For the 18th year, the 20-room, Mediterranean-style mansion on the Bok Tower Gardens’ Pinewood Estates property is open for visitors to appreciate the holiday decorations of dozens of volunteers and designers.
“The Holiday Home Tour is our largest fundraiser of the year thanks to scores of visitors who have made this event a family tradition over the years,” said Jennifer Beam, director of Visitor Services and Programs, Bok Tower Gardens.
“We are so excited to finally open Pinewood the day after Thanksgiving after a month of installing more than 15 Christmas trees, hundreds of feet of garland, masses of faux snow and thousands of lights.”
This year’s theme — the “Nature of the Holidays” — allowed designers to let their imaginations run wild when decorating their assigned rooms.
“We saw a wide variety of interpretations of the theme, from using nature literally to the nature of family and traditions,” Beam said.
Although given creative license with the theme, they were asked to use the 1930s — the decade the home was constructed — to build from, as well.
“They asked us to make it feel like the Buck family lives here,” said Loretta Stamps, co-owner of Seaside Sisters of Florida and co-decorator of the largest room in the estate. “We started planning six months ago on how to glamorously transform the living room. This room needed grand decorations. They needed to fit the room with its high ceilings but still have the feeling of home.”
Their design, Woodland Lodge, features permanent elements of the room like a huge chandelier, fireplace and grand piano. One important detail they added was a 12-foot Christmas tree with unwrapped gifts scattered about underneath. The presents are also from the ’30s: a riding outfit for dad to wear on his fox hunts and a mink coat for mom.
“For the children’s gifts, we used porcelain-faced dolls dressed in tartan plaid outfits,” said Diane Albertson, co-owner and decorator with Stamps. “That detail is definitely the ’30s.”
They, along with other Room Design Partners, began the allotted two weeks of decorating their areas Oct. 29, the culmination of months of thought, planning, shopping, creating and worrying.
“My husband asked why we do this and I told him that we had made a commit- ment,” Albertson said. “And, he said, ‘No. You need to be committed.'”
Down the hall, visitors can imagine that when the dinner bell summoned the Buck family and their guests to the dining room, it was the start of something special.
Candace Holladay and Courtney Marshall of Nettle Creek set the table with elegant natural elements and eight-place settings complete with handwritten name cards.
“I did quite a bit of research in preparation for this and decided on the ultra-formal of the 1930s,” said Holladay, owner of Nettle Creek in Winter Haven. She said that although many of the items used in the tour are available at her shop, many are also from her personal collection and on loan from friends and family members.
Creating a guest list most hosts would die for was an enjoyable part of the design.
The Bucks’ guests would include Frank Lloyd Wright, Albert Einstein, Lucille Ball and Virginia Woolf.
“Our menu was taken from several different places I researched like the Biltmore. We have oysters on the half shell and plum pudding, which was very popular then,” Holladay said. “We are truly about the details, infusing nature with the elegance of a formal Christmas dinner.”
Estate guests also may view rooms sponsored by Lori Draper’s Furniture and Accessories, Cornerstone Catering and Events, Dr. and Mrs. Salud, Garden Party Florals, Citizens Bank and Trust, The Ledger Media Group and Water’s Edge Retirement Community.
“In the spring, we began searching for businesses who would like to partner with us and we’d like to partner with,” Beam said. “We look for interior designers and businesses that have some sort of creative element as well as a community connection.”
The common areas like the hallways and gardens are not overlooked; in fact, quite the opposite.
The Home Tour Design Team consists of five volunteers, including leader Rose Kellerman, who conceive and create the designs to be used in the common areas.
Then those ideas are carried through by 15 home tour “angels” who also guide visitors through the areas.
All of the volunteers put in countless hours and, Kellerman, 78, has been a part of it since the first year of the Home Tour.
“The Design Team members really have to have an eye,” Kellerman said. “And they have to be able to take criticism. Sometimes you have all these plans and it just doesn’t work. So you tweak it but sometimes you have to start all over.”
Pat Jones of the Design Team said she always loved decorating for Christmas and being a part of the Home Tour allows her to do just that on a grand scale.
“I can’t imagine Christmas without music so this year my personal theme was ‘Let Heaven and Nature Sing,'” said the Detroit native. She designed the decorations for a huge Christmas tree on a landing at the top of a set of stairs. 30 birdhouses used as ornaments were decorated by volunteers. Small picture frames with photos taken around Bok Tower Gardens are used as ornaments along with other greenery and natural elements.
Funds raised from admission to Pinewood Estate goes right back into Bok Tower Gardens, according to Beam.
“This is just a fun, fun experience and we want families to come here and bring their northern visitors,” Beam said. “People have really made this their family tradition. Annually, there are about 25,000 visitors to the Gardens in December and about half of them will come through Pinewood.”