Laboure Christmas Decorating Tour

                This semester, I got to take part in something new for the Interior Architecture and Design department. Rose, the head of our major got in contact with the Laboure Center in South Boston and was asked for Mount Ida College to be apart of the annual Christmas Decorating Tours! This entailed us teaming up with a local decorator and getting paired with homeowners to decorate their house to a specific theme. It was decided that Stacey Marino, Keegan Espinola, and myself would be the head students, and Jill Janasiewicz would be the faculty adviser for this project. Our first meeting took place before Thanksgiving break at the Boston Design Center. We met with Justene our decorator, at Jill's retail space and presented mood boards about our ideas for the space. We then decided on the theme, The Nutcracker. It was great to be able to get together and collectively share our thoughts and also create a plan on how we wanted to implement our design.

After Thanksgiving break was when the real work began of actually decorating the house. We had one week to get the entire house done before the twilight tours on Saturday, so a lot of work has to be done. Keegan and I went the first day to collect all the reused past materials at the Laboure center. The lady at the desk gave me the keys to a van that had to be at least 30 years old. We loaded up lights, ornaments, fake trees, and other decorations into the rusty van. We had to chuckle because the thing barely ran! Every red light the van would basically stall out on our short but scary ride to the house. But as soon as I got there I was immediately impressed with the exterior. Although we were only decorating the first floor unit, the homeowners actually were the developers that designed and created the entire building. I thought that this was really interesting.

The first day seemed to fly by but so did every day that week. It seemed to be that I was spending more time in that house than I was in class which was crazy. There was obviously more work than three people could handle so we enlisted the help of some friendly faces in our major. Not only did our faculty adviser Jill help with decorating but so did our department chair Rose, and the USGBC board - Casey Whitney, Michael Moriconi, Melissa Montesano, Mary Richards, and Amanda Lombardo, as well as first year IA+D student Heather Kelly. Although this week was stressful, time consuming, and just a ton of work, we managed to have fun along the way! Christmas music was constantly playing, a constant chatter was heard throughout the house, and it overall was a really pleasant place to be.

The biggest payoff though was getting to see the exclusive twilight tour on Saturday at the end of the week. Rose, Stacey, Keegan, and I all went to the Laboure and from there we took shuttles to each house that was decorated. This took place right at dusk so all the residences were lit up and gave such a holiday spirit to the event. We toured 5 houses all over South Boston. Some of the themes included, German Christmas, Homecoming, and Gilded Soiree. Our house was the last on the tour.

Arriving at the house I was in heaven. Each floor of the building had matching wreaths out and you could see a Christmas tree in each window which was really cool. Walking in gave you the full Christmas experience. The living room was full of red and gold tones, and fresh greenery was in each window, The little girls room featured 2 pastel pink and white trees, while the boys nursery had a white and blue tree with a train going around the base. The homeowners also featured their pizza oven in the kitchen by preparing fresh pizza to be served during the tours. This also gave a chance for the homeowners to mingle with the tour goers and answer any questions about the space.

Overall, I had a really great time participating in this event. I got to meet a decorator and make new connections but I also got to do something creative for charity. I love giving back to the community and this project was right up my ally. I hope next year we can take on our own house and strive for even bigger goals with the Laboure and within the Interior Architecture and Design Department.


-Rhi