Imagine stepping into a home that feels like the opening chapter of your favorite novel—filled with light, warmth, and character! Situated near the beloved True Salvage Cafe, the community pool, and the wonders of Borden Park, this home is a cozy retreat in a convenient location. The open 1st floor features a Maplewood room—ideal for curling up with a good book.  Original stained glass flanks the fireplace mantle  – a beautiful juxtaposition to the contemporary layout. The kitchen is updated with modern amenities like a wine fridge & integrated micro, & features a large peninsula w/ ample space for meal prep. Off of the kitchen you’ll find a powder room and access to the backyard – a curated space with raised garden beds. Upstairs, the plot thickens with 3 bedrooms, each brimming with potential. You’ll find one bedroom creatively housing the library for the current book- loving owners! The renovated full bath features a double vanity, a tub, and a separate stall shower. The primary bedroom offers two oversized closets with custom shelving. Don’t skip the top floor  – a chapter all its own with a 4th bedroom & en-suite bath. The basement is a fun plot twist with more than just storage! It’s a dedicated movie-viewing room for those cozy nights in, and a private office for working from home. Laundry and a convenient 1/2 bath complete this level. Central air, newer windows, & an oversize garage add to the appeal. This home is your storybook ending!

33 Orchard List of Improvements

2025

• Second-floor bathroom painted

2024

• New perennial and edible garden established (roses, willow bushes, hardy shrubs, black-eyed susans, peony, irises, echinacea, bee balm, apple trees, blueberry bushes, raspberry canes, plum trees, hardy fig trees, perennial strawberries)

• Overgrown trees removed from side of garage

• New Hügelkultur/permaculture raised vegetable beds installed

• New Eastern red bud planted in front

• New newel post caps for front and back decking

• New faucet for third-floor bathroom tub/shower

2023

• New kitchen faucet

• New refrigerator

• Broken garbage disposal removed

• New dishwasher

• New kitchen pendant lights

• New two-way blinds added throughout the house

• New interior paint: powder room, lower level/basement family room and office, sun room, main bedroom, secondary bedroom, dining room

• New gas log set installed (permitted and inspected)

• Second-floor shower floor retiled

• New washer and dryer

• Two new Nest thermostats

• New cedar fence installed

Dear Future Homeowners:

Welcome to 33 Orchard! While we’ve been here a scant two years and must move on as life requires, we are delighted to introduce you to this sturdy beauty and the dynamic community of Borden Park and Maplewood.

We’ve bought and sold several houses in the past decade, and we can say with certainty that 33 Orchard is the most solid and reliable home we’ve ever owned. From great insulation to a recent roof to ample guest space and privacy over four floors, this home has welcoming and comfortable spaces for family, friends, and community. It’s hosted our dearest beloveds in various combinations over the past two years: the third-floor guest suite makes it stress-free to host in-laws for longer visits. Our library has doubled as an adventurous sleeping nook for our favorite book-loving eight-year-old (also a huge fan of the nearby park and ice cream parlor double-whammy). The supportive pull-out platform bed in the lower-level movie room offered auxiliary guest space with access to a half-bath when we had a full house over the holidays — all while not requiring either of us to sacrifice our workplaces. And speaking of working from home, the WiFi has NOT ONCE conked out on us, which seems like a modern-day miracle. (Speaking of not working from home, the jitney stop is literally across the street. It could only be more convenient if it pulled into our kitchen.)

The dining room has graciously made space for 10 (or maybe it was 12) guests at a single meal, and we love that the open kitchen design allows chefs to be part of the party rather than merely serving it. (We’re further delighted with our own modest updates to the kitchen, such as the gorgeous copper faucet that references the new copper pendant lights, as well as the nicest-we’ve-ever-had new dishwasher and fridge. The built-in water pitcher in that fridge is basically a member of our family now.)

