Christmas home tour | The Weekend Country Girl

2015 San Jacinto Home Tour

December 7, 2015

Karen Coldspring, Country Style Christmas home tour, San Jacinto County Texas 2 Comments

Sunday afternoon was one of those days that should be bottled and sold. The weather was glorious in the Texas Piney Woods. Sunny, low humidity, and temperatures in the high 60’s. I look forward to the San Jacinto home tour every year and this year my buddy the Social Planer made it an event.

We started at her beautiful home with soup and desserts to fortify us on our adventure then off to our first stop on Happy Trails Ln.

The home was beautiful especially considering the owner had just moved back in a month ago.

I especially liked the 12 days of Christmas stitched pictures on the curtains and the mismatched chairs. The bedroom is so large there is a dining table in the room. It was too crowded for photos.

The second home was literally right up the road and belonged to the daughter of the first owner. The home was beautiful but I especially loved the stained glass windows that the master was designed around.

There was a sweet little girl room.

Our next stop was Thee Evergreen Church.

This little country chapel was built with lumber from the site a hundred years ago.

Ship lap, beautiful stained glass, pews that were made on site when the chapel was constructed. Swoon.

Our next stop, wow. A beautiful 10,000 square foot log home that is a site to behold.

The exterior was so large I literally had to take the pictures in sections.

Oiled rocking chairs on the front porch.

The owner is a master quilter and her work greets you at the front door. Oh, and yes, that is a taxidermied cougar hanging out in the rafters.

The tree has to be 12 foot tall. It is covered with a large Father Christmas topper. It was stunning.

The kitchen was a dream. There was a copper sink that I loved.

My buddy, Carol, was the docent in the master bedroom.

The shoe section of the closet. It was a site to behold. Imagine deciding which shoes to wear.

Oh my goodness! That back yard.

Outdoor bar.

Separate kitchen.

Outdoor man room.

Horse shoes in the pool surround.

A slide in the waterfall.

We grudgingly left this beautiful home for a sweet little church in the woods.

Those beautiful green windows cast a beautiful glow.

Lights are original to when the building was electrified.

A church member commissioned the painting in the 1950’s.

Original wavy glass.

The tour was fun. Another chance to see how beautiful our community is.

Thanks for following along with us.

Blessings,

Karen

San Jacinto County Christmas Home Tour Part 3

December 10, 2014

Karen Christmas, Coldspring, Country living, Country Style, Decorating, family, Lake Livingston, Style, Tablescape, vintage style Christmas home tour, San Jacinto County Texas 1 Comment

I will bet a few of you are ready for the home tour to be done. I’m known as a bit of an over-sharer so, my apologies. I just love our little Weekend country community and I am always amazed at the homes tucked into the woods an hour from Houston. Come visit!

Today you get to see the last four homes. I am not slighting them, I promise. One of the houses was the inspiration for the green color we painted our lake house. I literally knocked on their door and asked them what color their house was painted. They were gracious, and didn’t act like they thought I was insane. By the way, the color of their house was baked on the Hardee plank, so I had to guess on our color.

The Green House

This house is located right by the Aggie House. It was one of the first built on the cemetery circle. I love the craftsman style of the home. I could not believe I didn’t get a picture of the outside of the house. I will go take one and add it next week.

The green house has a nautical vibe. Did you know that Lake Livingston has sailboats? It is the second largest lake in Texas.

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I really liked the bedrooms. The colors were very soothing. I think someone was naughty getting the house ready to show.

The Brown House

This house is right next door to the green house. The owners are friends and they have even put in a walkway between the two homes. The brown house could not be any more different from they Green House though. The brown house has a more formal look on the inside. The owner is a quilter with her own room.

The Mediterranean Home

This house is in a neighborhood that is around the corner from ours. The neighborhood has a marina and an RV park along with a very active neighborhood group. They have a pot luck every Thursday night.

The Last Home… Woopsie.

I honestly have no idea what happened to the rest of the last house pictures. I will keep looking.

I loved the back covered porch and the feeling of this home.

I hope you enjoyed the Christmas tour. All the funds for this tour go to scholarships for the kids of San Jacinto County. What a great cause.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

Blessings,

Karen

The Aggie House; San Jacinto County Christmas Home Tour Part 2

December 9, 2014

Karen Building a Home, Christmas, Coldspring, Country Style, Decorating, Dining Table, family, master bedroom, mudroom, new home, Style beautiful home, Christmas home tour, going to visit homes. 2 Comments

The road that runs adjacent to our neighborhood main road is Harrell Cemetery Road. Guess what is at the end of Harrell Cemetery Road? If you guessed the Harrell Plantation Cemetery you are correct. If you guessed a cluster of new homes, built on Stephens Creek and Lake Livingston, you are also correct.

This year it has been driven home to me that we are not the first or second or third or fourth generation to love this particular part of Texas. A little research into the Harrell Plantation drove home this fact. The land where our lake house is along with the cemetery road and oh 3000 or so acres that are now under Lake Livingston, were once owned by A. W. Harrell. The plantation home built between 1840 and 1850 is gone underwater and that makes me sad. The cemetery was where the black farm hands were buried and it now has a historic marker.

