Historical Holiday House Tour
When a neighbor first asked if I wanted our house to be part of this year's tour I hesitated. Then I asked my friend who had done one in the past if she had any regrets. None, she said. She loved every bit of it! In fact when she came over she convinced me to do the whole house including our walk up "attic" bonus space. My thought initially had been just to have people peek in the rooms on the second floor from the hallway. I of course made sure it was ok with my husband too because I knew we would have to be a team to get this done (lots of little items on the honey do list!) And he was all in too. He actually convinced me that this was the perfect time to do this as we are recently empty nesters as our youngest just went off to college this fall. And truthfully I've always said I would love to have our house be part of a holiday house tour. This seemed like the ideal time. I love holiday house tours and go on one almost every year and I love Christmas and decking the halls for the holidays. If you didn't come on the tour here is a sneak peek of what people experienced.
The descriptions below come mostly from my instagram posts. So follow jkmdesigndecor on instagram if you want to see the rooms more in depth. Most of the posts are reels as I find it is hard to capture an entire room and the feel of that room in just still photos. I know this won't give you the entire experience of being in our home for the holiday house tour but hope that it gives you a sneak peek into what our house looked like and felt like.
We really enjoyed the entire day. We got to tour the other houses which were all so beautiful and unique. All the people that came through were so gracious and thankful for us for opening up our home. We heard some great stories about the house and other stories about the town that day. So many people were effusive about loving our home but the best comments were about wanting to stay for dinner, not wanting to leave, or commenting on how our home is so cozy and welcoming. This is what we strive for!
We loved being part of it. No regrets whatsoever. In fact it encouraged us to clean up some piles and check off some to do lists that had been hanging over our heads for years. We are now entering the holiday season so relaxed because we were decorated so early we had our shopping and wrapping done sooner. We have really just been enjoying our time with our girls now that they are home from college watching Christmas movies and baking and hanging out in our decorated home. Now if our Christmas Cards would just arrive. I ordered them over Thanksgiving weekend and they are still not here -yes they remade them when the first batch didn't arrive, but really!? Second year in a row that it hasn't paid with Shutterfly to be type A. I think they are just trying to mess with me and remind me that not everything has to be checked off your to do list to still enjoy the holidays! ;)
Outside:
Although it rained the day of the house tour we had decked out the outside spaces as well! We have two covered porches and a large patio.
We have enjoyed making this home ours over the last 20 years. My husband and I layed the herringbone brick walkway that leads to our front doors and our kids even helped us lay our patio.
We often gift each other “get outside” gifts for birthdays and anniversaries and the walkway project was an anniversary gift and the hot tub was for both of our 40th birthdays (a dozen years ago!)
We strive to make every door in our home a welcome entrance including the garage door that we use most. We did not take any still photos of our patio, hot tub or garage entrance area so you'll have to go to instagram if you want to see those!
Front Entrance-
There is nothing like a front entrance to say welcome to our home!
One of the reasons we fell in love with this historic home was the large covered front porch! I love changing it out for the seasons and sneaking a cup of coffee on our front porch swing!
So many people on the historic house tour mentioned how welcoming our house is. That is what we strive for.
K's Room/Guest Room
This room just needed a sprinkling of pink and gold to make it feel festive! A few bows added to the charm. Truthfully the white twinkle lights are in here all year long!
Our oldest daughter’s room is also our guest room because now that she has graduated from college and joined the workforce she has her own place with friends!
She has always loved pink in all it’s various shades so we want this room to feel like her room when she comes home. Truthfully we actually see more of her now than we did when she was in college!
Piano Room
We turned our piano room into a cozy winter wonderland. The perfect place to curl up with a boozy hot cocoa and watch a holiday movie or two!
Many of the people on the tour had taken piano lessons from the woman who lived here her whole life. In fact our house is often referred to as Miss Tina’s house. Many people reflecting fondly of coming to her house for lessons and having milk and cookies. She was often seen walking her commute to the school she taught at which is only a block from our house.
Master Bedroom -
I love having a peaceful escape in our master bedroom during the holiday season.
I created this look with a fresh cedar garland and mixed green wreath, some candles, silver and gold and of course some mistletoe.
H's Room/Nutcracker Theme-
We are lucky enough to have 4 fireplaces in our historic home. Two are in bedrooms.
