The Citizen, 2007-12-20, Page 33Agnes TenPas loves decorating for
the holidays. Over the years she has
amassed a vast collection of festive
decor that always worked beautifully
in her homes.
A few years ago, she and her
husband Hank downsized from a
spacious two-bedroom home to a
“granny flat”, and the challenge now
was to find a way to bring those
holiday touches to a much smaller
space.
Having kept all of her decorations
with the exception of a large
Christmas tree, thanks to ample
basement storage, TenPas was
faced with whether she could use
her all of her favourite things in
her compact home without
overdoing. She wanted to be able to
give each of her rooms a complete
festive look, without them looking
cluttered.
By focussing on keeping her space
functional and making use of every
available open space, she has found
the secret.
The most important thing as far as
TenPas is concerned is that
decorating any area should be about
personal taste and style
“It’s what’s in you. If you’re
a candle person, go with
candles.”
A theme is also helpful.
“That’s the secret. Find that theme,
even if it’s going by a plate or
colour.”
TenPas picks a theme for each
room of her house. The dining area
is silver, the kitchen snowpeople. In
the living room are angels and her
hallway is adorned with birds and a
natural look.
In TenPas’s home, the combined
kitchen and dining room is a perfect
example of how to blend and carry
through themes from room to room.
A crisp, cool silver decor begins to
shift to snowpeople as the eye moves
to the kitchen.
Another very important thing
when decorating small spaces is to
make sure you aren’t creating a
living space that you can no longer
live in.
“You want to be able to still
set things on tables and you
don’t want to be tripping over
things when you’re trying to
make your way around the
rooms. Consider as well how many
are living in the house and their
ages.”
“Make sure you have freedom of
movement. You have to have the
feeling that this is a place to live in,
not a showroom.”
Work with groupings and lighting
in your displays to try and achieve
a sense that everything was meant
to be where it was, and “if it feels
like too much, take something
away.”
Most importantly, consider why
you decorate. “I don’t do any of this
for show. I do it for myself.”
Making good use of space
Keep it livable
After downsizing to a ‘granny flat’ from their spacious two-
bedroom home, Agnes TenPas has managed to find a way
to use all her holiday decorations, while maintaining a home
that feels uncluttered. Clockwise from above: with an
extensive collective of festive tableware, the settings
change weekly; angels hold a place of honour in the living
room; festive snowmen grace the top of cabinets and
corners of the kitchen; sparkling silver and a crystal reindeer
and sleigh make an impressive display to adorn an antique
china cabinet; the construction of some storage space
created a spacious area perfect for a winter wonderland
scene of trees and snowpeople. (Bonnie Gropp photos)
MMMM eeee rrrr rrrr yyyy CCCC hhhh rrrr iiii ssss tttt mmmm aaaa ssss
Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007
Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County
from the staff at The Citizen
By Bonnie Gropp
The Citizen