. I love that it has attitude and turns its back on its extremely conventional neighbors.

I agree with you guys, I'd absolutely live in this house. I'd live anywhere that is that close to San Francisco if someone were to gift me a 4 million dollar house lol. I too hate cookie cutter, which is why our last two homes have been unique for our locations (90 year old red roofed English cottage surrounded by mid century homes in Washington & an 80 year old simple colonial with white Hardie plank surrounded by brand new brick homes with massive roof lines in Texas).

My in laws are in Danville, CA and we love the area. However, I think the kitchen is ugly. I would not like glass countertops or those ceiling supports to the range. I am fine with the rest of the house, except the color. White looks much better.

Julius, we lived in Burlingame for many years! We always called that the Flintstones house. Too weird for me to live in, but I never thought of it as an eyesore, just an "oddball". For those of you who said you like the quirkiness, especially if you have young children or grandchildren, check out the book titled "The Big Orange Splot".

The kitchen gives me a very creepy feeling. The rest of the rooms don't look too bad, but that kitchen... I don't think I could be comfortable there.

The kitchen is obviously fairly new, so I wonder what it looked like before. Probably much more sedate...

I think it's pretty cool. It seems like it needs more windows though. It would make an awesome vacation house in the right location.

Wow! That is very cool. Thanks for sharing it, Jillius. I also think the interiors are appealing. They remind me of the insides of strawbale or earth homes. All soft curves and feminine lines. Really lovely. But, the kitchen...I would think you could improve the function wuite a bit and still retain the charm and eccentricity.

I used to live in the Bay Area and am delighted to see the inside of this local landmark! It's not my style (although I love the conversation pit), but I am glad to live in a world with creativity and individuality. I love that they put a Wilma mask in the dining room and inflatable dinosaurs in the cave bath. I'd invite these sellers for dinner, I think they would be a hoot.

Be still my heart.

I think the interior of the house is bloody perfect. The only "home improvement" change I would make is to give the rock shower a larger shower head extended out a bit further. Other than that, I would just store some of the tchotckes somewhere safe in the house, on the grounds that the spaces and light in the house are gorgeous and need no frippery. Also because I would not want anyone to have to keep them dusted.

The outside could made a bit more organic-looking by switching the Minion shape of the towers for something more subtle/asymmetrical/knobbly. My choice for the sheathing would be maybe a rougher stucco in colors of toasted whole wheat pita bread.

I think it would be a fabulous house to live in, so long as the traffic noise does not reach the terrace areas.

so long as the traffic noise does not reach the terrace areas.

Not to worry, it isn't often nice enough weather up there to sit outside LOL

I really wish I had that much creativity to be able to design a house like that! It's so unique and weird yet oddly comfortable.

I think it's cool. I kind of like it, although it isn't my style. I like how it sits in the landscape. We have a similarly unusual house here - the Mushroom House, which was actually patterned after a Queen Anne's Lace flower. It sold this summer for something like $629,000. It's in one of the best school districts in the area (if not the country), in the middle of a county park. Its kitchen is positively pedestrian compared to the one in the Flintstone House.

Mushroom House

Wow, where's the caterpillar smoking hash with his hookah? Seriously, that is one drug-induced design and some of those corridors look like the path of the White Rabbit to me.

I think I've found my west coast and east coast abodes. :)

Some people's reality is just different than yours.

We lived in Burlingame and Hillsborough for 32 years before moving across the bay to warmer weather...my husband grew up there. Can't wait to see what price this house actually gets! When it was painted white, people called it the Mushroom House, and later Flintstones. I don't think I knew anyone who knew the owners, but it was always certainly a landmark!

Jillius and sjhockey - wonder if we ever bumped into each other in town? My daughters are 37 and 32...went to Hillsborough schools and BHS.

We might have! I am 29, so your 32-year-old and I undoubtedly crossed paths. I went to Hillsborough schools and SMHS and played several sports, which meant meeting a lot of people at other schools. Did your older daughter go to Crocker? She may have known my sister, who is 38.

It's surprising how many people lived in the area or were already familiar with the Flinstones House. I wasn't expecting so many people to share in my nostalgia, but it's nice! I like hearing everybody's different childhood names for it.

Ha! My girls (KC and Dana) were both at Crocker. Small world indeed! Jillius, pm me for more info.

If you want Flintstones, check out this house in Malibu:

http://m.la.curbed.com/archives/2014/12/why_dick_clark_built_a_spoton_flintstones_house_in_malibu.php

And here's another house with crazy organic lines but a sleeker look:

http://m.la.curbed.com/archives/2014/01/breathtaking_joshua_tree_supervillain_lair_for_sale_for_first_time_1.php

SSG and Jillius, my kids are 30 and 28, they went to BIS and BHS. We lived not far from Crocker (off Ralston).

Too funny! Is "sjhockey" referring to the Sharks, then?

It most certainly is. I actually live in San Francisco (moved to the city several years ago).