I've been in that house
I know the family. The parents immigrated from Italy/Yugoslavia, and bought the house in 1955 as 1st owners. It is in a St. Louis neighborhood that remains predominantly Italian to this day, and it still features many Italian restaurants, bakeries, and groceries. The father built the garage in the alley himself. They raised three sons in that house. One of the sons has been one of my best friends for more than 8 years. This site is not a scam, and the home was not staged. The house has never been "lived" in, in the sense that the family did not use the living room and kitchen upstairs, except perhaps on Thanksgiving, and otherwise, they lived in the basement. The living room, as pictured on the site, is exactly as it was when they lived in the house. The basement, as photographed, is not the same. A lot of furniture had been removed from the basement by the time the photos were taken. On one side of the basement, they had arranged a kitchen/eating area, with an old Magic Chef stove from the 1930s, a table and chairs, and a china cabinet for dishes. They washed dishes and pots and pans in the laundry tubs. Also in the basement, each son had a desk to study at, and there was another huge desk the parents used, plus a recliner or two, a television and stereo. They really DID live, cook, eat and bathe in the basement. The bathroom upstairs was never used, and nobody has ever taken a shower in it. The original toilet upstairs was recently replaced due to plumbing problems from non-use. The mother covered the windows of the living room upstairs with cardboard so that the furniture and carpet would not fade. The Zenith TV in the living room was B/W, and it worked until the 1980s. The children were rarely allowed upstairs, except perhaps on Thanksgiving, and to sleep. Two of the sons slept in the bedroom with the twin bed (there used to be two twin beds in it) and the third son slept in the basement behind the furnace where the portable gas heater is located. The parents slept in the master bedroom upstairs. A lot of the basement furniture, including the 1930s stove they used down there on a daily basis, had already been removed before the photos were taken. The 1950s Magic Chef that is pictured on the site was originally in the upstairs kitchen, and was only very recently replaced with a brand new stove. Their washer and dryer were a white Maytag 606S and matching gas Halo of Heat dryer from 1973, and I bought them about a year ago to use as my daily drivers while I am exiled up here in Cleveland.
They were very clean and neat people, they took fastidious care of things, and they never allowed junk to accumulate. They were frugal, they saved a lot, and their goal was to buy quality things that would last forever if taken care of. Nothing was done to prepare the house for those photos. The furniture in the living room is arranged exactly the same way as it always was. The only difference is that the family portraits and religious artifacts have been removed.
The house is already sold. The buyer appreciates the furniture, and has voiced an intention to leave everything undisturbed.
