Thursday, December 18, 2008

Christmas At 3 Friends' Homes

What is so wonderful about blogging is to have the opportunity to be treated to the unique individual styles of all the women who open their doors to us. I am so grateful to all of you who have been so generous in sharing your decorating ideas and your homes - but most of all, your friendship. I appreciate each and every comment and email that you left at my Cottage Christmas post. You are all so very sweet and kind! ((a hug for you))

Today I am sharing three homes of my friends - Geri, Sonia and Wave. Each friend has their own personal style and are so creative and artistic in putting the final touches that make their homes so very special and beautiful. It is a real treat to be invited over to experience all of the wonderful decorating and to see, first hand, all of the amazing touches - from a gorgeous ornate swag to a simple bowl of pine cones with a snippet of fresh holly and berries.
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First stop! Welcome to Geri's English Cottage Style Home! Geri is an artist, gardener and floral designer. Her home is reflective of her colorful and loving personality. Geri and her husband were also featured on HGTV last year on the show "What You Get For The Money."

Come on in to this sweet home.....
Her front parlor....
...and her back den ~ a cozy little English style retreat with a definite feminine and whimsical flare.

One of Geri's Christmas trees that sits on a little table in her den.
eri painted the roses over the buffet.



Such a sweet village atop yet another buffet in her parlor.
I wonder what he is thinking?
Jeri created the swag over the dining room mirror. Warm gold walls really make this room rich and cozy.
Table for 8, please!
What makes her home so special are her sweet paintings that adorn the walls in each of her rooms. This one is my favorite and perfect for the Holidays! I could not quite sneak this one out without her knowing. She also has a vast collection of adorable stitched cottage samplers.
The afternoon light streams softly through the windows casting light onto the charming floral bouquets on the sofa.
Gorgeous Spode dinner plates.
And you guessed it...Geri painted the ceiling, too. Amazing...
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Now welcome to Sonia's darling Hansel and Gretel cottage! Sonia's style is French Country and is so very classy with beautiful touches all throughout. Sonia is a sweet and soft spoken woman and her home is reflective of her elegance and grace.
The front room is inviting and so elegantly decorated. Sonia makes the most amazing needlepoint pillows. Each one takes her over a hundred hours to stitch. She is also an accomplished seamstress and has about five seasonal changes for her bedrooms.

I love this room! It is like wrapping yourself in a favorite warm sweater - it just feels great! The 13 foot ceilings really draw your eye up to her wonderful collections of European artwork.

Her sofas showcase her needlepoint pillows.
A sweet corner in her formal dining room. Sonia has lovely Majolica pieces and quite a menagerie of Roosters in her home.

This sweet tree is in her living room with a few of her sheep figurines that she collects. Sonia lived on a dairy as a child and she is fond of sheep and cattle - figurines and artwork are found throughout her home.

Aren't these old pajama bags fabulous!?
Sadly, the photo of her large tree did not turn out, however these
of her ornaments did. Her husband hand carved these ornaments and Sonia painted them. Aren't they fantastic?
It is the sweet and personal touches that make a house a home.


An All American Santa bids you adieu and wishes you a Merry Christmas!!
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Next stop is to my friend Wave's wonderful Scottish Cottage home. As soon as your step foot into this classically styled Scottish Hunting cottage, you will feel a sense of ease creep into your inner being. Her hospitality and warm heart makes you feel as though you could sink into an easy chair and read a good book all day by the fire.
Sweet old vintage stockings add a pop of color to her cabinet.
Care for a spot of tea?
Happy Birthday to our Lord Jesus Christ. A lovely nativity scene is simply displayed on an on English sideboard.
Her Christmas tree is full of wonderful ornaments and a 20 year old swag of popcorn - and it is still intact..yes indeedy.
There are two adorable Scottish Terriers, Bonny and Maude, who occupy the home as well - along with the loving and gentle Golden Retriever, Hank. Wave made the Scotty ornaments for her tree. She also gives them to friends...ahem...I am now a lucky recipient of one.
Old Scotty toys attempt a risky maneuver to seek out what is atop the table.
But wait, there are more! I do believe that the race is on.
Below the table she has arranged antique toys, books and other Christmas pieces for a nostalgic display.
An old silver tray provides a base to display her antique celluloid deer collection. She added some ground up sea salt for the snow and some old bottle brush trees.

Plaid ribbons, feathers and pine garlands are used throughout...
....over pictures...
...and tucked in with the old squirrel nutcrackers.

(...oh no! a mouse!.....)

An antique Dresden piece atop a small tree on the breakfast nook table.
Old Christmas postcards are displayed by tucking them inside ribbon that wraps around a topiary tree that have little red cardinals perched at the top.

The little feather tree graces the center of the table with old German figures, dogs and old metal fence.

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Thank you Geri, Sonia and Wave (and to their wonderful husbands) for allowing me to capture glimpses of your lovely homes. They are truely remarkable and filled to the rafters with love and grace.

29 comments:

Skoots1moM said...

oh so pretty! thank you for the great tour...extremely beautiful and I didn't have to travel.
enjoy your holiday! blessings

Kim @ Home Is Where The Heart Is said...

Becky, thank you so much for sharing your friends' homes...they are all so darling!

BittersweetPunkin said...

Wow...that was some tour!! Thank you so much...your friends have some very lovely homes!!
Hugs,
Robin

Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville said...

Wow what intersting collections of history in those homes! That was fun. I mist say though, I love so much a bit of surprise element sin each room, these homes had so much of that, but my favorite was the mouse on the clock!

