This Lake Placid Chalet Has Carpet on the Walls

Owned by the same family for nearly 50 years and kept in original condition, this Lake Placid chalet is a genuine time capsule — mid-century modern bones with Alpine rusticity, a jaw-dropping fireplace, and a moss-green carpet that made a very bold decision to climb the walls. Including, notably, the bathroom's.

A Grand Room, a Great Fireplace, a Very Committed Carpet

At the center of this 7,026-square-foot chalet on 4 acres is a jaw-dropping great room with a double-sided fireplace and walls of windows framing some of the best views in Lake Placid. The main level flows open-concept from great room to dining room, kitchen, family room, and a primary suite with its own spa and sauna, all opening onto a deck that wraps around much of the home. There's also a pool room, a genuine highlight even by this house's high bar for interesting features. The upper and lower levels add more bedrooms and baths, generous storage, a potential apartment, and a two-car garage, bringing the total to 5 bedrooms and 6 baths.

Brave Enough to Love It?

The terrain-moss carpet was almost certainly elegant and expensive when it went in — it's just also, at this point, everywhere. The bathrooms need work, the bedrooms are surprisingly small given how much space gets used elsewhere in the house, and the whole property is being marketed candidly as a renovation project. The fireplace, the pool room, and the sauna are the parts worth keeping; the rest is a blank, if extremely shaggy, canvas.

The Internet Has Thoughts

Naturally, this listing caught the attention of Reddit's r/zillowgonewild community, who spent an entire thread on the carpet alone — debating whether it should be ripped out entirely, swapping childhood stories about carpeted kitchens and bathrooms from decades past, and pointing out that removing bathroom carpet and padding ranks among the grosser home-renovation jobs a person can take on. One commenter compared the color to a certain green mascot clearing his throat; another suggested the pattern might have real resale value to the right design-obsessed buyer. See what people are saying about it here.

Think you know what a 50-year Lake Placid time capsule costs? Take the price quiz and find out. View the full listing here.