On The Tour

While our house was on the tour, I went touring.  I'm going to share a few of my favorites from each house in this post.  I met up with my Mom, Shelly and her Mom, Nelia, Karen. Sheryl, and Deb.  I put my house on the tour, drove the bus, read the map to find the first house.  Until I yelled, "For crying out loud!  Do I have to do EVERYTHING?"  That got their attention and they all started reading house numbers.  Hah!

The first house we toured was a very beautiful family home with a gorgeous view.  It would be a treat for a busy Mom to soak in the tub and  look out at the scenery.  I spotted an outdoor shower too.  I've always thought that would be great to have while the kids are home.

The kitchen so big and beautiful.  Deb was totally having a moment imagining that she lives there.  In her mind she's entertaining, watching her husband, Pete cook and loving life in her beautiful BiG new kitchen.  And then we told her to get in the van.

I don't have a good picture so use your imagination a bit.  The pewter Christmas plates displayed at the cabinet tops were a wonderful collection displayed with great lighting.  They belong there.

After I gave Deb a talk about coveting I noticed the black cabinets just off the kitchen.  Well, for a china and glassware junkie this was enough to make me weep.  IWANTTHAT!  Oh my, I could have such a grand time filling this space with dishes...  I was coveting, a bit.  Well, a lot.  Deb had the last laugh.

Next stop was at Rod and Lavonne's sweet little house that is not little, at all.  From the street their house appears to be on the small side but it actually has about 3000 square feet.  They have made good use of their space. 

Holy vignettes Batman!  It was one after another.  So many pretty, clever vignettes that I could hardly take it in fast enough.  Lavonne  creates the displays at Grandiflora so she really is a vignette pro.

See what I mean?

Then we went up the stairs to the guest room, studio, storage area.

It was an aqua, red and pink winter wonderland.  I wanted to stay forever.  Crafting, sewing, (hey, it's my fantasy so yes, I can sew), napping on the comfy bed, sipping cocoa and living on marshmallows.

I have a lot of photos of my room, yes, my room, remember it's my fantasy.  Then my people drug me crying and pouting down the stairs.

On to Mark and Carrie's house.  I think it was Mark's brother that designed their floor plan.  A family with three girls/young women they each have their private space yet great spaces to come together, whether it's with friends in the bonus room, in the great room, the craft room, the music room or exercise room.  

A great family home with one of the best designs I have ever seen.

We could hear laughing coming from the bathroom as we approached.  The melted Frosty in the shower was  a fun tour touch.  If you have little ones at home, it would be fun for them to find Frosty in the shower on Christmas morning.

Those Stremler girls and their craft rooms!  Honestly.  So, after I make all my Christmas gifts at Lavonne's house I am heading over to Carrie's craft room to wrap them.  A creative Mom, three daughters with the creative gene making and creating in this room would be bliss.

Speaking of creative, the concrete forms painted aqua covering the wall in one of the bedrooms really made a statement.  Art.

The fire crackling in the great room was so welcoming.

Since I don't have girls I really enjoyed the girly details in the bedrooms.

I don't know where Carrie found the crystal lighted Christmas tree displayed on the night stand but I love that tree and I will junk until I find my very own.  I will hunt you down, Beautiful, and take you home.

The kitchen was a bakers dream.  Carrie gets help from her girls with the baking and there is room for everyone.

Next we went to our neighbors, Chad and Trisha's, cottage.  Their house was the oldest of the five homes on tour.  Cozy and quirky with some history, yes please!

Trisha is the youngest sister to Carrie and Lavonne but Trisha and I are soul sisters.  For sure.  I had a feeling we might be but when I stepped into Trisha's house it was like coming home for me.

Since she is crazy creative she has a studio too.  I love the simple tree on the wall.  I am guessing that all of the photos were taken by Trisha.

Their boys' bedrooms were so great.  These rooms made me a bit melancholy for when my guys were little.  The toys and trucks and boy stuff was great and I could feel the vibes of some fun loving, nice guys. 

The kitchen is an old house sized kitchen with the space maximized by its open shelves and island in the center.

Who thinks to put a Christmas tree in a thermos jug?  Well, Trisha, of course!  Sheesh, that's adorable.

The tree, the putz house, "HOME" on the shelf gave me the shivers.  This is their home and it is cozy.

The table was set using pink and aqua for Christmas dinner.  The chocolate Dutch letters are their place cards, a wonderful tradition.  I love it that Trisha uses pink in a house of guys.