Interesting fact: Sam Houston used to visit a Choctaw village that was located at the mouth of Stephens Creek. He would put up a white flag so the steamboat would stop and take him to Galveston. Right where we live.

In the last two years a cluster of new homes have gone up around the cemetery. it sounds creepy, but it is really a pretty spot with a historic cemetery in the center. All the homes are pretty and I am going to show you two of the others quickly tomorrow but today, I have to show you what I call the Aggie compound. I am sure that is not what the owners call it, but you be the judge.

Welcome to the Aggie compound.

See the gate? Proud TAMU folks built this house.

Here is the home as we walked up the drive.

See the peak of the lake on the right?

As you see, my buddy, The Social Planner, could not resist touching the wreath on the front door. We were like kids in a candy factory at this house. ( Oh, yes it is real evergreen.)

I am going to clump the photos of rooms together because your tour should not take longer than mine. You are going to see the main room and kitchen, the bedrooms, the bunk room, the wine cellar, and the outdoors. Ready to speed walk through this home?

The home is a split level home. This is the entry hall. Up to the main room and kitchen, right to a bedroom, down to the bedrooms.

Oh my word. That main room.

Rustic, industrial, eclectic with lots of character. Those beams. Hand hewn. Vintage industrial furnishings.

The kitchen

Did I mention the farmhouse table that seats 16? Or the two-toned cabinet colors? Or the cool pendant lights?

The Bedrooms. There are Five regular bedrooms. I think. I may have missed one. All of them are pretty and are in soft blues/greens. Most of them look out on the lake. Wow. What a view.

The hallway has built in seating and beautiful cushions.

The master has two barn doors. One at the entry and one at the bathroom. Beautiful.

This light fixture was in the master in front of the windows looking out on the lake.

The Back Porch

The owner came out to point out the name of the massive fan. See the picture on the fan? It is called a Big Ass fan. I wonder how it got that name?

The Wine Cellar

Wine barrel oak ceilings, cool wine rack, live edge bar and stucco walls. I couldn’t stop staring.

The Grandkid Room

Ever see this on Pinterest?

I would LOVE to do this for our kiddos! Also we need it. Otherwise they would need to live in the bathroom. :p

Source

I have had this pinned a while. Wouldn’t it be fun in a weekend home?

I got to see it in real life on this tour.

It was so cool. Yes, I climbed the stairs between the bunks to take pictures.

This room also had a mudroom bench right off the porch so that when the kids come in wet and nasty there was a place to drop towels and stuff.

I hope you aren’t exhausted from our whirlwind visit to the Aggie house. It is hard to believe that this house is walking distance to our 950 square foot kit home built in the 1970’s with unlevel floors.

I hope you enjoyed this part of the tour.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

I am at a conference this week so the afternoons are all mine. I am enjoying the quiet time.

Blessings,

Karen

San Jacinto County Christmas Open House

December 15, 2013

Karen Christmas, Coldspring, Country living, Country Style, Decorating, Dining Table, home decorating, Lake Livingston, mantle, master bedroom Christmas, Christmas home tour, going to visit homes., San Jacinto County Texas Leave a comment

For the fifth year my buddy, the social planner, and I got to go on our annual ~~snoop~~ visit of beautiful homes located in San Jacinto county. The home tour is a scholarship fundraiser for students in San Jacinto county.

Three years ago, our Farkle group started going with us. Each year is a different group of homes, usually geographically grouped. San Jacinto county is the smallest county in the great state of Texas so the location is never more than 30 minutes from our home, Star Hill. The first unofficial stop this year was a trip to the social planner’s house. We met up, toured her home and loaded up for the tour after yummy chili and chicken noodle soup.

We have such a tiny speck of a home in San Jacinto County that I tend to forget there are million dollar homes around us. I really enjoyed the tour this year. All the homes were in Cape Royale, a gated neighborhood about four miles from our near the lake house.

Stop number one- I was so excited to get started I did not get a photo of the outside. This is the only one I missed.

There were four trees in this house. I have pictures of two of them. I liked this one because it was so different.

I really liked how they used the cabinet doors in the laundry room for Christmas card display.

Even the dog got into the act.

The home owners are weekenders, like us… well not exactly like us… their home is huge. The owner has her own scrapbooking room at the house. She had some of her scrapbooks out for us to see.

I liked how they took all the dishes out of the china cabinet and put in a village.

The second home on the tour was huge. We were greeted by a gigantic flagpole turned into a light tree. Oh, and four bronze life-sized horses.

Here is the front of the house.

I really liked the burlap wreaths in all the windows. I have the pictures from inside too.

I wasn’t the only one taking photos.

What a great idea to wrap burlap around the bottom of vase.

I love the dining room here.

There is a saying up at the lake that if you are lucky enough to live by the lake, you are lucky enough. I agree.

My Christmas cactus is blooming too. I love how they decorated around their cactus.

House Three
On our way to house three we spotted these deer.

The front of house three.

I really liked this house.

The front door was beautiful.

The owners are not even weekenders. They come when the kids and grandkids can hang out. They traveled all over the world with Exxon before retiring. The owner was a CPA with the oil company. I had no idea a CPA could make this kind of money.