Thursday, December 4, 2008

Annual Small Town Christmas Walk

Yesterday, my dear friend and neighbor, Pam, and I went on our Annual Christmas Walk. All the small towns where we live have a Christmas Walk every year. Three or four homes in each town is decorated for Christmas and opened up for the public to tour. And every home provides delicious goodies and hot beverages to keep us warm and cozy while were 'walking' in the cold Wisconsin weather.


This A-Frame style home was originally a 1960's ranch home. The owner showed us pictures of the house before it was renovated, and it looked nothing like it looks today. They added an entire second floor to the home and all these beautiful picture windows to take advantage of the incredible view of the Mississippi river that they have. I love how she hung the big green wreath in her window and the deer with their bobbing heads. I absolutely love the lighted deer that are seen in all the stores, I would love to get some for my own yard.


The picture above and to the left is of her quaint country kitchen. I love the red countertops and wallpaper and how she decorated the light fixture and countertop for Christmas.
To the far left is a decoration she had hanging in her guest bathroom. Its just pretty ribbon and ornaments. Before I go on with my tour, I must apologize for my bad photography. I have an excellent camera, but unfortunately the battery was low so many of the pictures are kinda blurry. I was so afraid that my battery would 'die' on the tour and I wouldn't be able to share these pictures today. But thank goodness it hung in there, but it did not take the best pictures.





Here is a close up of her kitchen light fixture. I loved the natural elements she put in her decor: pinecones, twigs, raffia, etc. Her Christmas decorations went very well with the style of her house.



This is me standing in the balcony overlooking the Mississippi River. Neither Pam nor I wanted our pictures taken yesterday cause we 'weren't dressed for it'. It was so bitter cold yesterday, we dressed for warmth, not beauty! LOL!





This is Pam. Isn't she pretty? She has gorgeous curly red hair, just like 'I Love Lucy', one of her favorite characters because she can relate to her so well. One of Pam's well-used comments is "I just had a Lucy moment'. LOL! Anyhow, each bedroom in the home had a 'theme'. The master bedroom had an oriental theme (not pictured), and this room had a nautical theme. Pam is standing in front of nice display of nautical items. I love the fish net, chest, and anchor.



Here the owner put a fish net, oars, shells, etc. above the headboard. It really 'anchored' the room (excuse my pun. LOL).










Another bedroom had a 'woodland, fishing, hunting' theme. I love this wreath she created using the log cabin elements.








She used branches, pine cones, and pine boughs as a curtain valence. How clever!










Yes, those are really dead animals hanging on the chair. You see a lot of those in Northern Wisconsin.









The log cabin feel in this room is created with wallpaper. That is not real wood, but it sure looks like it.












Here is a view of the great room from the balcony. I loved how she put 'snow' on the beams. It was so creative!












The owner had lots of space above the fireplace to put some wonderful large winter items like a sled, a mini tree, grapevine and white lights, etc. It was such a beautiful Christmas scene that she created.












This is a chandelier that hung over the dining room table. I just loved how she decorated it, using natural elements in keeping with her cozy, cabin-like home.















This beautiful old building is located right on the main street of the town. There is no yard of any kind. It was used for many things in its lifetime: a store, apartments, etc. The owner said it was a total 'dump' when they bought it and they spent years gutting it out and renovating it to become the beautiful home it is today. I absolutely loved EVERYTHING about this home. It was totally my taste and style!















When you first walk into the home, the dining room is immediately to your left and a study/den is to your right. I love how she decorated her tree, left the exterior brick wall to her house exposed, and the beautiful bench of her kitchen table.















Here is a view of the living room and staircase if your standing in the study/den. Don't you just love that white tree? This home had so much character and detail to it. All the windows, moldings, ceilings, doors, floors were simply exquisite!

















The second floor of the home had three guest rooms, a seating area, and a bath. The owner called it 'The Guest Floor', because they never use the space themselves. Their master bedroom suite is on the third floor, but unfortunately that was not open to the public so we were unable to see it. She said they did all their living on the main floor and the third floor, and that because the house was so big it was very difficult to clean, so she does not dust! I can relate since I have a big house myself. I don't dust either! LOL!


















This is another vintage guest room. Don't you just love the white and green? So pretty! I love the garland strung on the headboard too.



















Here is a view of the living room and study/den taken from the staircase. Every room had such beautiful fans and chandeliers!




















Please forgive this upside down picture. I did flip it and save it in the correct view, but for some reason when I uploaded it to my blog, it flipped back. Anyhow, I wanted you to see a close up of how she decorated her staircase. She hung these beautiful vintage ornaments inbetween each railing. I thought that was so clever of her!




















This is the only picture I took of one house on our tour. It was a very nice ranch home, but there wasn't anything in it that really stood out to me that would be of interest to YOU other than this Ribbon Tree. I thought this was such a pretty and clever Christmas decoration. You simply take a styrofoam cone, roll a piece of ribbon and take it in place with a pin. What a great idea! And perfect if you have a lot of ribbon scraps, like most card makers do!























This building is both a store front and a home. The owner has a little bed and kitchen/living space in the back of the store.






















Here is an old stove that originally was used to heat the building. Isn't it a beauty?



























Heres a picture of what the inside of the store use to look like 100 years ago.
























The building still has the original tin ceilings. Aren't they gorgeous.
I hope you've enjoyed my little Christmas walk, I will be giving you a tour of my own home decorated for Christmas soon. I might have to make three different posts, one for every level of my house, since I'll have so many pictures. Until then, Amy
























1 comment:

  1. Fantastic! I really enjoyed the tour ... some very crafty people in your area and how beautiful decorated these homes are! How did the lady tack the vintage ornaments between the rails on the staircase?? That would work great on my staircase.
    Really looking forward to touring your home decorated for the holidays (my daughter is too!). Thanks so much for sharing this! I love the idea of the "Christmas Walk" ... too bad folks around here don't do that!!

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