We’ve particularly fallen for the dual-zones of the heat/cool system (And oh! Central air! It’s not as common here as you’d think and we are grateful for it), especially helpful for controlling utility bills and working with, rather than against, the natural flow of hot and cold air. Once we installed the Nests on the first and second floors, the system got even smarter and more efficient, and we could control it from bed, the sofa, or in our car when ten minutes from home. Early after moving in, we took advantage of the brick fireplace façade by installing a brand new gas log set (properly permitted and inspected by the town) that offers instant coziness, warms the early morning chill from the air, and allows us to heat only the room we enjoy most frequently, further moderating our utility bills. It also has a built-in CO monitor (in addition to the hard-wired system throughout the house) which has given us great peace of mind.

The second-floor shower is luxuriously large and the newly laid penny tiles are comfortable, not slippery, and easy to clean. While it’s convenient to have the separate tub there, one of us recommends, if you’re a bath person, giving the tub on the third floor a try, as it’s tucked into the eaves and gives a uniquely cozy feel to the ritual.

Our backyard is larger than most on the block and we made the best of our planting space with roses, perennials, and an edible fruit garden. Coffee under the umbrella on a warm weekend morning will offer you birdsong, the laughter of neighbors, and the cheers of the little kids’ soccer games from Borden Park, where much of the neighborhood seems to gather enthusiastically. The proximity to the park has been a boon, of course, and an ideal place to meet new people. As dog owners, we and our pooch met many new friends there (or on the way), found new playmates, and generally enjoyed regular dog walks around the neighborhoods, peeping at gardens and little free libraries along the way. The high school track is just a mile from here, so if you’re a runner, you’re in luck. And True Salvage, at the other end of Orchard, has delectable gluten-free breakfast sandwiches and frequent tapas nights. When you’re walking back from the Maplewood Town Pool (1.5 blocks), make sure to stop in for a cone at Dippy Sippy. We like the coffee and the oreo. Our dog is partial to the vanilla.

When we were househunting, we were drawn to 33 Orchard for several reasons, all of which turned out to be true gems: the beautiful sunroom, the covered front porch (if you’ve had packages left in the rain, you know why), the original stained glass in the living room, and the potential offered by the big 2.5 car garage. We’re honestly pretty disappointed that we weren’t here long enough to convert the garage into a bar or a workshop or a guest house with a secret garden — we hand that baton to you.

If you’re new to the Maplewood area, here are some of the things we’ve observed: there are endless community events, from record festivals to vintage and craft fairs to pride to chili fests. If you have kids, there’s definitely a strong and active school community. This is a politically active community, and one that is committed to being welcoming and loving. We were impressed by how active the local Generosity Group (on Facebook) is, as well as how organized the home gardeners are. Last year, dozens came together to put together “buckets of doom,” organic efforts to reduce the mosquito population across the town. And by gum, it worked!

The village is of course a lovely spot and a great place to walk around with your out-of-town visitors. Our favorite restaurant is Lorena, hands down, though Coda’s got a solid burger. Mona Lisa Framing is a gem, Able Baker’s famed vegan/GF banana bread deserves its reputation, and the City Workshop is a place to find high-quality denim and the type of personal attention that’s hard to come by in the city.

The South Mountain reservation, which spans Maplewood and several neighboring municipalities, is a true gift. It has a dog park, a wildflower preserve, miles of wooded trails, paved walks along the reservoir, and several waterfalls. It’s beautiful also in the winter, when the yellow flowers of the witch hazels show up before the leaves fill out on any of the other trees. It’s accessible just outside the village and is absolutely one of the best assets of this town

But! Maplewood isn’t only the village! There are dozens of worthy restaurants and destinations on Springfield and beyond. Artie’s for pizza. Lum’s Cellars for an excellent wine and spirit selection. The General Store for container-free shopping and other small business ventures. And, at last, you don’t have to give up the city conveniences of delivery: Fresh Direct, Whole Foods, Door Dash, Uber Eats, GrubHub. It’s all here.

Our little part of Maplewood has been friendly and lovely for us. On the day of last summer’s eclipse, so many of us were out in our front yards to experience the event — some neighbors lent us eclipse glasses, and a dozen of us all stood outside together in the sudden darkness, squinting up at the sky together, laughing about the oddity and beauty of sharing such a thing with each other.

We wish you many odd and beautiful events on Orchard Road in the coming years. We’ve taken good care of the old girl for you, and now she’s ready for you.

All our best wishes,

Current Homeowners