Last weekend I traveled up to the Pittsburgh area to the home one one of my best friends, Christine Faith. It was her daughter, Charly’s, 1st birthday party! They had a big celebration! Chris and I have been friends since high school. That is a long time! We have been through so much together over the years, some good, some bad. Both of us had two children, went through divorce, eventually remarried, and had one more baby with our second husbands. We made it through a lot of trials and tribulations together, but we are both in good places now, and I am grateful for that. Christine and Tony have a wonderful blended family. Their children are Aaron, Brady, Baylee, and Charly.
Christine is a truly talented woman, and when you see these pictures you will see why. Her home, well, every home she has ever lived in, looks like it should be in the pages of a magazine. This is the largest home that she has lived in, but that doesn’t matter, even the tiniest little house she has lived in has been picture perfect. She has never went to design school, she is just naturally talented. She can DIY a centerpiece or make a bow like nobodies business. She made the bouquet for my wedding to Jason. I took it with me to Mexico for our wedding. She has done lots of things herself in her home, but I couldn’t tell you which is which by walking around unless she tells me. That is how professional the stuff she puts together is. But on top of that, she has excellent taste.
I really love decorating, and houses, and all of that, and when I go to her house, it always inspires a cleaning and decorating binge in my own home. It just makes me want to start all over at my house. I have always admired these qualities in her and wished I had her talent and taste. I have been in lots of pretty homes, but her house is right up there with the best decorated homes I have seen. Chris also knows how to clean a house! Her house is so spotless you can eat off the floors. I would venture to say it is cleaner than 90% of homes in America. I am not gonna lie, it is way cleaner than my house! If she lived a little closer I would have her helping me with my house for sure! In the house she currently lives in, she has a much bigger budget to work with than she has probably ever had, but it really doesn’t matter, because I have seen this girl make it work on no budget too! When I told her I wanted to tour her home, she said to me “Oh, my house isn’t that pretty”. I was like, are you kidding me???
So enough about my admiration for her, because I could go on all day about how much I love her house, I swear! We went there for a party! And let me tell you, Chris loves to entertain. She lives so far away from her friends and family that she doesn’t get to do if very often, but she is great at it! And last weekend did not disappoint! I had not been to this house when she had it decorated for Christmas before, and I walked in to a Christmas Wonderland! So gorgeous, my pictures could not do it justice. I quietly walked around, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, and got as many shots as I could working around the crowd. This was not easy because there was literally a house full of people and the mess that goes with that, you know what I mean. She had a huge spread in the kitchen, and that is where most people were congregating, so I did not get any shots of the kitchen. Next time, I will go when no one is there and I will get better shots.
So this is Christine’s house at Christmas time. It looks a lot different when it is not Christmas, and I plan to go back and shoot it again with her every day decor, hopefully when she does not have a crowd of people there. You will not be disappointed!
Check out the moose to the right of the sidewalk. It is all lit up at night. Her husband, Tony found that I believe. He says they are the only family with a Christmas moose! He might be right! I loved it. Her front door is absolutely gorgeous. They just recently changed that door. Note the bows on the sidewalk lantern. She makes them all herself.
This is Christine and Tony’s entry way. I wish I could have gotten a picture of their entire foyer because it is beautiful, but there were the shoes of every house guest sitting there. She would have killed me for including that! I love this wall collage!
This is their formal living room, her tree was so gorgeous. I loved all of her ornaments!
This is the dining room, the living room and dining room are connected.
Loved the way the coffee table looked.
Check out that hurricane. Perfection!
I love the way this buffet looks! The pine cone snowman is so cute!
The camera did not capture this wreath well enough. I loved it! I love the new curtain panels too. Before she had valances which I loved, but these are even better.
Let’s go upstairs. The house has 4 bedrooms, but I did not take pictures of all of them because the kids had been hanging in there and the beds were a little rumpled. This is the master bedroom. I love the simple quote above the bed, always kiss me good night.
This is a little seating area in the master. This is Charley’s little baby swing and pink teddy bear. I imagine she hangs out in this area while mommy and daddy are getting ready.
This is the master bathroom. I absolutely adore the way she hung this black window panel from the ceiling here. It feels so posh!
I love the monogrammed towels that say Chris and Tony. I believe these were a gift from a family member. That is a good gift!
This is the bathroom the kids share. She recently added the touches of red. This room is spotless. with four kids using it, I do not know how, because my kid’s bathrooms get super gross! And I do clean them once a week.
Let’s go down to the basement. This sign hangs in the stairwell. I love it! They had this basement finished a couple of years ago. The work was done by Christine’s stepfather who lives right here in Nutter Fort. His name is Maynard Boulden. Let me tell you, this man has talent. He recently built a new home for himself and Christine’s mother and it is totally gorgeous. I want to do a feature on it one day! Maynard is available for remodeling jobs, he is retired. I can put you in touch with him if you are ever looking for someone to do some work in your house and you live near me.
The gym is right at the bottom of the stairs. Let me tell you, my husband would love to have this! And I mean LOVE!!
I just had to include these, they are in a little hallway leading from the foyer to the great room. I love the casualness of them. And I am sure they are ever changing. If you look at the bottom one, middle row, to the left, you will see a picture of my wedding reception. This is me with Christine, Julie and Janet. The four of us have been friend’s since high school. Janet and Julie are twins, and they moved to Forida a couple of years ago. We miss them!
Beautiful home! Good blend of casual and formal!