White And Gold -- The Decorations In This Mercer Island Home Glow Like Fire And Snow

WITH ITS SLEEK, contemporary lines and vanilla-colored interior, Terry and Darlene Deeny's house would be a showplace any time of year. But at Christmas, the Mercer Island residence takes on an added allure. Swags of greenery warm the decor, while gold and crystal ornaments shimmer in the glow of thousands of white lights. The holiday dressings brighten the interior like the flames of a Yule log.

A part-time interior designer and veteran Christmas decorator (she creates all the centerpieces for Providence Hospital's annual Christmas tree auction), Darlene Deeny spends the better part of a month preparing her home for the holidays. "I enjoy doing Christmas things," says the homeowner, sporting a Santa Claus sweatshirt. "I like being creative and seeing the results."

A cutesy Currier-and-Ives approach wouldn't work with the Deenys' white marble floors and stark window walls. "The house has a lot of angles and a lot of design to it," the designer says. "I didn't want anything particular to scream at you; I wanted everything to be very subtle and simple, yet classic."

To avoid upstaging the surroundings (designed by Curtis Gelotte Architects and built by Bender Chaffey Corporation), Deeny kept colors to a minimum, relying on texture and subtle gradations of white and gold to create a seasonal backdrop.

Nearly every room in the house has some sort of holiday accent, customized to fit the flavor and function of the space. In the formal dining room, for instance, the table is embellished with a gold silk runner. In the kitchen and family room, the atmosphere is more playful and the adornments less fragile. A miniature tree trimmed in seashells and coral is paired with a collection of Santa Claus carvings clustered around a tiny sled.

Terry Deeny's woodsy den features an evergreen-shrouded Santa carving and a tree adorned with pine cones, berries and dried flowers. Even the master bedroom gets a seasonal lift from a pair of throw pillows shaped like an angel and a Christmas stocking.

Deeny also dresses her existing accessories with touches of holiday cheer. Flower arrangements are garnished with crystal angels. A bowl of glass fruit is dotted with gold leaves. A topiary tree outside the master bedroom is embellished with white lights and acrylic stars. Even the front doorknob is hung with a festive gold bell.

To keep the decorations from overwhelming the interior, Deeny clusters objects, turning tabletops and corners into miniature still lifes. In the two-story entry hall, she placed pine boughs atop a console table, next to a crystal Nativity wrapped in an antique kimono sash. A couple of ceramic angels frolic underneath, beside a white poinsettia (a red one would have looked too gaudy).

The archway into the living room is draped with a garland; wreaths adorn the marble fireplace and even the window at the end of the hall. Darlene buys artificial greens, then customizes them with dried or silk flowers, ribbon, metallic balls and sprays of imitation pearls. Suction cups allow her to affix the decorations to most any surface without leaving a mark.

To help preserve the home's white carpets, Deeny chose an artificial tree as well. "There are a lot of people that don't like artificial trees," admits the homeowner. She compensates for the lack of fragrance by placing arrangements of fresh pine boughs throughout the house, and inserting evergreen branches into existing bouquets.

Deeny spends about two days decorating the tree. First, she snakes an extension cord up the trunk, so she can plug in the nearly 2,500 lights adorning the boughs. The lights are woven around each individual limb, so there are no cords hanging down between the branches.

Next, Deeny wraps a wire-reinforced ribbon around the tree in a single spiral extending from base to tip. Then, she assembles her ornaments by type, hanging all of one design before proceeding with the next. That way, the pieces are evenly distributed around the tree.

The finished tree looks a little like a wedding cake, its verdant limbs frosted with crystal icicles and ivory, clear and cinnamon-colored balls. Dried white flowers and lacy white fans are tucked between boughs festooned with fabric angels. A larger angel crowns the top.

The base of the tree is shrouded with ivory-colored silk moire and shimmering gold lame. A trio of gold reindeer surveys a sea of presents - dressed in white and gold wrapping, so they match the tree.

Otherwise, she confines her decorations to the interior. Of course, there is that papier-mache carousel horse that would look just perfect alongside the front door. If only she had time to paint it. . .

"There's always next year," she sighs.

Fred Albert reports regularly on home design for Pacific and other regional magazines. Benjamin Benschneider is a Seattle Times photographer.