AGLOW WITH FESTIVE FLAIR
Homes for the Holidays fundraising tour showcases seasonal spirit at five houses
If you’re looking for a holiday decor fix, and like to do good things with your money, make note that the 13th annual Kids Help Phone Homes for the Holidays tour is returning, running Nov. 25 and 26.
The tour features five Vancouver homes decked out in festive glory by designers like Andrew Pike, a regular on the Marilyn Dennis Show, with all proceeds from the two-day self-guided tour going to the Canada-wide Kids Help Phone charity.
“I think it’s an incredible initiative,” Pike says. “I really believe in the charity.”
Kids Help Phone provides free, anonymous and confidential counselling, information and referrals for young people in English and French.
When The Sun caught up with Pike, he had flown in from Toronto to do preliminary styling and a photo shoot at the home he’ll be decorating for the tour. He’ll return for a full week of setup leading up to the tour, bringing in everything from furniture to rugs, furnishings and greenery.
“It takes a village,” he says. The home Pike is decorating is over 100 years old, but has been renovated with a modern interior, so he’ll be juxtaposing these two different styles.
“Because the house is that tension of modern and traditional,” he says, “I decided that my Christmas theme should be the same. So I’m playing heavily off magnolia leaves, which have that beautiful green-gloss finish on one side, and on the reverse that soft copper, so I’m going to be playing with greens and coppers, which then translates into ambers and oranges, and those kind of tones.
“I want to mix in some pheasant feathers, just that rich brown and black. Lots of gold, lots of metallic, and really feel like that tension between a fresh green tree, and all that gold and orange is going to be very impactful.”
Decorating for the holidays is fun, Pike says, and it should be approached that way, while also aiming to “tame the chaos of choice,” in terms of what’s out there in home decor.
“You walk out and you’re bombarded with everything,” he says. “Whatever colour and whatever style, it’s available.
“I think starting off with a decor scheme, you should find something that speaks to you. If that’s one single ornament, or one single colour, build on that. I would say holiday decorating is also a little freer — you can experiment and go a little farther because it’s only a couple of weeks a year.
“Maybe you love lime green or tiffany blue or fuchsia, but you don’t want to live with it 12 months a year, well, Christmas is the time to do that because you know if you want to go all pastels, with white trim, go for it. I’ve done black trees, I’ve done silver trees — whatever makes you happy should be your go to, but find that one thing and build off it.”
Along with all the volunteers involved in the tour, including students from BCIT, there are a number of sponsors that make the Homes for the Holidays Tour possible, says Pike, with his main sponsor being Crate & Barrel, as well as Granville Island Florist, and Pedersens Rentals.
Body: “Crate & Barrel has done a fantastic job with their holiday collection,” he says. “Of course, it’s always heavily based on what’s trending in interior design, and decor, so a lot of soft golds, and bronzes, I mean that’s very traditional for Christmas anyway, they’re going in for softer finishes, more muted, mixed metals, bronzes coppers, platinum.”
IF YOU GO
Tickets for the tour are $50 and allow participants a one-time entry into each home. For details, visit homesfortheholidays.ca.