February 2017

I’m not done going on about White Point Beach!!  How is it I lived here for 41 years and am just finally realizing this treasure!?!?!  In my last post, I talked about the projects we did during the DIY by the Sea, you can read it HERE.  So, now I’m going to talk about White Point Beach Resort and show you some of my highlights around the resort.  It is an amazing place, truly, it is.  I said on Friday night, shortly after arriving at White Point, that I couldn’t wait to come back, and I hadn’t even left yet!

White Point Beach Resort opened back in 1928, with its start as a hunting and fishing lodge.  It’s the type of resort that I can envision the old cars rolling in, dropping off families and suitcases at the beginning of the season, and people summering there.  They would spend their days catching up with their resort friends and families over fine dining or along the beach, under a big beach umbrella.  The kids would be running around, boys chasing girls, summer romances blooming.  There would be sailing  and bonfires.  At the end of the day, everyone would tuck into their cabin but I suspect there would be a few teens who would sneak out and get up to no good, too.  I’m sure that was part of the charm of it all for them, too.  In 1980, they switched to being a year-round and became a great destination for conferences and business meetings, too.

Back in 2011, the main lodge caught fire and burned to the ground.  All that history, gone in one night.  The pictures are heartbreaking.  Flames surrounding the beach rock fireplace, a Adirondack chair with a wall of fire behind it…but they began rebuilding right away and within a year, the new lodge was up and in operation.  It boasts of the skills and materials of our province.  But also the belief that White Point has something unique to offer and that with hard work and determination, great things can be accomplished.

I, for one, am very thankful that they rebuilt and continued on part of our province’s legacy.  The history, the memories and the future are all tied to this place.  I feel like Nova Scotia has so much to offer and it is places like White Point Beach Resort that make this place memorable and make our mark in the tourism industry.

One of the things I love about being an interior decorator and working with At Home, is exploring this province, meeting its people and seeing the places we call home or enjoy visiting.  Like I said in my last post, I feel very fortunate getting to go on this DIY retreat, thanks to At Home.  Being freshly inspired changes everything, you see things in a new way.  And sometimes, a get away is exactly what you need to do that.

And I think that the owners of White Point understand that.  Not only did they create a place where folks can get away and connect and relax, but I think when they traveled and sourced some of the amazing artwork and artifacts throughout the resort, they experienced that and brought it back for us to enjoy and experience.  The artwork is so varied, a tin moose head beside stuffed pheasants, folk art beside Aboriginal artwork, carved antlers beside antiques.  Not only is it unique, it will speak to so many from such a wide range of walks of life.  There truly is something for everyone.

Now, of course the main attraction is the beach.  And while I was there in February, the beach was still a huge draw.  Anytime of day, there were people strolling the beach.  I can only imagine how incredible it would be in the summer! The beach at White Point is not like our beaches along the north shore.  The sand is different, the rocks are different, just the way the sand meets the shore is different.  It was so wonderful, chilly perhaps, but wonderful none the less.  Of course I had to check it out….on Friday, Saturday morning and then again Saturday afternoon.  All the in between times we enjoyed it from the main lodge, which is perfectly situated so you can see it from the dining hall, lounge, conference rooms, pool, hot tub…pretty much everywhere!

Friday afternoon on the beach…

Saturday morning on the beach….

Saturday afternoon on the beach….you just never know what you might find….

Sunday morning…..

The other fun thing about White Point is the bunnies.  If you’ve been, you know what I mean!  There are bunnies everywhere!!  And they love people { because they expect you to have treats! }  There are little brown bags of treats by the front door and we always made sure to have some in our pockets as we made our way back and forth from our room to the main lodge.

And the food….oh, the food!!!  Everything was so good and each meal it was hard to decide which to try out first!  The buffets for breakfast and dinner were amazing, so much variety and it was all very tasty.  I did snap a few pictures but it certainly didn’t do the food justice so you’ll just have to trust me and go out for supper, lunch or even breakfast there!  I love that the locals do that, Saturday night that place was  packed!  Lots of families, couples, groups of friends gathered to enjoy a nice evening out.  Chef Alan Crosby’s food is certainly something to rave about! And he even popped in to check out our DIYing 😉  Here’s part of our group, post-dinner on Saturday evening.  We lingered in the dining room for quite a while after the last bite was enjoyed.

