Holiday decorating used to be simple. Put a plastic wreath on the front door, hang your stockings with care, and, if you want to get fancy, string lights across the front of the house.
But that is sooo 1960s, like the tinsel-bedecked pine of that era.
These days, indoors and outdoors, glitz is the word.
We deck the halls, banisters, fireplaces, tables, front yards, back decks – sometimes the entire house. We put up megawatt prelighted artificial trees (the newest style is upside-down), start shopping at 5 a.m. and light up the neighborhood.
Brian and Judy Kenna of Centennial start work in early November on the display that fills the front and side yards of their corner lot – and fill them it does.
Among the displays are an inflatable Santa’s workshop; toy soldiers; 4-foot-high candles; angels; giant red bows on the split-rail fence; red signs saying “Santa please stop” and “There’s food for your reindeer; white-lit reindeer; a Madonna and child that Brian Kenna carved by hand; and giant ornaments and candy canes on a large tree in the side yard.
“It takes the two of us the equivalent of five full days” to get everything set up, Brian Kenna says. They have been doing elaborate displays for some 27 years, he said, in the various homes where they’ve lived. His favorite decoration is the Madonna and child, which anchors the display in the center of the front yard – it’s a creation that continues a tradition he began as a child with his father.
Then there are the lights – 16,000 of them. “We had to install two extra breakers” just for them, Judy Kenna says.
“Every once in a while (the wattage) trips a breaker, and we have to track it down and fix it.” The power to keep the display going costs them an extra $75 to $100 a month in electricity, she estimates.
Brian Kenna could only guess how much the couple has spent over the years on all their display items, but it’s “easily in the thousands,” he says.
Still, the couple says it’s worth it. “It’s part of the joy of the season,” Brian says.
The display attracts a crowd, the couple said, as people stop and take pictures and children gather on the sidewalk to take it all in.
“One year somebody left a plate of cookies on our porch with a note that said, ‘Thank you – we enjoy your lights.’ That really makes it rewarding,” Judy Kenna says.
Other festive folks concentrate on the inside of their homes.
Taking note of the customers wanting extra home-décor items, “a trend developed over the past couple of years,” Target offers six themed design elements, including picture frames, pillows, candles and tree skirts.
“We want to make sure we have items for the entire home,” Target spokeswoman Aimee Sands says.
The products range from traditional reds and greens, to opulent white and crystals, to a “shabby chic” line of bright colors and funky items, all designed for “a more modern approach to home décor,” Sands says.
Decorators who want a professional touch have options too.
Designer dl guenin of Rayburn Davis Riverfront Custom Floral in Denver does custom home-decorating for clients who want the look without the fuss. And they’re willing to pay for it.
Many of his customers “do a lot of entertaining for corporations and family, so they like to put up decorations throughout the house.” His company does everything from front-door wreaths to greenery along stairs to the whole house, for $1,500-$3,500.
So much for the simplicity movement.
Business has increased during the past five years, guenin says. “Everybody is so busy, and they want a good end product, and nobody has the time to do it, so they hire a professional.”
Among those is Denver real estate agent Dena Pastorini, who has guenin decorate her penthouse in the Riverfront neighborhood.
“I have him come in and just make it his creation. It’s with some of my treasures that I’ve accumulated over the years, but he incorporates them into his design. He will use the colors that I have in my loft and accentuates what’s there. I trust him.”
Because Pastorini does a lot of holiday entertaining, she spends an average of $2,000 per season getting the professional decorator’s touch.
LeGrue’s Flowers and Decorating Gallery of Denver also has seen its custom-décor business increase in recent years.
“I wish I had four or five crews. I could keep each one busy from the first of November through Dec. 15,” co-owner Allen Bemel says.
Designs include “everything imaginable,” he says, from the traditional reds and greens to peacock, chocolate browns, oranges and vibrant colors. Home and business customers may spend $2,000 for a small decorated tree to close to $10,000 to decorate their entire homes.
Maybe such extravagance is a part of the “nesting” culture we’ve become. Still, why would somebody spend such a sum? After all, aren’t the holidays about peace, love and goodwill? Or does our penchant to punch up the holidays just add up to Christmas excess?
“We’re in a society where, like everything else, we don’t have time,” Bemel says, adding that “people are trying to find companies that are experts at what they do, and it’s a convenience.”
No matter our decorating budgets, trees – symbols of life and faith – are the highlights of most homes. And these days, they’re nothing like Charlie Brown’s forlorn fir.
For one customer, guenin installed a $20,000, 18-foot artificial tree, decked out in custom ornaments to match the home’s décor and “tons of lights,” all of it requiring heavy-duty electrical cords. The tree went up before Thanksgiving and remained until after the National Western Stock Show in mid-January.
When guenin returned to the home to take it down, he noticed the electrical cord and plug were extremely hot.
“I asked (the client) if the cord had been this hot every night when he unplugged it, and he said, ‘Oh, we didn’t know you had to unplug it.’ The tree lights had been on for a solid two months.
“It was pretty warm when I went to take it down.”
The pre-lighted artificial tree is (sometimes literally) the hottest thing in holiday decorating, says Tom Wickland Jr., co-owner of Christmas City in Denver. It’s the glitz factor, he says.
“People want lights. … People want 1,600 lights on a 7 1/2-foot tree,” Wickland says.
Complete the look with a 360-degree rotating tree stand, and you have a display of serious wattage.
That seems to run counter to the energy conservation many of us are working toward this winter. But, “Convenience is No. 1,” Wickland says. “People are sick and tired of needles and mess. … They say, ‘I hate putting lights on and taking them off.’ They just don’t want to do it.”
Staff writer Leslie Lyon can be reached 303-820-1216 or llyon@denverpost.com.
