Back with more Jelly Beans!

A few weeks ago, I wrote this article about Jelly Bean Row. If you missed it, Jelly Bean Row is the nickname for an area in St. John’s, Newfoundland where the houses are painted beautiful bright colours — just like jelly beans :-)

“4 Boats” by Jim Costello. St. John’s Harbour from South Side Road.

One of our blog visitors who commented on my article is Geoff Meeker. Geoff is the Director of Jellybean Row (slightly different spelling to mine). Jellybean Row creates home decor products modeled after the houses on Jelly Bean Row. I e-mailed Geoff to thank him for commenting on my article, and he provided me with more information about Jelly Bean Row and Jellybean Row. Confused yet?! ;-)

The houses of Jelly Bean Row

The term Jelly Bean Row was coined sometime in the 1970s. People started restoring and gentrifying dozens of heritage homes in downtown St. John’s that were at risk of demolition. The term “Jelly Bean Row” was first used around this time to describe a row of brightly coloured townhouses on Forest Road.

Nobody knows for sure why the houses in Jelly Bean Row were originally painted such bright colours. One story says it was to guide fishermen home in the fog. But the entrance to the harbour is a mile away from Jelly Bean Row, so that’s not really a plausible explanation.

A more likely reason for the bright colours is that they were used to counteract the foggy gray weather that’s common in St. John’s.

And Michelle from A Schematic Life has another explanation — the houses are so colourful because they used to be painted with the leftover paint from the fishing boats.

Whatever the reason, Jelly Bean Row is definitely a unique and colourful area of St. John’s :-)

Homes in Jelly Bean Row that sold for $18,000 in the 1980s and were restored and maintained can now fetch as much as $400,000!! That’ll buy you a whole lotta jelly beans!!!!

The artwork of Jellybean Row

Jellybean Row is fun, creative, and unique artwork that brings the colours of St. John’s right into your home :-) It is a series of vibrantly-coloured Victorian style house images modeled after the heritage homes on some of the oldest streets in North America.

The interchangeable art houses hang on your wall. Because there is no frame or matte, the houses can be placed together, creating a genuine row house effect — your very own mini Jelly Bean Row!! You could hang a series diagonally on a staircase wall and replicate the look of the real houses on St. John’s sloped streets…

And how cute is this — Jellybean Row houses decorated for Christmas!!

The Christmas houses have snow, lights, decorations and “a subtle dusk light that brings out the warm glow of an old fashioned Christmas… under incandescent light, the windows glow as if powered from within. It instantly, almost magically, changes the look of a room.” (Geoff Meeker)

Check out www.jellybeanrow.com if you want to read more about Jellybean Row or buy your very own colourful Jellybean Row house—for a lot less than $400,000!!

All pictures of The houses of Jelly Bean Row from www.flickr.com

All pictures of the artwork of Jellybean Row from www.jellybeanrow.com

Special thanks to Geoff Meeker for providing Great information about both :-)