The House Tour

The house on Beechwood Road was one of my very favorite houses.  Great bones, as they say.  So I was excited to put it on the Lights of Branford Holiday House Tour in 2007, to benefit the Blackstone Memorial Library.  This is the Entryway as you walk into the front door.  Looking through into the Family Room, past the staircase.   

 Please enter . . .

Woodsy Santa and Little Deer to greet you.  The Little Deer were from Target, the woodsy Santa was my mother's, and the Cat Bench was on loan (at the time), from Chris.

Don't hesitate to have a treat.  Coming into the Family Room.

The Family Room, with the World's Greatest Fireplace.  No kidding.  Behind the tree is an opening known as a Wood Butler.  It has a door out the back and you load your firewood into the house from that door which opens into the garage.  I kept my wood rack underneath the door, never had to go outside to get more firewood.  It as nice and dry and I didn't have to drag it all over the house.  Never saw that anywhere else ever again.

I now think of this as the Tree of Grace, since it was my first tree after meeting her.  Most of these tree decorations came from the Pink Sleigh, and the sign behind the tree was on loan from Country Home in North Branford. 

You exit the Family Room from the other side, walking directly into the kitchen.

 

Didn't forget the kitchen.  It's where most people end up.  We sat in the rockers, enjoyed some champagne and greeted our guests with chocolates.

 

These Three Wise Men were my gift to my mother from Lake Arrowhead, CA.  They seemed appropriately muted and wintery for the kitchen.

The view out the kitchen window.  The hand-made porcelin Angel was a gift from my cousin.

 Enjoy a chocolate as you make your way through the kitchen.

With no doors on the cabinets, everything had to look just right.  Cup hooks made the perfect hangers for Santa's closet.  I got these little coats and pants at Target.  From the kitchen, you walk to the right into the Dining Room.

Santa's Buffet, with decorations from The Pink Sleigh, Dazzle in Newport Beach, CA, and an antique candy dish that belonged to my Aunt Alice.

The Dining Room set for the Wall Family.  Black Winter dishes from Crate & Barrel, Towll flatware and Mikasa Jamestown Gold stemware were gifts from my mother.  My Aunt Alice's Crimson King glassware and a bowl full of Roses finish the setting.  Napkins are folded with Green Velvet Ribbon.  As you exit the Dining Room to the right, you are back into the Entryway, and enter the Living Room, otherwise known as the Martini Room, which is separated with French Doors.

The Martini Room, with the second fireplace (the third was in the Master Bedroom). white chaise sofas. white penguins, and pearl pillows from Country Home, white sheepskin rug from The Village Shop in PA (you can find them online), mirrored cabinets, pearl tree and venetian mirror from The Bombay Store.  Remember them?  They were the first casualty of this recession.

Susan and I pearlized the ceiling, crown molding and the mantel with Modern Masters paints.  You could only paint in one direction so every brush stroke and every roller pass was only one way.

You can see the ceiling reflected in the top frame of the mirrors.  Those are my mothers angles on the mantel.

My sister made the miniature boxwood Christmas Trees every year for her Church and I bought two of them.

The Tour concludes back into the Entryway from the Martini Room.  The feather wreaths were also from The Bombay Store.