Nosy Neighbors Take Two

On Sunday, Bryan and I once again played peeping toms. 

This years tour was made even better since the entire time it was snow flurrying!

Thanks to the 22nd Annual Historic Old North Knoxville Victorian Holiday Home Tour 2010. <--Be sure to click that link to view all the houses on the tour.  And click here to view my post of last years tour.

I'm not really sure why they call it the "Victorian" home tour since there are so many architecture styles represented (which in my opinion is the best thing about old neighborhoods; they're full of unique and interesting houses!).  From Dutch Colonial Revival to Craftsman Bungalow to Queen Anne's Cottage to Neoclassical; all were represented this year.  

There were several houses on the tour this year that caught my eye last year.  Such as this house:

Bryan and I toured this home almost three years ago when we were house hunting.  We fell in love with it but it was just a tad out of our price range.  Coincidentally, while talking to the producer of our Run My Renovation episode, we discovered that he bought this house.  Not only that, but he and his wife owned my favorite home store in Knoxville, Abode (that sadly closed last month).  So to say that I was excited to tour this home is an understatement!

Here's a peek at the inside of their home.  I asked if I could take some pictures and the owner was nice enough to allow me to.  This bicycle was purchased for $20 and hung on the wall!  It's such a great example of inexpensive, unique and impactful art.

Another idea I loved and took away from this house is they commissioned a local artist to paint custom pieces for them.  As a result, the pieces are large and perfectly fit the walls (not to mention the personal sentiment behind each piece).  I took a quick snapshot of one such piece:

 And one last charming detail in this house was their kid's bathroom.

There's a tree in the bathroom, people!  I can only imagine the excitement that elicited from the kiddos. And now I'm going to move on to the rest of the tour (I don't want these owners to think I'm a complete psycho stalker--I think he was leery enough when during the reno I informed him how I had pictures of his house on my blog.  But, he went on and told me he'd be on the tour this year, so I believe he was fairly warned. :) ).

To my surprise, that was not the only tree in the bathroom on the tour.

It was such a fun surprise to look up and see this tree above the shower.  You just never know what you're going to find in old houses!

This house was not on the tour but I'm hoping it will be next year!

This is just a sampling of what we saw.  All in all there were ten houses on the tour.  And just like last year, I was reminded not to obsess about all the small details that are wrong with our house (like our botched floor re-finishing job that we did and someday I will post about) and focus on the beauty of living in an old house.  

 Three cheers for old houses!