This house is snow joke.
A home in Washington state that’s straight out of a fairy tale — based on the animated setting of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” — is on the market for just the second time ever. Asking $775,000, the place boasts a history that is more dope than Dopey.
Its builders, a DIY-obsessed couple named Richey and Karen Morgan, spent about 25 years painstakingly handcrafting the Disney-styled replica in Olalla, Wash., a small town on the Puget Sound between Seattle and Tacoma, according to the Kitsap Sun, a regional newspaper. Locals apparently call it “Snow White’s cottage.”
Based on the petite diamond miners’ dwelling in Disney’s first feature-length film (released in 1937) — where Snow White ends up after running away from her evil stepmother — the four-bedroom, 4 ¹/₂-bathroom home is far from dwarfish in size. It has, among other enchanting features, a undulating brown roof and a creamy white facade with leaded and stained-glass windows.
Inside, the Morgans cobbled together oddly sized wooden doors with iron hinges and built cavelike rooms around them, pouring plaster over wire mesh to form curved walls. The hobbit hole of sorts also has atmospheric wooden ceiling beams (plucked from trees near the property’s creek), a walk-through tree trunk, funny-looking portholes and stalactitelike ceiling protrusions.
Richey Morgan reportedly “hauled in 100 tons of stone for the bridges, walkways and chimneys,” according to the Kitsap Sun. Each bedroom has a stone fireplace, and there are additional fireplaces in the main living area.
Somehow, the home’s 2,800 square feet, distributed over two stories, still looks quaint — maybe because it’s surrounded by 7 ¹/₂ forested acres. Further fueling the fantasy, a metal front gate opens onto a rocky path that leads across an arched bridge over a babbling brook; there’s a treehouse, fruit trees, a garden and birdbaths, too.
“Mother Nature doesn’t build things in squares,” Richey Morgan told the Kitsap Sun. “That’s the feeling the house had, more in tune with the natural world.”
In 2005, the Morgans traded their endearing creation — located, appropriately, on Hidden Valley Way — for a more conventional home that took less work, selling it for $345,000 to an Evonne Bess. Bess was still reeling from her husband’s death from cancer; the enchanted home served as an emotional antidote of sorts. She finished what the Morgans started, adding modern conveniences like a dishwasher and a hot tub. Kitchen cabinets with a knotted wood finish sit above stainless-steel appliances. (There’s Internet, too.)
But now Bess, who plans to move in with her son and his family, is ready to sell. She first listed the cottage in June of 2016 at an asking price that topped out at $925,000. The ask dropped to $895,000 this July and then to $775,000 in August, according to Realtor.com.
“This is the most amazing storybook home you’ll ever find. Words can’t describe the meticulous detail that went into building! There’s not a square corner anywhere,” exclaims the listing, marketed by broker Rick Ellis of John L. Scott Real Estate. “Come witness the fantasy!”
For those who can’t make it to Washington, the 3-D tour on the listing’s Web site comes pretty close — it even takes the viewer into the home’s pristine grotto-esque bathroom.
For the past 15 months, Ellis has had no luck finding a buyer, despite touting the property as being better than Disneyland on “Dateline.”
To his credit, he acknowledges the cottage’s quirks.
“How do you measure something that has no straight lines, right angles or corners?” Ellis told Oregon Live. “It’s more like a carving or a boat than a house. It represents an incredible, crazy amount of time and effort.”
The story of this bizarre house doesn’t have a fairytale ending — yet.
He adds, “The trouble is people want to see it, but they don’t want to own it.”
Current owner Bass has pitched it as a wedding venue, as per a promotional video on YouTube that offers more looks inside.
Meanwhile, Ellis is marketing it as a possible bed-and-breakfast. And he’s not alone. One kindred spirit — a cute Los Angeles retreat rumored to be the actual original inspiration for Snow White’s cottage in the 1937 film — is now a vacation rental charging about $300 per night.