LAKEWOOD, Wash. — Across the street from Lakewood's fabled Thornewood Castle, and nearly as impressive, you'll find its carriage house.
"I spent a good 30 years working on this place," financial manager Jonn Mason said. In the 1970s, he bought the house in this gated community for about $200,000 when it was a duplex. He spent the better part of his life not just restoring the home, but filling it with unique treasures from all over the world.
"Every time I would travel I would spend a lot of time shopping," he said. "And I was shipping it back here".
The paneling in the library came from a 17th century building in France. The gaslights came from a library in New York and the ceiling was handcrafted over the space of five months.
"Everything is handmade," Mason said. "The whole house is handmade".
Mason says he spent about a year on every room of this 7-thousand square foot, four bedroom home. Even the powder rooms are works of art.
"The sinks are china impregnated with gold dust," he said. "The faucets are handmade. The toilet is handmade in Italy and the marble is a classic Carrera marble."
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the house offers no shortage of eye catching details. This is a home with a thousand stories.
"The whole home itself is such an incredible property," said Amanda Shepherd who has teamed up with Mike Larson, both of Compass Realty, to find a buyer.
"It will take a very special person," Shepherd admitted. "But I think that person is somebody who demands perfection, who demands luxury in every sense of the word, and who embodies what this home is all about."
Mason plans to downsize in a desert town where he will trade a life surrounded by ornate objects of art for something simpler.
"I've got to say goodbye to this and goodbye to that," Mason said. "And it's, you know, there's some emotion involved."
Mason says he's probably spent $15 million on the house, which includes a basement fitness room and walk in pantry. At $3.25 million, the asking price is a fraction of that.
"If a person is a comparative shopper and they look at what they are going to get for the money, nothing compares to this," Mason said. "So it is a real bargain."
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