Homeowners, designers work together to create beautiful decor for holiday tours
Need to spice up your home for the holidays? Each year more than a dozen organizations in the Kansas City area offer home tours, all fundraisers.
Bobbie Fisher, organizer of the Kansas City Symphony Guild’s Homes of Note tour, said they are a great source of ideas and inspiration for holiday decorating.
Homes of Note, in its 41st year, combined with the spring cabaret fundraiser, raises between $35,000 and $60,000 each year. This year the tour features three homes in the Staley Farms Golf Community in the Northland.
Homeowners Tina and Pat Duncan are working with floral designer Rhonda Ruble to create a “contemporary rustic lodge” look. Ruble will include traditional red and gold accents, wooden reindeer and Santas, but mostly she’ll work with bare branches.
Ruble, floral manager at Cosentino’s Price Chopper in Kansas City, has decorated for Homes of Note since 2009. She said she likes to “make people go ‘Hmmm. I never thought of that.’ ” Don’t expect a traditional Christmas tree — Ruble’s will be 10 to 12 feet tall and composed of crisscrossed bare branches with interspersed lights. “Woodland with a twist,” she calls it.
Liz and Kent Anderson’s home will be much more traditional. They’re working closely with seasonal decorator Gail Stevens. Liz Anderson and Stevens have collaborated to create themes for each room. Anderson said, “Gail has an incredible talent to take simple items and make them look fabulous.”
The Anderson house will include three artificial Christmas trees and incorporate ornaments that the family has collected. The Andersons’ daughters are grown, but Anderson said she asked Stevens to use ornaments that are important to them, like Barbies and Hallmark houses, on one of the trees.
Stevens and Anderson started planning six weeks ago and will spend about three weeks arranging each room. She said the idea in her dining room “was to keep things neutral and highlight the Limoges porcelain that belonged to my husband’s grandmother. We wanted this room to be silver and gold and cream, to have a neutral formal theme yet be comfortable and relaxing.”
Her round wooden kitchen table, overlooking the rough of a golf course and a wooded area, is crossed with two red-and-green plaid runners. Four places are set with the simple Christmas dishes Anderson’s mother gave her years ago. A hutch, which belonged to her great-grandmother, lends more Christmastime colors to the room with a collection of signed Gail Pittman pottery from the early 1990s.
Stevens is mostly using what the family already owns, though she’s brought in a few new pieces for scale and additional visual interest, most notably a giant Santa Claus for the lower level living room mantel, and some large glass vases.
The tour’s third home belongs to Kirsten and Chad Pickens and is a family home — always popular on the tours, Fisher said, because visitors love to see children’s decor.
Floral designer John Shackelford is creating the arrangements for and helping decorate the Pickens’ house. He’s worked on the guild’s home tours for over 20 years and knows when kids are involved it’s best to simply make the house as pretty as possible, but mostly keep it casual.
In fact, Kirsten Pickens says “casual chic” is how she’d describe the look of her house, not just at Christmas, but year-round.
Pickens and Shackelford won’t introduce new pieces for the tour. “It will be more formal and elegant when you first walk in, then less formal as you go farther into the house,” Shackelford said. Christmas trees will be the formality gauge throughout the house.
The most classically decorated tree is positioned in the family’s hearth room and will use a lot of bronze and gold blown glass ornaments that a designer purchased for Pickens over the years.
The kitchen tree will be the “fun and nostalgic tree,” Pickens said, “full of bright colors and big ornaments. Also on it is all the history of our kids, pictures of them and things they’ve made.”
Their school-aged kids even have trees in their bedrooms. The daughters are into school so their tree is decorated for education with lots of nods to the centaur Chiron, a teacher in Greek mythology. Their son’s tree will exhibit a variety of superhero ornaments.
Each year the event draws 600 to 1,000 visitors who can expect to enjoy music by volunteer musicians in each of the homes.
Homes of Note Tour: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Nov. 11. Tour three homes in the Staley Farms Golf Community in the Northland. Tickets are $15 at Northland Price Chopper, Hy-Vee and Hen House stores; $16 online and $20 at the door the day of the event. A holiday gift boutique will be set up in the clubhouse at 10310 N. Olive Ave. Visit KCSymphonyGuild.org for more information.
Liberty Holiday Home Tour: Five historic homes 1-5 p.m. Nov. 14. Tickets are $15 in advance online; at the Red Apron, 1090 County Road H; and at Liberty Women’s Clinic, 11 N. Gallatin St.; $20 at the door. Visit Strides4Life.com for more information.
Johnson County Young Matrons: Four homes. 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Nov. 17; $20 in advance at Hy-Vee, Price Chopper or Hen House. $25 at the door. Boutique is open noon-9 p.m. Nov. 16, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Nov. 17 at the Ritz Charles, 9000 W. 137th St., Overland Park. Benefits several local charities. JCYM.net.
Liberty Soroptimist Homes Tour: Four homes. 1-5 p.m. Nov. 17; $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Tickets may be purchased at Platte Valley Bank, Liberty, or Hair Lines, 1170 W. Kansas, Liberty, or by emailing Carrie Phares at clphares@hotmail .com. Benefits local charities and scholarships for girls.
