Christmas Decorations House Tour - 2011 - Crown Isle

This evening I've been invited to an afterparty for the Christmas House Tour, which took place last weekend.. so I thought I should get started showing you the homes that took part.

I've already admitted that it was an enormous amount of work, and I now understand why the professional designers who take part are loath to do it more than once every 3 or 4 years.
Plus of course I had familiar surroundings and objects to work with.. it must be so much harder when you are starting from stratch in an unfamiliar house with a client who may or may NOT agree with your vision. Which is why I so admire the other designers who worked on the project, both this year and in years gone by.

So if I'm ever asked to take part again it will be a totally different challenge.. but I'll take a year or two off first I think ;o)

Right.. let's start showing you guys some pictures... but where to start ??

Well I haven't got all the photo's yet, which is my own stupid fault.. We were taken for a sneak peak tour on the Thursday evening before the official Tours on Fri and Sat, and guess which daft cow forgot to take her camera.
Not a problem I thought.. I'll take them over the weekend.
Except that as it has transpired, two of the houses that I couldn't get to until Sunday had already been stripped down by the designers and/or homeowners. All is not lost though since photo's were taken by others and I've been promised copies to share with you guys soon.

So while I wait for them to arrive, let's start with the pictures I took myself.

Of the five homes that were decorated this first one is the newest... in fact it's only 2 years old.. and if you want to see it in it's naked state, which is an interesting comparison, it's actually up for sale, and the sales listing is here. It's worth a look because I could only take pictures in the dark, and the pouring rain meant I didn't get a shot of the front of the house at all. ;o(


Lots of lovely craftsman touches with this house, and cream and white carried throughout.

It's on the market with lovely local realtor Jane Denham, who Bill and I have met at several open houses over the last few years.

It's a bit of a hobby of mine to go looking at open houses, a passion I inheirited from my mum.. you never know when your dream house is going to come on the market, plus it's a great way to get ideas and to keep track of what the local market is doing. I sold houses for 15 years back home and it's in my blood, so you'll hear no apologies from me about it. ;o)

But I digress..
It's a beautiful rancher, on a local Golf course development called Crown Isle... and was decorated by Sharleen Whiteside and her design partner Bethany. Sharleen's website Waterfront West is a useful tool for people looking for waterfront property on Canada's west coast... and even if you don't have 3 or 4 million dollars to spend, the photographs alone make the site worth a visit. ;o)

The weather was vile the night I took these shots, but I wanted you to see the tree in the front garden..

Of course you can't see the movement but the lights in the tree, which were shaped like icicles, had strobe lights that ran down the shaft of the cover. It looked like blue rain drops running off icicles... gorgeous.. although Sharleen did tell me they weren't cheap. ;o)

Once inside there was a slate floored hallway with this console for keys and stuff.. I really liked the birdcages full of baubles. It's a simple idea but with great impact, and it's easy to mimic or re-jig for a variety of looks to suit anyones taste.



There was lots of simple but effective art used throughout this home.

The entrace opened into a fabulous 'great room', which for the Brits reading this means an open plan living/dining/kitchen combo which is a popular architectural style over here at the moment. Personally they aren't my favourite.. since if there are no walls there's no privacy either.. plus I've never been good at clearing up in the kitchen and I wouldn't want my guests looking at mess all night.

That having been said, the dining area of this great room was sectioned off, to create some deliniation, and the kitchen was truely spectacular, so I wouldn't complain too much ;o)

Sharleen and the team chose a cream and white theme with silver accents throughout the house and she had a lot to do since pretty much all of the furniture did NOT belong to the homeowner.

Begged borrowed and stolen from various sources the assorted pieces came together really well though, and the colour scheme worked beautifully with the rich wood floors throught out the house.
The huge shaggy rug in the living area was a particular favourite of mine.. and eveyone elses apparently, it came from Home Depot.
I know I've seen it in there before but never thought it could look as good as this... but I'm going to go back and look at it again now, because we need something like it for our family room.

Curly willow was a favourite material this year and several of the designers used it. In fact natural marerials of all kinds showed up over and over again. This was a lovely example, used to accent the work area in the kitchen.

The kitchen itself didn't need much adornment, since it is a thing of beauty, but some more natural materials [the greenery] just set it off and drew the eye up to what was actually my absolute favourite architectural element in the home.. the gorgeous tongue and groove ceiling.

Sorry to post and run half way through a house but I'm off to the thankyou party so I'll sign off for now.

There's loads more to see though so if I'm not too late back I'll post the this home later.
See yer
Jo xx