Balboa Island home tour Sunday offers champagne wishes and Christmas dreams
Champagne has a way of lending a touch of elegance to any event. And that figures to be the case Sunday when the 20th annual Balboa Island Holiday Home Walking Tour adds a new continental-style champagne breakfast that’s included in the $35 ticket price.
The catered breakfast will be served at the Balboa Island Museum before the tour of nine decorated homes, said Tom Popplewell, committee chairman for the event, sponsored by the Balboa Island Improvement Assn. It gives the tour “a nice touch,” he said.
Popplewell, an artist, donated a painting for the event that will be raffled Sunday.
The nine homes on the tour offer an assortment of reflections on Balboa Island living, according to Popplewell. “There are big new ones, original cottages and an apartment — seven on the big island and two on the little island,” he said.
Family decor
It will be the second time Pam and Larry Kallestad have opened their Opal Avenue home for the tour. The first was 13 years ago, when they limited visitors to the first floor of the three-story home. This year the second floor will be available for viewing as well.
“I don’t hire a decorator; our decorations are all family things, from travels, things the children made over the years, a few from both of our parents from the ‘40s and my needlepoint creations,” Pam Kallestad said.
The home is the result of two beach cottages that were converted into one. Pam inherited one of the cottages, built in 1946, from her parents. The couple bought the one next door together.
“We saved some of the original wood doors and paneling to use in the existing home,” Pam said.
Santa fans
It’s all about Santa Claus at Lindsey and Ray Lombardi’s quaint and cozy house on Amethyst Avenue.
Keeping with the familiar Christmas colors of red, white and green, Lindsey Lombardi prefers a traditional Santa theme.
“I like Santa Clauses, and every year since we moved to Balboa Island, my husband buys an ornament from the Roger’s Gardens nutcracker collection, and a lot of them are Santas,” she said.
The Lombardis bought their home twice. They lived on Emerald Avenue for 15 years and purchased the beach cottage on Amethyst in 2004 as a remodeling project, selling it upon completion in 2005. They eventually moved to Manhattan Beach to be closer to their grandchildren.
“After two years, we missed the island too much and saw that the Amethyst house was up for sale in 2014, so we bought it back,” Lindsey said.
Lindsey, who spends weeks doing the holiday decorating, has versions of Santa in every possible form. There’s a Santa cookie jar, Santa hats as chair covers, even Santa silverware holders.
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IF YOU GO
What: Balboa Island Holiday Home Walking Tour
When: Breakfast at 10 a.m. Sunday at Balboa Island Museum, 331 Marine Ave. Tour from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Nine stops on both islands
Admission: $35
Tickets and information: (714) 296-6196, balboaislandnb.org/new-events/hometour