Canada Trip, Part 9: Reimer’s Beautiful Italian-Decor Home

I had so much fun going to Canada, where I spoke at Doreen Penner‘s Walk Into Your Blessing women’s conference. Doreen’s friend Helen Reimer generously offered for me and Doreen’s other keynote speaker, Karen Wells, to stay in her home while we were in Mitchell, Manitoba, for the conference. This is part 9 of my Canada Trip Blog Series – pictures of Dan and Helen Reimer’s home, where I stayed. You can read part 8 of the Canada Trip Blog Series here.

Canada Trip, Part 9: Reimer’s Beautiful Italian-Decor Home

One of God’s names in the Bible is Jehovah Jireh, which means the Lord who provides. (Genesis 22:12-14)

From the article The Compound Names of Jehovah: Jireh, Rapha, Nissi (http://bible.org/seriespage/compound-names-jehovah-jireh-rapha-nissi-session-60), we read:

“The name is literally, The Lord Who Sees, or The Lord Who Will See To It. This is what we long for when we have a need that is personal and special; One who will see to our needs and provide for us… the Lord Who will see to it that my every need is met. One Who knows my need because He sees. One Who is able to meet my need in just the right time as He did for Abraham, and One Who can meet it fully. For Abraham, it was the ram caught in the thicket that was offered in Isaac’s place. For us it is whatever we need.”

For me, my needs for this Canada trip were:

• provision for transportation there and back
• a safe place to stay in Canada and coming back to the U.S.
• food while there and coming back.

One of the ways God provided was the place I stayed in Manitoba. Doreen’s friend Helen Reimer generously offered for me and Doreen’s other keynote speaker, Karen Wells, to stay in her home while we were in Mitchell, Manitoba, for the conference. She also fed us and attended to all our needs.  She jokingly called it “The Reimer Hotel.” It was amazing.

Helen’s husband Dan built the house, and Helen designed it in a beautiful Italian decor.  Dan took Helen on a surprise trip to Italy for their wedding anniversary, which they both loved, and this was the inspiration for their home.

They open up their home to others, using their gifts of hospitality for large dinner parties and for guests staying overnight. Helen’s dream is to use it as a Bed and Breakfast, only in a much classier, upscale way than your usual B & B’s!

I LOVED it and felt like a queen staying there! Here are some pics of their house. The pictures can’t do the beauty of the house justice.

The room where I stayed had red walls and dark wood furniture, a beautiful contrast. Dan’s and Helen’s bedroom is on the other end of the house for more privacy, so you really do feel like you are staying in a hotel or a B & B instead of someone’s house.

Helen had decorated for Christmas, and it looked lovely. My room had red Gerber daisy decorations in them, some of my favorite flowers. .

Helen also had some little welcome gifts on the tables in mine and Karen’s room – Celestial sugar plum spice tea, fragrant pure oat extract hand lotion, a new bar of delicious-smelling lavendar soap, candy, gum, a fresh orange, chapstick, and bottled water.

I am a detail person and noticed how much effort Helen put into the little touches, like these flowers on the floor.

And this petite, colorful ceramic vase and flowers on the bathroom counter:

I noticed the hand soap said, “Royale Bouquet.” Fitting for this place!

I was delighted to see some water fountains with small stones on a bathroom shelf. Fountains are a small respite in a busy life. Water fountains and stones calm the mind, help the body to unwind, and relax the spirit.

As soon as you entered their home, you were struck with the ornate chandelier with soft lighting in the entry way.

I grew up in the south, where there are many Victorian homes built with tall, white Greek-style and Italian-style pillars. The living room near the entry way had these beautiful white columns.

The living room also had comfortable, soft, leather sofas which reclined. After the women’s conference, Doreen, her team, Karen, and I sat here, talking about the conference, eating pizza, and sharing our hearts. This is one of my favorite memories of the trip.

Ray would have loved this room below, which Helen plans to turn into a library with a circular bookcase from top to bottom of the room. I loved its tall, glass doors.

The door to Dan’s and Helen’s bedroom was heavy, a dark wood and beautiful. I LOVE the arch doorway. These arches were throughout their house.

This arch doorway leads to the kitchen, formal dining room, and one of my favorite rooms, a family den with stone walls. The walls were painted an olive green. The tiled floor is beautiful. I loved the palm trees, too.

The kitchen is wide open and every woman’s dream with lots of glass cabinet space, two separate sinks, a bar and bar stools with heart-shaped backs. Below is a pic of Helen in the kitchen, in her element. She loves cooking, hostessing, decorating, designing – a very creative, giving person. She and her husband were wonderful hosts.

You can see the kitchen bar chairs with the ornate backs here below.

Helen chose beautiful, Italian pics for her home, like this wine one below.

Below is the formal dining room where we ate dinner. Helen made a delicious salad that was almost too beautiful to eat with its bright colors. Our plates were set on large decorative chargers, which is a  classic plate for formal dining parties. She showed me how she uniquely folds napkins, with a sprig of holiday berries or decorative fruit tucked into it. Everything she does is with excellence. Her creativity amazed me. It’s all in the presentation!

Below is a pic of my favorite room in their house, the family den with stone walls. I loved the stone. The couches were so comfortable, they had a big screen t.v. that fitted inside the wall which Ray would have loved, and a fireplace made the room cozy. Helen and I sat here Monday morning, just sharing our hearts. This is a special memory I have from my trip.

Helen had some baby kittens who were adorable. Leah would have loved them. They ran and jumped and hardly stayed still long enough for me to take a picture for Leah. This one turned out blurry. They were so cute!

I am so thankful for this incredible trip. God is so good. Stay tuned for part 10 of my Canada Trip Blog Series, where I’ll share pictures from the breathtakingly beautiful Rockies in Canada.

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