One of the highlights of visiting Balboa Island is taking a walk around the Bayfront and passing all the beautiful homes. The Balboa Island Holiday Home Walking Tour is the perfect tour to finally see inside the homes youve walked past before.
This year the Walking Tour featured 8 homes all decorated to the nines for the holidays. There was no shortage of elaborate Christmas trees, holly and bells inside the homes.
Each home was unique in its own right. The home on East Bayfront featured a family style Christmas theme with Santa figurines inside, cozy kitchen and living spaces and a piano with a life size butler doll playing it.
The rooms were spacious and some were themed equestrian style. Volunteers worked in each room to tell visitors the inspirations behind each room. No high heels, no pets and no photography was allowed. In some home paper booties were offered to avoid tracking dirt inside.
The home on South Bayfront was more modern and contemporary. The owner was serving beer to his guests from his rooftop patio that looked over onto the Fun Zone. Everything in the home was made from recycled materials including the wood floors which was made from recycled wine barrels. You could still see the red wine stains in some areas. After a little research the owner discovered that the wine barrels came from his great grandfathers winery.
There were three homes on Amethyst. One featured a Tiffany box blue door with matching Christmas tree decorated with Tiffany boxes and vintage 1930s décor. Volunteers greeted visitors at the door and in each room, but had to also manage crowd control as there was a number of people waiting in line to see the homes.
Ive been volunteering for years. I love it. I love all the homes, said Volunteer Suzanne Reinhardt.
Marine Avenue shops were also decorated for the holidays and serving treats including champagne, cider and holiday cookies.
All proceeds from the $25 ticket sales benefited the Balboa Island Improvement Association. Please visit their website www.biia.org for more information on events and ways to support their efforts to preserve Balboa Island.
