Today we continue with highlights from the Apex Historical Society's Holiday Homes Tour. Cathy Martin, an artist, and her husband Daniel, a general contractor, bought and updated their home on South Hughes Street in 2006 ... a hundred and one years after it was built.

The Martin's home was known as "The Teacherage," because it was built around 1905 for merchant L. Sears, who boarded teachers working at the nearby Apex District School. According to the Apex Historical Society's literature, it's a two-story Queen Anne dwelling detailed with a pyramidal roof, a wraparound porch supported by Doric columns with a turned balustrade, and a variety of decorative windows. My favorite window being one in the stairwell, an oval stained glass design of cala lilies.

Cathy is an artist, and owns The Red Canvas in downtown Apex. Daniel is a general contractor, and between the two of them, they've made their home into a vision. It's beautiful inside, where many of Cathy's original oil paintings are displayed, and it's beautiful outside, where it's neatly landscaped.

I'd like to focus, though, on the holiday swag on the Martin's mailbox, which is entirely made from natural elements right out of the garden. To create this look yourself, begin with a solid layer of spruce or juniper clippings. Tuck it in the middle with thin wire or twine (that's the arch point that'll fit at the top of your mailbox). On top of that, layer branches of juniper and nandina berries, mix in some boxwood clippings or magnolia leaves, or any evergreen material you have from your garden. Wire it in place, and then add a lush ribbon. Voila!