Southern Home Holiday Home Style 2016

Planning for Christmas offers an excellent opportunity for thinking like an interior designer. Why not move furniture pieces that have occupied the same spaces for months, store a portion of the room’s decorative items, and create a fabulous setting for special celebrations with those you love? Although I reserve the two days following Thanksgiving for adorning my house and a towering evergreen, I start thinking of the approaching season and making lists long before November arrives. Many years, I have crafted a decorator look, using a coordinated color scheme for ribbons, candles, garlands, gift wrap, and ornaments. Other times, I simply opened the storage boxes, pulled out mementos from the past, and fashioned a more relaxed, multicolor theme. Whether I am pondering a casual or a formal approach for my at-home holiday…

“I love natural materials and can’t stand skimpy garlands,” jokes interior decorator D.A. Tynes (a.k.a. Dawn Ann). “You really need to honor the scale and proportion of your rooms and work to create that perfect balance, even with holiday décor,” she adds. A spot-on visionary with a trained eye for design, D.A. has been practicing her skills on a broad level for more than twenty years. Her repertoire includes full-service commercial and residential jobs, as well as top-to-bottom show-house projects. D.A.’s sense of style is cleverly articulated throughout her own home, where the expansive spaces command embellishments of significant magnitude. “I’ve been dabbling in decorating my whole life,” notes this economics graduate, who later returned to college to study interior design. “I’ve watched my tastes evolve over the years, and it seems…

“FOR CHRISTMAS IS TRADITION TIME—TRADITIONS THAT RECALL / THE PRECIOUS MEMORIES DOWN THE YEARS, / THE SAMENESS OF THEM ALL.” —Helen Lowrie Marshall…

The Christmas trees are decorated with elephants, zebras, giraffes, and clowns; the table is graced with a fishbowl filled with plump oranges; and tarlatan stockings hang near a Victorian mantel. Ladies and gentlemen, let the show of shows begin! Come late fall, Wendy Addison turns Theatre of Dreams, a combination shop/ studio and her private residence, into a holiday extravaganza. “In my world, it’s not only Christmas that is made of magic,” she says. “Magic is for every day.” Wendy, an artist, takes old sheet music, tarnished tinsel, vintage crepe paper, Victorian ephemera, and German glass glitter and transforms them into what she calls “objects for an imaginary life.” “IN MY WORLD, IT’S NOT ONLY CHRISTMAS THAT IS MADE OF MAGIC. MAGIC IS FOR EVERY DAY.” —Wendy Addison Ornaments, masks, hand-cut silhouettes, tiny pieces…

“PEACE ON THE EARTH, GOODWILL TO MEN, FROM HEAVEN’S ALL-GRACIOUS KING! THE WORLD IN SOLEMN STILLNESS LAY, TO HEAR THE ANGELS SING.” —Edmund Hamilton Sears…

When it comes to decking the halls, Janet Rooney has always been exuberant. “I suppose more is more,” she says with a laugh, “and more is better.” Treasures from relatives have sparked vignettes throughout her home. The dining room features a wedding present from her late husband’s parents—an exquisite tea set Janet displays with other vintage silver finds. Emphasizing the rich patina of the accoutrements, natural elements contribute Yuletide flair to the stunning grouping. Nearly twenty-five years ago, her brother gave the couple a Department 56 “The Old Curiosity Shop.” Charmed by the English architecture of the Dickens’ Village Series, Janet and Ralph expanded their wee hamlet over the decades, adding buildings and accessories to the landscape of miniatures. Varying the placement of seasonal trimmings showcases their versatility. European-style Santas from the Lynn…