House Tour – Conclusion

Actually, I forgot the Williamsburg Village when I was doing the first floor, so “last but not least…”

The Williamsburg Village is made by Lang and Wise.  It is fairly large, I had trouble finding room to display it, and that will be next year’s challenge.  It was a little tight for my taste, and I could not get everything on display.  I have a few more houses and figures to buy to complete the set, so there still needs to be a little more room.  The houses and figures are very well done, this part of the holiday display attracts a lot of attention.

Some detail shots:

House Tour Part 9

Last of the trees – in the guest room is what I call the “vintage tree.”  The ornaments here are all from the 40s/50s/60s/early 70s, the majority made in Japan.  I love the design and color of these – I think you can see some elements of Anime design in them.

Here are some close-up shots:

A girl made of paper and fabric, marked “Mr. Xmas 1968.”  To her left is a mouse musician, to her right Little Miss Muffet.

A cute little santa with tree.

A pixie elf, with Jack of “Jack and Jill” in the background.

House Tour Part 8

At the end of the second floor landing is the Hallmark tree.  This was a new addition, previously most of my Hallmark ornaments hung on the main tree.  But space was becoming premium, and I had enough ornaments by Hallmark that I could do a tree on its own.  When I started collecting in the early 80′s, Hallmark was one of the few options.  A lot of the glass designers that are the focus today were not in operation yet. 

Although I have been concentrating more on glass, I still enjoy the Hallmark creations for their quality and detail.   Many of them also have a fun, playful feel you often miss from the “designers.”   I appreciate the many references to popular culture that Hallmark utilizes as well.

The tree, view from the hall:

Sideview, from the guest bedroom:

Here you can see the bottom of the tree – it features vintage milk glass vases with poinsettias, on a late 60′s handmade felt tree skirt purchased on Ebay.

Here are some close-ups of the Hallmark tree:

“Ice Sculptor” from 1981, with the Mayor from Munchkinland (1998) to the left and a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 (2007) to the right.

A 1985 rocking horse, next to “Enchanted Evening Barbie,” from 1996.

A vintage Shiny  Brite lighted tree top finishes off the tree.  I’m still looking for a Hallmark treetop to use.

House Tour Part 7

We now move upstairs to the second floor.  The staircase features a lighted garland decorated with ribbon.  On the garland are life-like bird ornaments, with birdhouses I painted and glittered to match.

At the end of the second floor hall is the Hallmark tree.  We will focus on that tomorrow.

House Tour Part 6

We are now in the Dining Room.   In this room we have two smaller feather trees, a white and a green one, both by Martha Stewart.  The white tree features several sets of the Department 56 “Partridge in a Pear Tree” minatures set:

The green feather tree features small glass ornaments, including number of vintage ones.

House Tour Part 5

Off the living room is the kitchen office area.  Here in a nice, deep window I have a kissing ball decorating with a vintage-style garland by Seasons of Cannon Falls (I think).  On each side are reproduction Shiny Brite ornaments by Christopher Radko.  On the window sill are picture frame ornaments featuring some past pets, along with a set of Neapolitan angel pictures on card stock from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

House Tour Part 4

Finishing off the living room is a table with some nautical themed holiday items.

There is a ship’s captain nutcracker on the right, the sailboat model (which is in the room year-round) is decorated with a miniature light garland by Kurt Adler.  The Santa Sailor to the left is by Jim Shore

House Tour Part 3

At the other end of the living room is the space tree.  This tree features Star Wars, Star Trek, as well as other space-themed ornaments.

The tree is lit in part with reproduction bubble lights, which brings back memories for a lot of our guests.  Vintage English Dinky Toy spaceships share the bottom of the tree with cosmic-blue wrapped gifts.

Here are two close-ups of the tree:

Starship Enterprise with Star Wars miniature lunchbox in background, both by Hallmark.

An astronaut sitting on the moon, and a very creative alien, both by De Carlini.

The House Tour – Part 2

Moving toward the other end of the living room, the fireplace features the majority of the nutcracker collection:

The nutcrackers come from Germany, as well as China and other countries.  If you look hard, you can make out Henry the VIII, The Phantom of the Opera, Fife and Drum players from Colonial Williamsburg, Christorpher Columbus, and The Queen of Diamonds.

The curved garland above the fireplace (made with heavy duty wire and a lot of bending) features nutcraker-themed ornaments.

Reproduction Kugels hang around the fireplace garland, along with several ornaments and stockings from the “Vintage Modern” collection by Thomas O’Brien.   The ends of the fireplace (you can’t see them here) feature the clear acrylic 12 Days of Christmas series by Hallmark.

Here is the view of the fireplace in relation to the main tree.  You can see reflections of the space tree (tomorrow!) in the glass panes of the door to the right.

The House Tour – Part 1

Back to blogging – it took awhile to put everything away!  I thought for the next few days I would show you around the 2008 display.  We start with the main tree in the living room:

This tree features the majority of my ornaments.  It includes ornaments from Christopher Rakdo, Joy to The World, De Carlini, David Strand, Wallace Silvermiths, Debee Thibault, Patricia Breen, Inge-Glas, Old World Christmas, and many, many more.   Ornaments date from the early 40′s to present day.

Here is a close-up of the main tree:

On top of bookshelves you can part of the nutcracker collection, most of it is on the mantel (that view is tomorrow).  On the first shelf of the right bookshelf is the Fontanini nativity, which dates from the late 60′s, early 70′s. 

On the first shelf of the left hand bookself is a hummel-like alpine village I made in the early 80′s at my Aunt’s Ceramic shop.  Next to it is a digital photo holiday ball – it features pictures of my family’s trees from my childhood.

Over the doorway on the left (you can barely make it out) is a garland with vintage shiny-brite ornaments, as well as a collection of pull-toy ornaments.