The annual and popular IMAGES Tour of Homes is always a sure sign that the holiday season is fast approaching. This year’s event, set for 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6, celebrates New Smyrna Beach, one of Florida’s oldest and most historic towns.
The five homes selected for this year’s tour, decked out in holiday array by Mary Ann’s Flowers and Gifts, New Smyrna Beach Florist and Pink Flamingo at Petals, are the residences of John and Shirleen Foster on Faulkner Street, Ed and Joyce Dowling on Faulkner Street, Al and Cindee Peterson on Magnolia Street, Fielding and Kathy Cooley on Magnolia Street, and Norman and Debbie Earle on Sunset Drive.
The Foster home, built in 1924, is a Spanish Mediterranean beauty featuring a terrace and three-tiered water fountain in the front. The home, with its red tiled roof and arched old cypress wood front door, welcomes visitors with a colorful oval tile inset into the stucco wall that reads: “Bienvenidos, Mi Casa Es Su Casa.” That translates as “Welcome, My House Is Your House.” The interior is a relaxing combination of comfortable wicker furniture and antiques; decorated with a shorebird, shell and ship décor motif.
The Dowling home, also on Faulkner Street and built in 1946, has been repainted and decorated to give it a delightful Key West look. The owners are artists and their creativity and eye for shape and color is apparent in the décor of their home, a combination of antiques and recycled furniture items. The couple’s art is displayed on shelves, mantles and tables throughout the house. In the kitchen, the Dowlings kept the original glass fronted white kitchen cabinets, but installed new counter tops, new fixtures and appliances and a granite sink. The modern touches give the kitchen a special look that includes Ed’s signature handcrafted palm trees decorating the open range hood he designed.
The home of Al and Cindee Peterson, built in 1915, combines history with comfort. The couple has spent countless hours refurbishing their home inside and out. It is a comfortable mix of old and new, and is decorated in pleasing colors. The backyard is a little piece of paradise where the Petersons like to entertain family and friends. They have transformed it from an ordinary backyard into a lush and tropical private get-away complete with an outdoor bar created from hundreds of bottle caps.
The Cooley home, next door to the Petersons on Magnolia Street, was also built in 1915. The house is surrounded by a wide porch on three sides; and one of its most unique features is that it has two front doors. The house, renovated over the years, had been stripped of many of its original architectural details. The Cooleys have been returning as much original detail to the house as possible, even uncovering an impressive old coquina fireplace under a red brick facade. Visitors will enjoy seeing the love and attention the Cooleys have bestowed on this historic gem.
The Earle home on Sunset Drive, just around the corner from Atlantic Center for the Arts, has been a 17-year labor of love for the couple, who have done extensive expansion and remodeling. The old Florida style décor has a definite Key West feel to it, from the hand-painted blue and green front porch floor, with its comfortable and inviting wicker furniture, to the stunning infinity (vanishing) edge swimming pool that looks like it is part of Turnbull Bay. The open floor plan kitchen features Debbie Earle’s collection of light green 1950s Fire King dishware and a working 1928 Quick Meal stove just like the one in the movie “A Christmas Story”. The décor is eclectic and comfortable, with unique finds from antique and thrift stores, E-bay and garage sales displayed throughout, including Norman Earle’s incredible collection of large porcelain gas stations signs.
The popular IMAGES Boutique, set up in the Whatmore Commons at Atlantic Center for the Arts, 1414 Art Center Ave., will feature the fruits of the artistic labors of the talented artists from the Harris House League (the volunteer corps of Atlantic Center for the Arts). The group has been working hard all year, meeting each week to create unique gift items and festive hand-made decorations to adorn Christmas trees.
The boutique will have hand-made purses and jackets, jewelry, decorated hats, children’s furniture, beaded watchbands, bracelets and earrings, aprons, decorated gourds, hand-made cards, stepping stones, Christmas tree ornaments created from recycled items, unique gift wrap made from recycled newspapers, and lots more for sale. The boutique will also feature a silent auction for unique theme baskets, and offer an elegant array of tea sandwiches and other refreshments to ticket holders.
IMAGES would like to thank Chef Sue Flynn and The Island Voice for being sponsors of the Tour of Homes, which is the main fundraiser for IMAGES: A Festival of the Arts, a juried art festival that will be presented by Atlantic Center for the Arts Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 in Riverside Park, downtown New Smyrna Beach.
The IMAGES Tour of Homes will also include a visit to the New Smyrna Museum of History, which will feature tours of the numerous exhibits housed in the museum, including the state-of-the-art Turnbull exhibit that was developed with a $250,000 grant from the State of Florida. The museum will also feature an exhibit showcasing an “old-fashioned Christmas” including old toys.
Discover the rich history of one of Florida’s oldest and most historic towns at the spacious Museum, located downtown at 120 Sams Ave., New Smyrna Beach. Since pre-Columbian days to the present, New Smyrna has been either home to, or visited by, Timucuan Indians, Spanish and French explorers. Colonial England, led by wealthy Scottish physician Andrew Turnbull built the largest settlement in America in 1768 in “New Smyrnae.” Highlights of its past include: Seminole Indians, Civil War skirmishes, the Flagler Railroad, and the development of 20th Century Florida. The Museum’s mission is to preserve artifacts and educate visitors as to the historical importance of New Smyrna.
Tickets for the tour and boutique are $20 each. To purchase tickets, stop by the Images office, 214 S. Riverside Drive, New Smyrna Beach, phone 386-423-4733 or e-mail images@imagesartfestival.org. Tickets will also be available the day of the event at the boutique.
