Christmas on Crocus Hill

European inspiration comes home for the holidays

By Suzy Feine

Photo by John Abernathy

When Tim Ricker was just 10 years old, he would frugally save his allowance—not for candy or toys like many young boys, but to purchase items to decorate his bedroom. Ricker was unaware at the time that his lifelong passion for interior decorating was in the formative stages. ¶ David Lepak, on the other hand, was mesmerized by the decorated Christmas trees at Dayton’s department store in Minneapolis as a child. “One year, I purchased a fake tree and lights with my own money and decorated the tree for the holidays,” he says. “I wanted it to look just like those trees at Dayton’s.” ¶ It should be no surprise, then, that as adults Ricker and Lepak annually entertain their childhood ambitions when decorating their European-inspired Crocus Hill home for the holidays. During this weekend-long event, Lepak and Ricker, an interior designer for Traditions, transform each room of the 1926 estate into a holiday haven. “We like it so much that we took pictures of everything in 2005 so that we can recreate it,” Lepak says. “It’s a puzzle we put back together every year.”

Decorating kicks off the Friday after Thanksgiving when the pair purchases two Frazier fir trees from the local farmer’s market. The wine flows, but the food is minimal—these three days are all about working and creating a beautiful holiday home. As Ricker and Lepak lug more than 20 boxes upstairs from the basement, treasured Christmas mementos emerge: lavish ornaments in gold, silver, and clear glass; more than 100 Christopher Radko ornaments; individually wrapped antlers and pheasant feathers; and garlands and wreaths. “We had some things made at Nature’s Harvest in Wayzata,” Ricker says. “That was our one huge investment for the holiday season. For the investment, it’s nice to have something we can reuse.”

Photo by john abernathy

Each item has its place in this holiday decorating puzzle, as Ricker recreates what he likes to call his “European hunting lodge” theme, based on a neutral color palette of rich gold tones, earthy browns, and shimmery silvers. “Then we intermix it with antlers and pheasant feathers to bring down the look,” Ricker says. “We keep it pretty simple without being gaudy and over the top. There’s that fine line you can cross.”

Ricker adorns the living room armoire with a garland made of mixed greens that swirls around antique, leather-bound books. Swags of pinecones, greenery, and pheasant feathers are hung on either side of a tapestry over the brown velvet sofa by EJ Victor of North Carolina. Two more swags garnish wall sconces opposite the tapestry. On the walls, antique taxidermy and faux horns receive necklaces of ribbons or wreaths. Fresh poinsettias spill from urns.

While Ricker decorates, Lepak assumes light-stringing duty for both trees. “It takes me two hours per tree to put the lights on because I wrap them around each branch,” he says. “There are 1,600 white lights on each tree.” One tree is placed in the family room and decorated with their Christopher Radko collection. These fine, European glass ornaments, which Ricker and Lepak have collected for years, are a fitting accompaniment to their theme.

Photo by john abernathy

The second, more formal tree in the sunroom is decked out in silver, gold, and glass ornaments. Antlers weave throughout the ornaments and pheasant feathers burst from the uppermost branches in lieu of a tree-topper. A fur throw is the fitting tree skirt for this elegant display.

In the kitchen, Ricker trims the double Sub-Zero refrigerators, which are hidden behind furniture-style custom cabinetry, with evergreen boughs studded with rosehips, antlers, and stuffed pheasants. Bay-leaf wreaths hang from brown satin ribbons in the four French windows, and feather balls with greenery fill the glass urn atop the marble-topped center island.

Guests arriving for Ricker and Lepak’s annual holiday celebration are greeted outside by white, twinkle lights in the large apple tree, rugged urns filled with lights that bookend the stairs leading to the front door, and window boxes overflowing with greenery. More urns, planted with small trees and decorated with white lights, surround the seventeenth-century bronze fountain centered in the koi pond. Inside, while a warm fire glows, drinks are served and the festivities begin. “We really like to have friends and family over for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day dinner at our house,” Ricker says.

Guests gather in the dining room where each pewter stag’s head eggcup holds a single silver egg and is dressed with greenery. Sprigs of bay leaf placed in the greenery serve as place cards set before Arte Italica pewter-trimmed white dinnerware. While guests enjoy Lepak’s multi-course feast, both Ricker and Lepak reflect on the true meaning behind their decorating efforts. “We like entertaining our friends and families, and it’s nice to have a place that’s really comfortable and draws people to it,” Lepak says. “I think we decorate more for the comfort and pleasure of other people.”

Suzy Feine is a freelance writer and editor from Elko.

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