Sold-out house tour features stunning homes

The NOTL Local misnamed Brenda McArthur in the print edition dated Dec. 7. Brenda is a very generous and dedicated community supporter, not only decorating and welcoming visitors to her beautiful home as part of the holiday house tour, but also taking the lead in decorating Queen Street each year. The Local apologizes for the error.

The 23rd annual Rotary Club of Niagara-on-the-Lake Holiday House Tour was a complete sell-out. 

Ticket buyers were invited to visit six stunning homes last Friday and Saturday. The NOTL Local had a chance to tour each of the professionally decorated sites and take in the beauty of the season. 

This year’s tour featured three homes in the Old Town, one in St. Davids, one on the Niagara Parkway and finally, a custom built home set amongst vineyards. 

The Funkhouse, built by designer and builder Dave Funk, who lives in the home with his wife Amy, features floor-to-ceiling windows in the kitchen, allowing visitors to view the vineyards beyond the sparkling pool. The men on the tour were salivating over Funk’s huge man cave out back. It’s a modernized, converted barn perfectly suitable for a big screen television and any other man cave accoutrements. 

Decorator Tracy Neeb did a fantastic job of incorporating both modern and traditional touches in her seasonal creations at this house. 

The barrel cellar at the home on Cottage Street, with its arched brick seating area, is reminiscent of many of NOTL’s most popular wineries. At this stop some of the beautiful decorations were actually edible, in the form of cookies, cakes and other treats created by Willow Cakes and Pastries.

At the Udder House on Shaw’s Lane, even the stunning laundry room was decorated by Regal Florists, which has participated in the tour every one of its 23 years. 

At the Carmelian on Ricardo Street, owner Robert McCaughey was excited to talk about his art prints of famous musicians, including Bob Marley and Louis Armstrong, with The Local. Santa will be quite impressed on Christmas Eve as he emerges from one of two ornately decorated fireplaces. His only problem will be deciding which chimney he will go down. 

“I was happy to have the chance to give back to the community,” said McCaughey. “The Rotary Club does so many great things in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and this is their biggest fundraiser.”

On the Niagara Parkway, the Cape Cod-style Rivervine House was more traditionally adorned. Owner Brian Harrison led the tour into his converted garage, which became a refuge during COVID, a place where friends could gather and remain socially distanced. It was tastefully decorated by The Garden Club of Niagara. 

Finally, the historic Lowrey House in St. Davids was the only one fully decorated by one of its owners. Karl Pacey has a degree in interior design and worked with Laura Ashley Design for eight years. He and his partner Richard Mell worked together on the decorating, though Mell admitted the vision and most of the work was Pacey’s. 

“I started working on this on Oct. 1,” Pacey said. “I basically go around the house and put all the skeletal work in. The trees go up and then all the garlands go up. Then I start adding to everything from there. With the kitchen, I laid out everything on the floor and then attached it. That was a nightmare.”

He was talking about the stunning white wreaths and glass eggs that he repurposed to decorate the light fixtures hovering over the kitchen island. In fact, Pacey declared that there was not a single plastic ornament on any of the trees or garlands in the house.

“I broke quite a few and stabbed myself quite a few times,” Pacey added. “All the garlands were made from scratch, too. It’s been a real labour of love.”

The tour program described the design as Willy Wonka meets Alice in Wonderland, and Pacey gave Mell credit for the urns filled with the Wonka golden tickets flanking the entrance. And the Wonderland-themed floating teapot and cups in the kitchen had to be seen to be believed. 

“I can’t tell you how she did that,” Pacey said of his friend Ann Marie, who created the piece. “I mean, I know how she did it but if I told you, she’d kill me. I told her what I wanted and she made it.”

Every corner of the couple’s main floor was decorated, with some rooms roped off during the tour to discourage moving anything. It was truly impressive. Pacey explained that their second-floor living space was relatively unadorned. 

Besides the six featured houses on the tour, annual sites such as McFarland House and The Niagara Pumphouse Arts Centre, and a number of wineries were also on this year’s route.