Scott-Riker lavish, dramatic yule decor

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This is a home where the candles are lighted for every party. And most nights are a party at the home of Michael Scott and Thomas Riker.

An interior designer for Robb & Stucky, Scott conceives of the idea and Riker helps execute.

For the holidays, this means that the couple's north Phoenix home, remodeled to accommodate entertaining and a lifetime of collecting antique furniture and objets d'arts, is transformed even further with glitter, faux greenery, ribbons and lots of candle glow.

Scott's holiday decorating principle is to create large, dramatic focal points. Don't overdo, but what you do choose to decorate, do so lavishly.

"The bigger, the better," Scott says.

The home, with its high ceilings, tiled floors, creamy plastered walls and columns, provides a perfect backdrop for holiday glitter and glow.

Inside the entryway, a dining-room table, covered with a swath of embroidered organza, is decorated for a holiday buffet.

The centerpiece is a lush garland loaded with deeply colored, satiny balls, fruit, pine cones and yards of ribbon tucked into the pine boughs. Serving pieces nestle in the garland. Scott stacks books, candles and other objects, creating a dramatic multilevel showpiece as well as a practical serving piece. Overhead are two silver chandeliers, each with eight pillars dutifully lighted for dinners.

The other main focal point in this room is the mirror above a marble-topped serving table. A swag of greenery hangs from the top of the mirror and flows down one side. It's filled with coils of gold ribbon trailing down the garland. Crystal icicles hang from the garland.

These kinds of touches are in the adjacent library and the great room.

In the master bedroom, Scott dispensed with ribbon, ornaments and icicles, and used lights on a swag of garland.

This year, his color is gold. Last year, his scheme was red and gold. He likes to mix it up year after year, but his ribbon and trim are recycled and used over and over. He also keeps wrapping paper and package trim to reuse as part of gifts or decorations.

Scott likes the glitz and the natural. He uses both, but separately.

In the library, peacock feathers, rattan balls, grasses and natural ribbons festoon the hefty garland swag.

In the great room, large gold balls are clustered with smaller ones. Icicles add dimension and more glitter. Scott pays careful attention to scale and perspective.

"The bigger, the better," Scott says, especially in many Valley homes whose tall ceilings otherwise can dwarf dainty swags of greenery and strings of lights.

Reach the reporter at susan .felt@arizonarepublic.com and at (602) 444-8246.

Holiday decorations in the Phoenix home of interior designer Michael Scott (right) and Thomas Riker.