On Sunday, we visited with our dear friends Anne Marie and Tony.
We had a lovely time and what a break it was for me from taking down Christmas decorations.
A break I truly needed.
And I am so glad that I took TIME out to spend TIME with our friends. Remember TIME is my One Little Word for 2012!
I am going to take you on a Tour of our friend's beautiful home like I did last year but first, I wanted to show you some of the spaces in our home where I store our Christmas decorations. In my last post, I told you there is storage under our stairs through a trap door in the Hallway closet.
As you can see, our hot water heater is in there too and we are on a concrete floor with no basement.
I also have mentioned that our attic is floored and the rafter system actually creates sections.
You can see that below.....
Years ago, I numbered the Sections and keep a list of what was in each section. Everything from the Living Room is in Section 3.
Instead of taking down all of these boxes in which many of my Santa's are stored, I haul them up and down in a laundry basket after I take them out of the boxes.
I do the same thing with the living Room floral as it is stored in this massive tub.
So that is what the attic looks like . The Kitchen and Dining Room decorations are in Section 2. Some outside things that are not kept down our Storage Unit is in Section 1.
Well, enough of that and now on to my TOUR of ANNE MARIE and TONY's HOME.....
When you walk through the front door, directly to your left is Anne Marie's Grandmother's sewing machine.
She decorates it for every season and holiday. I love the black and white floor tiles!
You can see the stripes that Tony painted on their walls. Stunning!
How beautifully she has this basket decorated along with the ornaments on a silver tray.
The sewing machine is so pretty with all of the original markings on it.
This Santa is to the right of the front door.
Looking down along the hallway along the stairs ( which I forgot to take a pic of!) is this sweet little tree.
Sorry it is a bit blurry......
This vignette is set up as you walk into the Living Room. The cat was a gifted to Anne Marie.
A curio filled with all kind of pretties.....
Looking into the Living Room......
Anne Marie has displayed many of her silver pieces on the Entertainment Center....
Another pretty vignette set up in the corner.....
Love this piece hanging on the wall.....
Some of Anne Marie's Bearington Bears.....
Don't you just adore this top hat and shoes?????
Some of her Silver Bridal baskets filled with ornaments.....
A pink Christmas tree......
A Pink Victorian Style tree.....
So pretty.....
Please click on pics to enlarge.....
The sofa table.....
Just beautiful.....
Love that you can see the tree and the mantle in the Dining Room in this pic......
Lamps were bought at a local Antique Co Op...
A carriage full of dolls to the side of the sofa table and their kitty also had to get in the picture...
This pic has the fireplace screen in front of the tree to keep Kitty away ......
The Dining Room......
Tony did the ceiling himself.
What you can't see in the pics is that in both the Dining Room and the Living Room, there is glitter in the plaster so the ceiling in these 2 rooms actually sparkles , especially when the lights are on.
Anne Marie always does Tablescapes and keeps her Dining Room table set.
I so wish I could do that......
This is the wall to the right as you walk into the Dining Room.....
And then there is the magnificent Fire Place and stunning mantle!
I also want to point out the windows that Anne Marie did using Gallery Glass....
The beautiful angel was a gift from Tony and that prompted Anne Marie to change her whole theme for this year to mainly white and silver.....
The trees are from Country Folks .....
She used several silver candle holders and silver poinsettias.....
On the side of the Fire Place....
I love her carpet in the Dining Room.....
The buffet to the left of the Fire Place.....
In keeping with the theme of the mantle , Anne Marie simply hung several Angel Wings from the mirror and the lamps........
A Chocolate set on a silver tray and faux pastries displayed on more of Anne Marie's Silver collection....
In the back ground , you can see Tony's Grandfather Clock in the corner.
Anne Marie has told me in the past that it was Tony that wanted the Clock.
It was wonderful sitting at this beautiful table with the fire roaring , enjoying the company of good friends....
Look at how the silver on the table gleams.....
Anne Marie decorated her table mainly in white and silver for Christmas....
The plates that she used are from a set of dishes, The Twelve Days of Christmas , that she bought from our church Flea Market. All the stem ware came from an estate that was donated to our church flea market that Anne Marie bought.
In the center is a silver Bridal Basket filled with ornaments....
Looking into the Living Room, you can see the love seat.
See the antique butter dome on the table....
In the hutch, is Anne Marie's grandmother's china....
Anne Marie showed me some of her new treasures......
Aren't they cute?
And don't you just love this??????
Beautiful!!
And now we go into the Kitchen....
More of Anne Marie's Bearington Bears......
Just Darling!!
I love how Anne Marie displayed the Christmas tile I bought her for her Birthday!
More Silver baskets and the rest of the Twelve Days of Christmas plates which she used for dessert....
