Balboa Island Holiday Home Walking Tour celebrates 26 years
Among the eight houses featured on the Balboa Island Holiday Home Walking Tour this year are two that couldn’t be more different both in their location and decorating style.
Stepping into Jeanne Lewand’s “All Things Christmas”-themed home is like a visit to Christmas-land, where Santa Claus appears in every room of the three-story house.
The enchanted space is filled with classic holiday decor, including a vignette of collectible handcrafted ice-skating figurines.
“We started collecting ice skating figures after we first took our young family skating in New York’s Central Park,” Lewand said about the tradition that kept up with the growing family. “Every year we added a child and then a grandchild.”
The Lewands bought the dark green shingled 1945 Cape Cod style house that sits on the East Bayfront of Little Balboa Island in 1993. Over the years, square footage was added to expand the living quarters that currently has four bedrooms and three bathrooms.
“The house is cozy and has charm, and I love the big patio in the front and also the back,” said Lewand. “I like to garden, and it has enough garden to keep me happy.”
The annual holiday tradition of decorating for Christmas in the Lewand household has more to do with the nostalgia of recreating memories of Christmas past. The Byers’ Choice Carolers, iconic figurines have become a strong presence occupying space on mantles, shelves, tabletops and china cabinets. Each of the collections bear special meaning and range from a Scrooge vignette, the 12 days of Christmas, the Claus family, bakers, shoppers and more.
“I’ve been decorating all my life, ever since the kids were young, and each got a special ornament like bears, angels, soldiers and mice,” said Lewand. “With four kids they eventually had so many ornaments, they each got their own tree.”
On Christmas morning, Lewand now entertains her eight grandkids in the third-floor den where eight towers containing Dickens-wrapped houses are filled with white elephant fun gifts for each child to open.
Traveling to the northwest end of the big island, tour goers will find a very different featured second home. Also designed in Cape Cod style, the 1989 built home is a more contemporary version with a pastel color pallet of blues and greens. The three-bedroom home, located on Opal Avenue, was also selected to be the promotional face of the tour.
The Bland family of five discovered the house in 2010 when they first visited from Los Angeles to spend three weeks of their summer vacation in the rental. “I said to my husband if it ever comes up for sale we should buy,” said Heather Bland, which they did. “It will be one year Jan. 7 since we bought the house.”
Bland, a retired interior designer, explained that although the house has not been structurally changed, every single surface has been refurbished, including the exterior and interior. “The kitchen was gutted and remodeled,” explained Bland about the dramatic statement it exudes with the open 15-foot ceiling and second-story catwalk above. “The bathrooms are redone, and we painted and wallpapered inside, and the entire outside is all new.”
“It entertains beautifully,” said Bland. “ We’ve had up to 40 people for my husband’s birthday party.”
The Christmas decorating is more subdued and far less traditional in the Bland’s home. Inside the step-down living room sits an Alpine Balsam Fir tree by Balsam Hill. The nontraditional artificial slim rustic evergreen is a new addition and according to Bland was chosen because it fit the “beachy” motif.
The annual Balboa Island Holiday Home Walking Tour takes place Sunday, Dec. 8, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is presented by the Balboa Island Improvement Assn. For ticket information, visit biia.org.
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