Historic Homes Tour...Saved the Best for Last

Forgive me for making you wait so long to see this last house on the Christmas Historic Homes Tour. I've been out of town. But I hope you'll agree that it's worth the wait. 

Here's the front again... Very pleasant and inviting, but the outside did nothing to prepare me for the inside. When we walked onto the front porch, and the docent greeted us, I thought the porch was lovely. 

She explained that the original part of the house was built in 1938, after many years of the depression. Just a small square building....tiny kitchen and bathroom, one small bedroom and a living room. That part has now been converted to two bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a laundry room, and the newer addition has a living room and kitchen/dining room area. Still not a large house by today's standards. When we opened the front door we were greeted by a wonderful riot of color and texture:

The living room:

The owner is a CPA, and this is a vacation home for her and her husband. She loves to collect folk art, and she has an amazing eye for combining pieces from different countries and cultures, and blending them all together in a happy explosion of color. Every corner of the house is filled with interesting and colorful combinations. I couldn't get enough of it!

The kitchen...

The art on the side of the fridge:

Dining area...

Here is another lovely docent who shared a bit more about the history of the house:

bedroom #1:

Bedroom#2:

Check out the bathroom sinks and decorations:

I love the crabs!

Even the laundry room is fun!

And then...the color parade continued to the back yard and patio:

Looking back inside from the patio:

Even the garage wall is decorated!

You could wander around that little house for hours and still not see it all. On the way out, I saw one of my favorite things: a very simple Nativity scene:

Check out the nose on Baby Jesus. I love it!

As we left the house, I took a backward glance. No, indeed... From looking at it from the street, you really would have no idea how exciting it is inside. It was just like finding a hidden treasure!

As we returned to our little beach cottage, the time for the tour was almost over. We entered our house along with the other tour participants, pretending we were looking around for the first time. It was such fun to have the docents, who didn't know us from anyone else,  telling us all about the cottage, the history, the owners, and the people who are renting it for the season (us). Kind of funny having someone tell you about yourself in the third person. Curt finally fessed up and told them who we were. We all had a good laugh, and then they stayed a bit longer for some really nice conversation. I must admit, they were very good sports about being fooled.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. Phoebe estimated that almost 400 people went through our house in those two days! And it was none the worse for the wear,,,just a few extra sand burrs to pull out of the carpets as we walk around in our bare feet. The whole thing was really a fun experience.