December 24, 2012

The Christmas House

My friends, Andrea and Jimmy, are usually a quiet, charming and unassuming couple, until Christmas, when they go crazy!

First, Jimmy assembles his collection of inflatable figures on the front lawn of their beautiful Victorian shingle home, which is especially funny, since 1) it’s on a major road, b) this is a fairly stuffy neighbourhood and c) these things are HUGE.The cow reindeer figure is about 15 feet high, and moves his head back and forth.jimmy

Inside, it’s all Andrea’s work… well starting right at the front door. 

She’s been collecting ornaments and trees for years and has two main trees. The first is a confection of pinks, blues and purples on a white flocked tree.

Wired spangles reflect the lights, while picture-perfect penguins hang along side them.

Even the fireplace is decorated in these jewel tones, as are the swagged curtainsand the side table.

In the dining room, Andrea has strategically placed mirrored balls to reflect the lights. The dining table has a centerpiece of a tree decorated with smaller trees. On the sideboard, there is a veritable forest of trees of all shapes, sizes and colours. Andrea said that she found these little bottle-brush trees at Michael’s and then bleached some and dyed others.

She was delighted at the way they turned out, even matching one with a large pale turquoise ball.

Here’s another sideboard vignette.

And more trees on one of the enviably wide windowsills.

Here’s a detail that you can barely see in the image above… A wonderful mirrored star with gilded magnolia leaves. I love this!

In the sitting room, the second full-size tree is decorated in blacks, whites and reds, with a Mackenzie-Childs influence, including a number of black and white checked Christmas balls, and a black and white checked Christmas tree.

The ornaments on this tree are more traditional, if you think a sock monkey cowboy is traditional!But there really are some trad ornaments, like this glass Santa,and this irate pirate from Newport, RI, this wise old owl, and this vintage ball.When I asked how many trees she had, Andrea told me that she counted about 220, but that there may be more than that!

Thanks to Andrea and Jimmy for showing me their great house, and for sharing their Christmas spirit with everyone, both inside and out!

10 comments:

  1. I'm speechless. And a little ashamed as I decided not to decorate this year..........
    Mary

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh mary, the reason I went overboard is because I didn't decorate for two years in a row! I'm making up for those years! Haha hohoho. Have a wonderful simply lovely holiday.

      Delete
  2. Well, I call this fun!

    They must not have cats.

    Minnie

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is fabulous! Please thank your friends for allowing you to share their home with us. I'm glad I don't live on their street, though -- my dogs REALLY don't like those big inflated things that move. Lulu stiffens up and gets that ready-to-rumble look whenever we pass the house with the inflatable polar bear on our walk. :-)

    I also love Andrea's draperies in the living room, with the little standup ruffle at the top of the board -- perfect for a stately Victorian!

    Merry Christmas to all of you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Holy cow ... I mean reindeer!

    Merry Christmas!

    ReplyDelete
  5. What can make a florists head spin?

    Your friends house at Christmas!

    Well done and over done. I love it all.

    xo Jane

    ReplyDelete
  6. Andrea's taste in decorating has always been exquisite and it looks like this holiday is no different. So pretty! Thanks for sharing a glimpse inside her beautiful home.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love these people. I decided this year I would get a white flock tree for my sun room which gets a lot of light after I used a photograph of one I liked on my Facebook page. I'm a multiple tree person, myself. Well done, folks. P.S. If you want to see some fun trees to buy, go to the website for Treetopia. They have orange, purple, BLACK! All sorts of oddities.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for reading and commenting on Pigtown*Design. I read each and every comment and try to reply if I have your e-mail address.