Topeka CASA tour: Four homes. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Nov. 21-22. tickets are $10 in advance at Topeka area Hy-Vee and Walgreens stores, and other area locations noted on the CASA website. $12 at the door. Benefits children caught up in court/foster system. http://www.casaofshawnee county.com.
Westport Historical Society-Christmas Candlelight Tour: Tour the 1855 Harris-Kearney House to see festive decorations, enjoy Christmas Eve scenarios and refreshments. Tours begin every 15 minutes from 6 to 9 p.m. Nov. 27-28. Adults: $10; seniors and active military: $8; students: $6; children 6 and under are free. Reservations are not required, but can be made by calling 816-561-1821 or 913-648-0952.
Bingham-Waggoner Estate: Tour of the house. 26-room decorated historic home. 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Saturday, 1-4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27-Dec. 30. Twilight tour 4-7 p.m. Dec. 6. Admission $6 adults, $3 for kids 16 and younger. Tea room and gift shop open during business hours. Funds raised help preserve the estate. BWEstate.org.
64th Annual Kappa Kappa Gamma tour: Five homes. 3-8 p.m. Dec. 2; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Dec. 3; tickets are $25 in advance at Hen House stores or on tour’s website; or $30 at the door. Benefits several local nonprofits. Boutique is at Indian Hills Country Club, 6847 Tomahawk Road, Mission Hills. http://www.kappahomestour.com/
Mantels and Martinis: Eight homes. 5-8:30 p.m. Dec. 3; appetizers and a holiday martini from McCormick Distillery in each home. Benefits Lee’s Summit Special Olympics; athletes will serve as hosts in the homes. Tickets $45, 21 and older only. Price includes a decorated martini glass. www.mantelsandmartinis.com.
Independence Young Matrons Holly and Mistletoe Tour: Four historic homes. 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Dec. 3; Sweet Shop at open in St. Luke’s United Church of Christ, at 727 N. Main. Tickets $12 in advance, see website for outlets; $15 at the door. Benefits community organizations. www. independence young matrons.org.
34th Annual Weston Candlelight Tour: Five historic homes. “Eventful” tour, 5-8:30 p.m. Dec. 4, limited to 300 tickets, $35 each, which includes a light dinner; tour only, noon-8 p.m. Dec. 5; noon-5 p.m. Dec. 6. $15 in advance, $20 day of the tour. For more info, visit the events calendar at WestonMO.com or call 816-640-2909.
Fort Scott Homes for the Holidays Tour: Four historic locations. Moonlight and Mistletoe bus tour, 4:30-6:30 p.m. Dec. 4; $50 (tickets includes buffet, cocktails and weekend tour as well); or self-guided tours 10 a.m.-4 p.m Dec. 5 and 6. Tickets are $15 at Fort Scott Chamber of Commerce, 231 E. Wall St. Benefits the Historic Preservation Association of Bourbon County. HPABC.org.
Ninth Annual Pendleton Heights Home Tour and Artist Market: Five historic homes. Noon-5 p.m. Dec. 5; tour begins at newly remodeled Scuola Vita Nuova Charter School, 535 Garfield. Purchase work of local artists and enjoy a variety of food trucks. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door. Proceeds benefit neighborhood association and the SVN School. PendletonHeights.org.
Vaile Mansion’s Champagne & Chandelier-Happily Ever After: 5:30-8:30 p.m. Dec. 5; tickets are $40 per person and include games, refreshments, chance to win door prizes. 1500 N. Liberty St., Independence. VaileMansion.org.
Health Care Access Holiday Home Tour of Lawrence: Six homes. Noon-5 p.m. Dec. 6; tickets $15 in advance at Weaver’s department store, Sigler pharmacies and both Lawrence Hy-Vee grocery stores; $20 at the door. Holiday Shoppe and bake sale open at the Smith Center at Brandon Woods, 4730 Brandon Woods Terrace. Benefits Health Care Access. HealthCareAccess.org.
Ben Ferrel Platte County Museum — Starry, Starry Night Tour: Noon-5 p.m., Dec. 10-12; $5 adults, $1 kids 12 and under. Tour the museum, which is housed in a refurbished home from 1882. Each room will be decorated for the “Starry Starry Night” theme, as well as with Nativity scenes and Christmas trees. 220 Ferrel St., Platte City. RootsWeb.Ancestry.com.
John Wornall House Candlelight Tour: 6:30-8:30 p.m., Dec. 11-12. Explore Christmas on the frontier with all five of your senses. See, smell, touch, taste and hear Christmas traditions from the Civil War era. Tours leave every 15 minutes and last one hour. Tickets $15 on website, by phone or at door, includes refreshments. 6115 Wornall Road. WornallMajors.org.
Leavenworth Candlelight Vintage Home Tour: 1-7 p.m. Dec. 13. Tour five Leavenworth vintage homes and a loft apartment in the newly renovated old Great Western Stove Factory. Tickets $12 in advance, see website for outlets, or $17 at the door. Benefits Leavenworth County Historical Society. LeavenworthHistory.org.
This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 2:32 AM with the headline "Homeowners, designers work together to create beautiful decor for holiday tours."