For the 36th year, the Clifton Community Woman’s Club is busy preparing for its annual Homes Tour, a charity fund raiser based around peeking into some of the lavishly decorated homes in and around Clifton.
Debby Crosier, president of the club, said this year’s tour will be similar to last year’s event, with hundreds of people passing through homes, donating money the Woman’s Club will use to fund scholarships and other outreach services to area organizations.
"We have five homes on tour this year, and all of them have had some kinds of improvements made on them in preparation for the tour," Crosier said.
One of the most anticipated homes on the tour is that of Jennifer and Jeremy Lustman, whose home on Dell Avenue was destroyed by fire on Christmas morning 2006. Their home has been completely rebuilt and restored, and now features high ceilings in the living room, a resurfaced fireplace in the family room and a barn beam mantle.
Just to be safe, the Lustmans rebuilt their front porch using Ipe, a Brazilian hardwood "known as ‘ironwood’ because it is so dense it will not float or burn," the tour brochure explains.
Also included on the tour is the home of Suzi and Travis Worsham, known as Red Gables. Their home, on Chestnut Street, features a collection of Flow Blue china, buttermilk goblets and Suzi Worsham’s array of cookbooks and crockery.
Another stop on the tour is on the outskirts of town, Buffy Price and Mike Brown’s Pope’s Head Farm, at 12203 Fairfax Station Road. This home, originally built as a log cabin in 1705, has had a facelift, with the homeowners removing the stucco and plaster that covered it when the house was purchased in 1982. Inside the home is a collection of old books, including a 1600s-era Koran, and various pieces of antique furniture.
Inside the Hughes-Murray home at 8212 Thomas Ashleigh Lane, the construction of which was supervised by owners Derek Hughes and Joe Murray, collections of antique furniture and artwork fill the home, complemented by crown molding, a Georgian fireplace and curved staircase. Showcases on the lower level were built by the owners, an example of their carpentry skills.
Just around the corner is the home of Gary Aspesi and Sydney Sawyer, at 11907 Henderson Court. The home is filled with the family’s collections and each room is painted to highlight that room’s theme.
"I’ve never taken the tour before and this is my first year on it, and I’m really looking forward to it," said Sydney Sawyer. "We really enjoy decorating and showing the things we like to other people."
The house includes stonework that the homeowners installed.
"We managed to work in a lot of our collections," Sawyer said, adding that she, her husband and her son enjoy picking up things that strike their fancy, from lightning rods to weathervanes.
WHILE THE HOMES may be the big draw of the tour, it is hardly the only reason to purchase a ticket.
On Wednesday, May 14 and during the tour on Thursday, May 15, a showcase of art from Northern Virginia women will be on display at the conservatory room in the Hermitage Restaurant, said Betty Bosanko, immediate past president of the Clifton Community Woman’s Club and current president of the club’s night unit.
"There’s so much light in there. It’s great for an art show," she said.
A portion of the proceeds from any art sold will go toward the donations the club will make, Bosanko said.
Additionally, a handful of vendors will be setting up a boutique shopping event inside the Clifton Town Meeting Hall on Chapel Road, along with a silent auction which will end Thursday, at 5 p.m., as the tour wraps up. The club will also be selling copies of "May I Have That Recipe," a cookbook featuring members’ favorite dishes.
Proceeds from the tour will be donated to charitable organizations. Last year, the club gave out several scholarships for George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College students who had a history of community service, Bosanko said. The club also donates money to the Bethany House for battered women, area food banks and organizations that benefit women, children, the elderly and those enlisted in the armed services.
To prepare the town for the tour, the Clifton Business Coalition has embarked on another decorating contest, this time featuring wreaths.
"We decided to do something as a spring event and purposely put it before the Homes Tour to brighten up the town," said Judy McNamara, co-founder of the Clifton Business Coalition.
Wreaths, which can be purchased and decorated by any individual or group in or around Clifton, are starting to come in, with a variety of themes, McNamara said.
"I decorated one in a black and white checkerboard style, like the Clifton Store and I’m doing another one for A Flower Blooms in Clifton," said McNamara, who owns the flower store in town and, along with her husband, also owns the Clifton Store.
Another wreath, decorated by a kindergarten class at Clifton Elementary, has an "ABCs" theme, McNamara said.
The wreaths will be placed on utility poles on Main Street until the town’s wine festival on June 14.