Elyse said...

all so pretty! i especially love the hansel & gretel house!

Unknown said...

Okay! I think that all 3 should be featured in a magazine! What beautiful homes.... I love the garland on top of the grandfather clock with the mouse! Stunning!

~Liz

Anonymous said...

everything is beautiful.. i love, love all the dogs!

Anonymous said...

BREATH TAKING beauty! Magazine worthy, everyone!

Anonymous said...

Love the Scottie dog ornaments and all the rest.

Merry Christmas to you and your family from the Scottish Terrier and Dog News.

Sue said...

What a visual treat that was! I think my favorite was Wave's house...but they all were beautiful and just chock full of great stuff...Thank you for sharing..

Dena said...

That was delightful Becky! Thank you so much for taking us along to view these lovely homes.

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Hugs,
Dena

Jean said...

What a wonderful and exciting tour of your friends beautiful homes decked out for the holidays. I loved all three. Each had its own personality and unique way of displaying treasures.Thank you so much for sharing your friends lovely homes and Merry Christmas to all.
Jean in Virginia

ROSE VINE COTTAGE said...

OMG, how do you make yourself leave their houses?? They would have to pull me out kicking and screaming, LOL. All of the houses are stunningly beautiful, thanks so much for the tour, I really enjoyed it! Merry Christmas.
Hugs~Kelly

Kathleen Grace said...

Too beautiful for words! Thank you and your friends for giving us a glimpse of some really beautiful homes for the holidays:>)

Cathy said...

Becky, if I wasn't in the Christmas spirit before, I sure am now!!

Wow what a wonderful array of photos. These homes are just stunning and the decorations are awesome.

Thank you for sharing them.

xo Cathy

Betty said...

What gorgeous homes! I loved the tour! Thank you so much for taking us along Becky. I saw lots of ideas to "borrow".

Lallee said...

That was a SPECTACULAR tour! I am coming back after Christmas, fix a beverage, put my feet on the desk, and look at each picture enlarged so I can see every beautiful detail of your friends' homes. Definitely yours too! Thank you for the time you put into this post so we could all enjoy.

Well my friend Becky, YOU have been on my mind ALL morning....but I'm not saying why. It will just have to bug you for now ;-)

Hugs from the whole gang way over here,
Lallee

Cynthia's Cottage Design said...

WOW!! for once, lol, Im speechless! those homes are all unique and so STUNNING!! thank you for one of the best tours i've ever seen! They all belong in a magazine!!

I love the Cottage Christmas post you did too!! Your home is GORGEOUS!! I saw that the other day and had to run after I looked at it for a long time and I realized I forgot to leave a comment, but its absolutely Beautiful sweetie!!

Happy Holidays!! Hugs, Cynthia

Denise said...

Thank you for the beautiful tour.. I just did not get to decorate this year and I so enjoyed seeing all the beautiful things........

Have a blessed Christmas and a New Year filled with love .......

Laura said...

I sigh deeply looking at all of these beautiful displays.
Thank you for sharing.

Ashley Winters said...

What a beautiful, cozy home. I love the Christmas music too!

bv said...

ya gotta love blog land...you featured 3 of my buddies! i came your way from cherry hill cottage many moons ago. wave told me you were a friend so i feel like i know you!..thanks for the tour and merry merry christmas to you and all that dwell under your cottage roof.
bv

Connie said...

Just lovely homes, sweetpea! I'm going to photograph a friend's home in the next couple of weeks and show it. It is lovely also.
Smooches,
Connie

~ ~ Ahrisha ~ ~ said...

Thank you so much for the tour. Lot's of lovely pictures. I very much appreciate it. Stop by some time for a visit.

Linda - Behind My Red Door said...

I went back and toured your cottage and these lovely homes. I love your vinatge items. My mom would LOVE these as well!!

I had to giggle when you said we are unscathed. Yes, our homes are intact but we are just now getting back to normal. My parents lived here for 8 days and because of my dad's handicap and my mom's memory problems, for them it was a VERY long 8 days for them. They lost hundreds of dollars of food and have thousands of dollars of cleanup awaiting them in their yard - and a van repair where a tree limb crushed the hood. Our son and pregnant DIL and doggy stayed with us a for a few days as well and they lost trees and a brand new fence was damageed. Our daughter had a skly light smashed by a tree limb which allowed the freezing rain to ruin her ceiling -which drops more each day and the landlord is slow to action. Her boyfriends new truck was totaled by the rest of the tree and insurance in contesting it. We are all exhausted and weary after 11 inches of snow yesterday and 8 inches more today with high winds which may cause renewed power outages. Not quite unscathed - BUT we are safe and warm for now and hope it stays this way!! Stay tuned! LOL

Rue said...

Your friends homes are incredible Becky!! Each one is so cozy and yet so different from the other. Along with your home, this is the best tour I've been on this Christmas. Please tell them thank you for letting us into their homes.

Thank YOU for being so sweet to me this year and for making me feel welcome in Blogland. I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and many many Blessings in the coming New Year.

xoxo,
rue

nannykim said...

Thanks so much for taking the time to share all of these wonderful homes--they were lovely!

Debra Howard said...

I just love visiting other people's homes. What beautiful homes. The pictures are fab.
Debbie

Lara Jane said...

I can see why you are friends with these three! You all have amazing style! I feel like I'm looking through the pages of a magazine!

I'm particularly interested in Sonia's house as it's the style we're trying to build and we've been collecting catalogs from the 20s trying to replicate the look/feel. I would love to have her floor plans!