Another wall in the Kitchen by a counter bar that overlooks the Dining Room....
This is Tony's display in the downstairs Bathroom...
Men's antique shaving items....
Many of the items in their home were bought on their Sunday trips to various Antique shops , gift stores, etc. around Penna., N.Y. and N.J.
I want to create a vignette something like this for Joe on Joe's dresser in our bedroom.....
View of the Living Room from the stairs....
And now we are upstairs. This home originally had an apartment upstairs and an apartment downstairs. The whole home was completely remodeled several years ago and made into a single home.
As you walk up the stairs, you enter a sitting room/library .
On the one wall....
Another Bearington Bear in her nightgown.....
The door on the left leads out to an enclosed porch....
Love this chair.....
Also love this set.....
This was the Kitchen area of the second floor apartment.....
Love the blue, white and yellow......
There is also another full bathroom upstairs and in the area that used to be the kitchen is a refrigerator. I would never get Joe to go downstairs if I had a sitting room like this off the master bedroom!! LOL!!
Bearington Bears dressed in their P. J.'s on the sofa.....
An antique candle holder on the coffee table....
And now for the Library part.....
I so wish I had room for something like this in my house!
Needless to say, Anne Marie is an avid reader!
More of her collection of Bears....
This is on the left as you walk into the Master Bedroom....
A beautiful lamp and another sweet Bearington Bear....
First glimpse of the Master Bedroom.....
To the left, are the double closets...
And isn't this simply to die for????
Again, Anne Marie did the window with Gallery Glass...
Can't you just imagine yourself laying on this chaise ( or fainting couch) , sipping on a cup of tea and reading a book that you chose from the library in the other room??????
Another Funeral basket....
I could kick myself for throwing out several of these baskets that were in my parent's garage when my Mom sold the house....
The dresser...
And will you look at this bed!!!
At the base of the bed.....
A Victorian Style purse.....
In the corner......
Anne Marie's collection of Antique and vintage wedding and christening pieces....
Please click on pics to enlarge to see these beautiful pieces better....
Bridal dolls.....
Antique Wedding Gown.....
Stunning!!
I just have to mention that the parasol was my Christmas gift to Anne Marie. I am so glad that it matches so well with all her beautiful pieces in this room.
Another beautiful piece.....
An antique Wedding certificate....
And that concludes my tour of Anne Marie and Tony's beautiful home. I hope you enjoyed it.
Anne Marie changes her Christmas decor every year and does not put out the same things year after year. Many of her things are stored in the basement and that is where she unpacks things and then chooses what she is going to use.
You cannot imagine how I wish I could do this. I have to haul everything down out of the attic. I guess I could use my guest room or the Craft room to unpack things...
My problem is that I do not have the self discipline to not put everything out. Maybe I should try that.......
If you would like to see Anne Marie's Home decorated for Christmas Last year, please click
HERE
Please leave a comment if you visited to tell Anne Marie that you stopped by to see her home!! I am trying to talk her into blogging even though she visits many of you, she does not have her own blog!
I am linking this post up to these great parties:
Masterpiece Monday
Blue Monday
Mod Vintage Mix Monday
Amaze Me Monday
Metamorphosis Monday
Cozy Home Party Tuesday
Tea Time Tuesday
Tea Cup Tuesday
Tabletop Tuesday
Home Decor and Organizing Link Party
Wow Us Wednesday
White Wednesday
Rednesday
Tablescape Thursday
Vintage Thingie Thursday
Open House Party Thursday
Delightfully Inspiring Thursday
Home Sweet Home Friday
Show and Tell Friday
Potpourri Friday
Vintage Inspiration Friday
Homemaking Link Up Party
Pink Saturday
Seasonal Sunday
Please take some time to visit these terrific hosts and all those joining in on the fun!
Thanks so much for stopping by today and every day that you take the time to visit with me!
Hugs,
Debbie
Doesn't my Outside Winter Decorations look prettier with a frosting of snow??
Wait!! Outside Winter Decorations????
Added a Winter wreath to the front door.....
Snow flakes added the the garland....
And of course, all lit up at night....
The wreaths on the windows were replaced with lighted snowflakes....
The other day we had a dusting of snow....
A frosting on the black skates......
This Penguin says it all......
A Welcome Snow Man Slate.....
The winter arrangement of greenery in the basket.....
Love how the garland looks with a frosting of snow.....
Looking down toward the Flower Bed....
Told you this flower bed looks better with snow....
Mother Nature's Beauty...
It only stuck to the grass and not the roads ....
And in the back yard....
Now I know that we will most likely get more snow than shown in these pictures during the Winter of 2012 here in Penna.
