Jenifer McNeil Baker
The home of Ann and Richard Hazlett at 7169 Greentree, which is part of the Lakewood Home Festival this year, is everything you’d expect from the coolest grandparent house you’ve ever seen, and then some.
You only need to pull into the driveway and sneak a glimpse of the outside of the charming, English-style cottage to know you’re in for a treat. Then the Hazletts turn the antique skeleton key to unlock their massive front door — you’d need a battering ram to bust open this bad boy — and the real treasure hunt begins.
The Hazletts built the home in 1966, but they’ve changed it around a lot since the beginning, they explain.
The vaulted ceiling in the living room makes it seem even bigger than it is. The stone fireplace at the front of the room and the wooden beams that stretch across the ceiling almost give the den a lodge-like feel. The room is cozied by Ann’s exceptional taste in art and decor and Richard’s bookshelf that spans the length of the room.
Everything has a story, including the kiosk out back that, once upon a time, housed Richard’s pet monkeys. Seriously, monkeys. You can’t make this stuff up.
“Squirrel monkeys. This was one of his things,” Ann says with a shrug, as though that explains everything.
“They were beautiful, exotic South American monkeys,” Richard recalls. “They were orange and black and white, like moving pieces of art.”
Another one of Richard’s “things” is his love for British history and culture, which is evident throughout the Hazletts’ house. He paints portraits of his heroes, including Winston Churchill, whom both the Hazletts adore, and he spends hours upon hours putting together intricate dioramas that depict various historical scenes in vivid detail.
On top of utilizing Richard’s artistic talents, Ann has a few decorating tricks of her own.
Upstairs, she fixed up a now-grown son’s vacant bedroom to look like the inside of a British military tent.
“I gave it to [Richard] for a combination Christmas/birthday present,” Ann says. “It’s supposed to be India in the late 1800s. This was the way the British generals lived in the desert. They had a tent with an oriental rug on the floor and all the good stuff. That’s what this is supposed to be, is a general’s tent.”
Since the house was built, the Hazletts also have turned the playroom into a media room/office, almost completely reworked the kitchen, closed in the back porch, updated the upstairs bedrooms and remodeled many of the bathrooms. But not all at once, of course.
“We’ve had plenty of time to do it,” Ann says.
You can see the Hazletts’ house and five others on the 37th annual Lakewood Home Festival Friday Nov. 8 through Sunday Nov. 10. Start with a preview of the homes during the Candlelight Tour Friday Nov. 8 from 5-7:30 p.m., followed by the Lakewood Black & White Masquerade Ball at Hotel Palomar, starting at 7 p.m. Then continue touring homes, and stop by the Market and Café based at Lakewood Elementary School, Saturday Nov. 9, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday Nov. 10, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information and to buy tickets, visit lakewoodhomefestival.com.
If you can’t get enough of home tours, join the historic Junius Heights neighborhood for its seventh annual home tour and neighborhood fair on Nov. 3 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Advance tickets can be purchased at Lakewood Whole Foods through Nov. 2, or tickets can be purchased at the tour homes on the day of. For more information visit juniusheights.org.