This one provided the perfect display for our nutcracker collection.
Each year when the girls were little they got a new nutcracker to add to their collection. When they have their own homes their christmas decorations and ornaments will have a lifetime of memories.
L's Room/Snowman Room
With a whole house to decorate we did end up going with some thematic rooms….this one is for our daughter who loves to ski, skate and be outside. If it’s going to be cold she has to be doing something outside to enjoy it! We are a big winter sports family and this snowman room was so fun to put together. Even if there isn’t white stuff on the ground yet it feels like a snow globe in her room! It’s kind of magical, isn’t it?
Dining Room-
Our dining room was stunning the day of the tour! Talk about Merry & Bright!
My friend who convinced me to do the whole house tour also volunteered to help me. So thankful and blessed to have such supportive friends! She created Rod and I’s wedding flowers 26 years ago and does flower arranging as a hobby. She and I went to @wholefoods for these beautiful blooms and then came home to create this magic.
Do you still have a dining room? We love hosting holidays, special celebrations and even gingerbread house making parties in here.
In the winter we often have a puzzle in here welcoming family and friends to come place a piece or two. Since this room is at the front of our house I never use it as a drop zone. Except for a few errant dog toys it is not a room I have to pick up before company which I love!
When the flowers are gone and the mercury trees take over and then the sun hits just right in our dining room.
I love taking golden hour pictures of the people in my life but I sometimes forget it works for houses too!
Bathrooms
It’s the little touches that make your house feel magical this time of year! Our Santa collection holds so many memories of loved ones who handmade, painted or gifted them to us! Santa in the clawfoot tub was a crowd favorite! Now if I only had one of those!
Guest Bath-
Upstairs Bath-
Kitchen
The kitchen is the ❤️ of the home and ours is no different!
We did this kitchen addition 18 years ago just 6 months after we moved in. My husband and I planned every cabinet in this kitchen and it is still our dream kitchen all these years later!
We love the kitschy christmas decor we display in the kitchen and the holiday tune are always playing while we make and bake our favorite holiday treats here.
Staircases-
I’m obsessed with our front hallway this year! Love how Merry & Bright and welcoming it is!!
This Santa was a gift from a friend who convinced me to do the house tour and to open up my entire house! The best friends are the ones that push you and support you!
With two sets of staircases it is fun to decorate them differently.
So many people stopped on the tour to ask about these antique photos that graced our back staircase banister.
A fun way to add extra sentimentality to the holidays with old family holiday photos. They can be hung on a staircase or on the tree. These can be made black and white or color, whatever your preference. Sentimental, inexpensive and not fragile if you have dogs, cats or toddlers that might get into trouble with more fragile ornaments.
I fell in love with gallery staircase walls when I was a little visiting my cousins house in long island. My sentimental self couldn’t have just one in this house with two staircases and adding photos to the banister just makes the gallery walls a little extra this time of year.
Number one question on the house tour was do any of your 4 fireplaces work?!
Yes! This one in our cozy living room off the kitchen. We can enjoy the fire and our Christmas tree from both rooms which we love!
An antique photograph of our house was displayed on the tv during the tour. Incredible to see the beautiful barn and bird house that were originally a part of this property!
Wrapping Station
If you haven’t set up your wrapping station yet do yourself a favor and do it now! Making it a pretty, festive spot to find all your paper, bows, ribbons and supplies makes wrapping more fun and makes it feel like less work! Plus it's a lot easier to find everything while you are wrapping!
Attic/Bonus Space
Our 3rd floor is our bonus space. Kids hang out room for movies and sleepovers, extra guest bed and a home office. We do not have a finished basement so this space takes that place.
In the past one room was our girls American Girl doll room complete with a dollhouse my dad built for them one Christmas. I may have had a little fun decorating the dollhouse for Christmas. One eve up here stores all our christmas decor including our collectible rudolph stuffed animals.
Brandy
When I went through pictures of our historic house tour I had to laugh at how many our dog Brandy was in. She is my shadow so she made it in a lot of pictures! Fun way to see our house through a day in the life of our dog! #dogsofinstagram #historichousedogs #dogsanddecor #dogsandpaws #brandy #yourafinegirl #bhtm #historichomes #christmas #christmasdecorations #doglife
