Another Pretty Awesome Christmas Decorating Job

"You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run..........from a really bad plastic surgery job".

OK, I added that last bit in....did it give you any clue about the reported owner of this pretty awesome (albeit, Baroque) Buckhead home?

What I really like (all kidding aside) about the decor is the split wreath, which we've seen much more of this season in Atlanta. I think it's pretty ingenious to have the wreath split, so you can do larger wreaths on the (seemingly-mandatory in Atlanta) gates. The truth is that with some of these massive sets of gates, a pair of 36-inch wreaths gets lost. Anyway, some brilliant designer created this option, which works beautifully.

For some reason they wouldn't let me pull into the driveway with my truck loaded down with pruning waste (was it the cracked windshield that put them off?), so I had to stalk this one from the street. Check out the garland around the door, which seems to be made of silk poinsettias. Again, it was one of those things that could have been a tacky disaster, but really seems to work on this massive and elaborate house.

Christmas in Atlanta

Driving around Buckhead today, there were a few homes that seemed particularly well done. This first one is on the lawn outside the gates of a massive estate. Very simple and very beautiful, I think. (The deer are life-sized). This second one is so tailored, and just beautiful. What you can't see is that the entire right side of the property is nandina, which is just covered with red berries right now.

The main house of a huge estate, below, where the owners understand that the decorations need to be massive, just to be in scale with the residence. From having catered parties here, I can tell you that the entire property is this well done.

This one below isn't even one of my favorite houses. It's just for all y'all who think every house in Atlanta looks like Tara.

A Few Christmas Shots from the Big House

Some great color from the pansies, despite yesterday's ridiculous rain (3.2 inches!). This is the combination of Delta "Apple Cider Mix" and "Premium Persian Medley". The Kale in the background is "Toscano Laciniato"

At the front door, the English hollies look pretty awesome with the sheer red and gold ribbon. They are filled with white LED lights, which seem to reflect off the variegated foliage and make them really glow at night. The artificial garland always looks very artificial in daylight, but next to the kale, it's perfect!

This variegated boxwood is actually surrounded with pansies. They really are in there somewhere under the cut greens we put in for a few weeks! Perhaps it's just working as fancy mulch!