Neighborhood Stroll

Capitol A's car parked in front of home on the Curtis Park Home Tour. Our very first house is right across the street!

Every year about this time, my little neighborhood of Curtis Park puts on a Home and Garden Tour. All of the neighbors seem to stretch out, wipe away the Winter cobwebs and reconnect with all of the neighbors and friends they have missed seeing during the rainy months. This year the weather was in full cooperation and the gardens were in full glory. The Curtis Park neighborhood was developed starting in the early 1900's (our house was built in 1911) stretching into the 30's and 40's.The neighborhood surrounds a wonderful park, by the same name and there are Craftsman Bungalows, Spanish Revival, Tudor and Mediterranean and Monterrey style homes throughout the neighborhood.

Every year the Home Tour features a cache of vintage cars, courtesy of the Capitol A's Model A Ford Club, that park in front of each home on the tour. They trade places throughout the day, so we see them all driving around honking those horns, the drivers wearing their vintage 20's style garb. It is perhaps my favorite part of the tour!

This year, the gardens on the tour were so pretty. I especially liked this garden. It has followed a trend I am seeing in our area where front yards are being used not just for a largely unused lawn, but for spaces for entertaining. Seating, water and fire features are becoming much more popular. I think it is because of the strong connection between neighbors in Curtis Park, people are prone to inviting friends over for a drink on the spur of the moment...even as they are passing by on the way to the park!

This yard is one a really liked.....citrus and olive trees, small fountain, decomposed granite and lots of shade make for a perfect spot to enjoy summer evenings....

Inside this home, what struck me most was all of the art that had been collected....

There were plein air paintings, contemporary portraits....

as well as art collected on travels abroad....

I also thought the Master Bath made interesting use of a furniture piece...

The next house we saw stayed true to the vintage feel of Curtis Park homes with the very charming black and white kitchen with bead board walls, vintage stove and simple face frame cabinets.....

The black and white bath looks like the original tile was kept in pristine condition...

There was even a series of small deco floral relief tiles set into the subway tile. So pretty!...

I loved the idea of planting rows of plants, some of which are edible, in the garden off the kitchen. I sort of expected Peter Rabbit to pop up any minute....

This brick cottage had an abundance of beautiful roses, many of which were heritage roses....you know the ones....they still smell like roses?

Mom decided this was the perfect place to stop and smell those roses...

Makes it a bit hard to understand why growers have turned away from scented roses in favor of anything else, no?...

Gorgeous and one could hyperventilate just standing there sniffing in that heavenly scent!

This Spanish revival cottage had a wonderful drought tolerant garden perfect for their location. There wer no shade trees over this part of the yard and it is south and east facing...so sunny pretty much all day. The summers in Sacramento get hot, for those of you unfamiliar. We get temps over 100 with some regularity in the summer. This garden should look beautiful all year....

It was so much fun to stroll though the neighborhood, run into friends and neighbors and enjoy the beautiful day. If the bike stands were any indication, I was definitely not alone in that thought!