My soul sister and I share a love a maps and globes.  JOY strung accross the map makes even a non-singer like myself start to hum, Joy to the World, the Lord has come.

Lastly, we went to the Stone House, where I waited in the van.  It'd be creepy to tour my own place.

Tour day was a lot of fun for me.  I loved seeing the other homes, I spent the day with my Mom and my friends and I got to hear others enjoy the tour.  Sam's girl, Angela took her Mom on the tour.  I got this text from her and it made me smile.

I ran into friends that I hadn't seen in years.  It was wonderful to see Elaine and Irene.

Such a fun day!  Let's do it again!  

NO, no, we will not be doing this again.  

Ever. 

As fun as it was being on the home tour is a one time deal.

And they lived happily ever after.  After long naps and some recovery time, of course.

The End

The Details, Bits, Bobs and I'm Crazy

Some behind the scenes, details and craziness goes on when your home is on the Homes for the Holidays Tour.  I'll share some of that today.  

The lights in the mixer were a happy accident.  They were laying on the kitchen counter when I needed room to whip up a project, they got thrown into the mixer and I plugged them in, voila!

 I gained five pounds finishing the 'for display only' cupcakes.

 The Santa and his sleigh on top of the globe with a jewel on our town is my favorite thing in the entire house.  I love details and I Spy books.

Pinterest and Hubby rock.  I saw the wood in the fire place on Pinterest, showed Hubby, he went outside, cut down a tree, used the chop saw, arranged it just so and bam it was done.  Love it.  And him.

An interesting selfie, I might add.

I had fun adding the little toy soldiers to the garland in our US Army Combat Medic's bedroom.  It wasn't fun finding his soldiers in the attic, I crawled on my stomach OVER boxes and junk to find them, much like the soldier you see in the garland doing the army crawl.

I love to set a table with details.  I've used this ice skater theme before for dinners with family and friends.  I mentioned to Shelly that I wasn't sure how I'd set the table for tour.  She told me I would be setting the ice skater table for tour because it's her favorite.  Done.

 This Fall I found a silverware set for eight at an estate sale.  I got home and researched it to find the pattern and I realized it was designed to be engraved and hadn't been yet.  I called around, never had time to get it to Bellingham.  Hubby told me to forget it, that we were done and things were good enough.  Well, I ran into Cheryl from Hat's Off in Lynden and asked her if they did engraving.  Yes, and she was willing to do a rush job because of the tour deadline.  Great!  In passing I asked her the cost, $9.95 set up and 15 cents per letter. I didn't mention it to Hubby because he had told me to stop and was tired of me spending money.

Then I started thinking about it in the bed one night... What if the set up fee was per piece of silver?  What if each piece was $9.95 + .15 = $10.10 per piece X 40 pieces= $404?

Hubby had said no.  I did the math again.  NO!  This couldn't be.  Calm down.  Go to sleep.  You have a million things to do tomorrow.  Sleep.  $404.  

So, I lost two nights of sleep.

On Friday they called from Hat's Off that it was ready.  Good thing, since tour was Saturday.

I dilly dallied, got a nervous tummy ache, then went.

My legs were weak, honestly.

That will be $36 and some odd cents.

Thank you Baby Jesus!  

I love it, Hubby loves it and Sam called it for our estate so he must love it too.  Hahah

I'm crazy.  But you know that already.  I'm sleep deprived but everything is okay.
Isn't it pretty?

 I had fun in the laundry room, playing with my vintage Santa collection, tacky plastic garland and my craft supplies.

 I love this guy!

 For weeks the counter in the laundry room was covered with junk, a foot deep sometimes, most of the time.

 Ziploc bags of deer, beads, old pipe cleaners, light bulbs etc.

 By having everything sorted by color and type I could whip up a project quickly.  I made the wreath for the old screen door in 15 minutes.  Boom, it's done!  Shelly ran to her house for a minute, came back and it was hung on the door.

For tour I left a tray of 'craftermath' of the counter.  The aftermath of a crafter.

The wall upstairs on the landing was blank so I picked up mirrors at garage sale, made my antler craft, 

Chris K. helped me with the 'Night Before' and that was an easy, inexpensive fix.  Ask Chris about my stenciling technique next time you see her.  Apparently, it's painful.

I have a wrapping cart named Stella.  She goes everywhere during the season.  I have all gifts wrapped but as the guys come home they'll pull her into their rooms and wrap their gifts too.  She has lights and a Santa hat to help you feel festive as you work.

I always replace the cord and lights in my blow molds.  They make me so happy with their little glow.

That's all for today...  Next up, the people!