All in all, it is an incredible place to spend some time, being creative, making new friends and exploring!  I’m looking forward to finding some excuse to go back with my family this time, I know they would love it here, too.  If you get the chance, I would highly recommend booking at stay at White Point.  You won’t regret it!

To be continued,

Lori

So, I just spent the most amazing weekend away from home, painting, making new friends and exploring a new-to-me part of Nova Scotia.  When Wendy from Front Porch Mercantile first started talking about DIY by the SEA at White Point Beach Resort back in October, I knew I wanted to be there.  And let me tell you, the weekend did not disappoint!

Our first night there, we went around the room and talked a little about ourselves and whether or not we had painted before.  Most people hadn’t, which surprised me, I had assumed that people who loved to paint would come to something like this, guess I was wrong…. 😉  But we got right into it, painting up our anchor that night, a nice, easy project to start with.

Now, I love all the thought that was put into the projects we did.  White Point Beach Resort is an ocean side, old school resort { by old school, I mean spending summers by the ocean, archery, sailing, swimming while living in little cabins along the shore } so our overall theme was nautical.  We painted whales, anchors, and the colours followed suit, lots of reds, blues and turquoises.

The other thing is that White Point is HUGE on Canada 150 and I love that!  They even have a heart with a maple leaf inside lit up on the bank, very visible from all the ocean side windows in the main lodge.  So, doing a Canadian flag was awesome.  I’m thrilled with how it turned out, the knot on the upper left, and adding the 150 on the bottom.  It’ll be a great reminder of all the fun we’ll be having celebrating this big birthday.

Even though we were all working with the same supplies, everyone’s projects were so personal and varied.  It was neat to see the thought process everyone put into their work – where they were going to put it, what room, or if they were gifting it to someone, what colours they would like.  So, even though we started with something similar, they all ended up very unique! Here we all are with some of our finished products!

We did 8 projects in the course of the weekend.  Saturday was doing a lot of first steps on projects and not seeing the end results until later that day or even on Sunday after things completely dried.  Trying to think of how or where you’d use all the different projects made you really stop to think about what colour combination you wanted or where something might look best.  I love how my crate with the jars turned out, they are perfect for the dining room table, but would work equally as well in my living room or kitchen, too.  I guess that’s the benefit to using the colours you love throughout your whole home!

We certainly had a lot of laughs over the course of the weekend.  Donna Hatt, the Marketing & Product Development Manager, really broke the ice for us on Friday.  I think laughter is a language that unites people.  There was singing, dancing and that was just Pam and Wanda….  The projects were great, hanging out at White Point was amazing, but, again, for me it was the people, making new friends and finally getting to meet Wendy IRL!!  Here’s two of my new friends, Holly and Suzanne, painting a piece of furniture.  I spent a lot of time with these two and my roomie, Tracy, and I’m so thankful for new friends!!  

We may or may not of also ‘borrowed’ a table from the back room and gave it a bit of a makeover, too.  Of course, we didn’t tell Donna that until it was too late and we were packing up to roll out on Sunday. That’s what the girls are working on in the photo above….it give everyone the chance to see the prep work required, how easy it is and how incredible the transformation can be.  We loved doing small projects, but really, I think a lot of us want to paint furniture.  Like Wendy told us, don’t start on your grandmother’s chine cabinet!

Here’s the before:

And here’s the after:

Ugh – due to technical difficulties, there is no After picture at the moment….maybe next post?

I can’t say enough wonderful things about the weekend.  It was a much needed get-away for me, to be creative, branch out and meet new people.  White Point was amazing, which I’ll talk more about in my next post, and I seriously can’t wait to go back.  This time, I’ll bring the family, I kind of think they’ll love it, too!

Thank you to Wendy and Lise for all your hard work doing the prep work, washing the brushes, trying to keep us in line.  Donna, thank you for all the work you did to make sure we had a fabulous time at White Point and making us feel so welcome!

I especially need to give a huge THANK YOU to At Home on the North Shore for sending me to this weekend retreat! It’s always exciting to get to scout out new ideas to share with our readers and to be freshly inspired by our amazing province and its people.  I feel very fortunate to be able to represent not only the magazine but also our area in this way.

To my new friends, you guys made the weekend for me, so thank you!! Tracy, thanks for not being an axe-murderer 😉

To be continued,

Lori