I just wanted to highlight Judy’s incredible work again. As always,it was so much fun to work with her and she did a beautiful job. She is so creative!!
Category Archives: building a house
Holiday House Tour-The Family Room
Okay-I will admit it. I have a lot of Santas and again,the collection began while living in Zurich and driving up to the Black Forest with all of my American friends. They are so dear to me that the architects actually built the mantle in the Family Room to fit all of them at Christmastime.
I cozied up the couches with loads of Christmas pillows celebrating our Goldens. Judy also created a beautiful centerpiece in a sleigh that I had bought years ago.
Holiday House Tour-The Kitchen
I have a snowman collection that I started while in Switzerland. I had them in the double window as you walked in the kitchen,over the bench seat.
The dog tree in the kitchen didn’t always have Judy’s golden puppy Tucket in front of it for the tour, but I just had to put this picture in. I have all goldens and westies on the tree for our dogs.
The deer seemed a little large when the huge boxes arrived from Frontgate but I loved them on the table.
Judy and I decided to keep the windows clean and simple and just tied burlap squares around white poinsettias and finished them with red organza ribbon.We had a baking station, as if someone in the house were making cookies that day.
Another one of Judy’s amazing arrangements!Just simple boxwood wreaths in the windows tied up with gold ribbon. The HO HO’s I got years ago but had never used.
Holiday House Tour-The Dining Room
Judy did such a beautiful job with the Dining Room table. She took white roses and greens and put them in 6 of my Waterford “Lismore” brandy glasses. She then weaved in a serpentine shape the mixed greens,gold ribbon,white pine, cedar, seeded eucalyptus and magnolia leaves in the center of the table. We used my antique Johnson Brothers plates,Waterford “Lismore” wine and water glasses and my Cristofle flatware.
These beautiful bubble trees are from Simon Pearce.
We used mixed greens,winter berries and pine cones to surround my silver tea set. The little trees I made in a pottery class in Zurich.
Holiday House Tour-The Living Room
These adorable angels were made by the Milton Garden Club. If you look closely- it is a pine cone, a pipe cleaner,a golf tee, an acorn and a milkweed pod then it is spray painted in gold-so clever!!
These reindeer were purchased in Finland by Bill. The glass cubes are “ice cubes” made by Simon Pearce and tied with very thin red ribbon.
The family tree is very special to me. All of the ornaments have a story behind them. Interests the kids had-hiking boots for Kate’s days at Dartmouth,scrubs for Phil in Med School,Bud Light can for Peter’s favorite,computer screen for Chip,horses for Susan. We also have an ornament made by my Mom for when we got engaged-complete with the teddy bear with a ring around his neck as Bill did. I also have many handmade ornaments by me and by many members of our family.
The brass reindeer I purchased this fall from Gerard’s in Lincoln MA-love them! Judy surrounded them with beautiful balls of moss and boxwood that she created, mixed greens,gold ribbon and magnolia leaves.
These are our pyramids-each of the kids has one and I also have my Mom’s. I bought all of them either in the Black Forest in Germany or at The Christmas Haus,located in New Oxford,PA. I used to go to the Christmas Haus when my two boys were at Gettysburg College.
Holiday House Tour- The Front Hall
As you entered the front hall, my friend Judy had made a beautiful arrangement out of rhododendron,magnolia leaves, white pine, flowering kale , and some other mixed greens that she used for layering and texture.
On the other side of the front hall, we had Bill’s grandmother’s creche.She had apparently made all of the pieces at a pottery class in Pennsylvania in 1963 and painted them herself as well!
As you left the front hall,you went into the library to the left. In this room, we had a small tree with little Swiss cowbells. We lived in Zurich for 3 years and when I first got there, my new friend Joan told me to collect the bells at kiosks in every village as I travelled around with our family. “Then” she said, “you will have a second Christmas tree when you move back home- dedicated to your years in Switzerland”. I thought this was a great idea!
In addition,just as we were leaving to return to the US, my friend Sandy found a shop that sold real Swiss cowbells with a brass plaque on which they would inscribe your family name and the years you lived in Switzerland. This bell was at the base of the tree.
Bill’s trains from his childhood circled the tree but unfortunately we could not get them to go-he has ordered the missing part!
Holiday House Tour-Enter In!
Holiday House Tour 2016 for the Concord Museum
We had people walk up our long,winding driveway to the house. First they came to the barn and there was a tree decorated with pine cones,dried hydrangea and some ornaments to depict barn tools. Also, of course, a small ornament that looked like Bill’s tractor!
Last Touches at Woodstone
We (and our architect, Jen Hart) have always loved the railings that are on the pavilions at the University of Virginia on the Lawn and at Monticello,all designed by Thomas Jefferson. These designs were our inspiration for the railings on the side porches of Woodstone.
The railings were assembled first in our barn-waiting for a sunny, warm day to put them up.
Finally we got some good weather in April and up they went!
Estabrook Woods
One of the reasons we bought our property is because we literally back up to this wonderful piece of land known as Estabrook Woods. This is from their website:
Estabrook Woods is an amazing place nestled inside Concord, MA. If the variety of trails weren’t enough, the history is very special. Here you can walk on the same road that the Minutemen traveled from Carlisle to the North Bridge to face off against the British in 1775. Every year on Patriot’s Day, the reenactment soldiers still travel this 350 + year old road. The site of an old lime kiln from the 1960s can still be viewed here. Just a few miles from Walden Pond, Henry Thoreau also walked here, lived here and wrote about these woods. In fact, his Walden Pond house was moved here from the Walden Pond site. Today, the land is mostly owned by Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology. It is a wild tract of more than 1,200 acres of woodland, hills, ledge, and swamp. It is the largest contiguous and undeveloped woodland within thirty miles of Boston.
Estabrook Woods is a recreational delight. You can travel the wide, but rocky carriage roads or turn down a winding stretch of single-track trail. It’s a favorite spot for dog walkers, light hikers, trail runners and mountain bikers. The New England Orienteering Club (NEOC) has a map of the area and holds meets here on occasion. Most of the terrain is ride able by a mountain bike. Some is fairly easy, but most trails are rocky and technical in places. Some rock gardens and slick stream crossings will almost certainly have most riders off their bikes. For the advanced rider, take the winding single-track up to the top of Punkatasset Hill and enjoy a rocket ride straight down to the bottom. Pick up the Davis Corridor to Carlisle and after a short road ride to Kimball’s ice cream, pick up the singletrack behind the farm and you can make it almost all the way into Great Brook Farm State Park on trail. Trail runners delight in the flowing trails and variety of gently rolling terrain.
Lauren Huyett Interiors 