Private Quarters: Christmas extravaganza in Ellijay

Home and Garden

Private Quarters: Christmas extravaganza in Ellijay

No rooms go undecorated in Marcelle Rolan’s home during the holidays. “I am the queen of spray paint,” she says, laughing.

Marcelle Rolan spends about six weeks preparing her and husband Calvin’s north Georgia home for the holidays. Her DIY decor includes swags, garlands, wreaths and more than a dozen Christmas trees, which join nativity scenes and elaborate table settings.--Text by Lori Johnston

The window-filled second floor holds one of the home's more than a dozen Christmas trees. The color palette of the tree decorations matches the bedspread in the guest bedroom.

A rustic-themed room on the third floor is designed for kids, with a collection of bears and stockings filling a tree.

Marcelle Rolan collects angels, which are all over the house and in her Christmas trees. Rolan gathers holiday decor ideas throughout the year by looking at displays at flower shops and saving ideas from magazines including Southern Living, Architectural Digest and Traditional Home.

Marcelle Rolan hunts through antique stores and flea markets to find one-of-a-kind furniture and accessories for her home. She found the round kitchen table at Blackberry Mountain Antiques in Ellijay.

The fallow deer antler chair backs have a striking shape, resembling an open hand with fingers extended. The cypress wood bowl on the table - from Mountain Valley Farm Store in Hartwell - is filed with greenery and candles.

The sunny dining room has a formal look with a Jacobean English oak table. The table, chairs, buffet and draw leaf table were purchased 30 years ago at an antique store in Calhoun.

The dining room is the first room Marcelle Rolan finished in her 2014 holiday decorating. The tablescape gets the holiday treatment with deer-themed plates from her sister, red chargers, and a mixture of red and gold bows, balls and more for the centerpiece.

The sunroom is homeowner Marcelle Rolan's favorite room in her Ellijay home. This Christmas, she's decorated it in blue, white and silver, using pieces such as Blue Willow dinnerware. Floyd Flanders wicker furniture was purchased at Carpets of Dalton.

In updating the home, Calvin and Marcelle Rolan replaced Corian countertops with granite from Premier Surfaces in Alpharetta and added an island. The home was built in 1988 and they purchased it in 2009.

The spiral staircase located at one entryway to the home isn't ignored in the decorations. A smaller tree - one of more than a dozen in the house - and garland up the stairwell all were crafted by homeowner Marcelle Rolan.

The holiday touches extend to the guest bathroom, with a wreath on the tile walls and containers holding ornaments. The bathroom faucets and fixtures were replaced in the renovation of the Ellijay home.

A garland decorated with gold mesh ribbon and ornaments is draped over the top of the headboard in the master bedroom. Marcelle Rolan spray-painted the gold headboard, which she has had for more than 40 years, with black paint and touched it up with gold. The bedding is from Bed, Bath & Beyond.

One of the nativity scenes in the Ellijay home is on an antique buffet the couple has owned for more than 30 years. The gold candles cast a glow on the scene.

Carved wood bar stools at the kitchen island - part of renovations - reflect the home's traditional antique lodge interiors.

Homeowner Calvin Rolan built the Kentucky flintlock rifle, and his wife, Marcelle, fit in Christmas decorations using pine cones, deer antlers and burlap below it on the mantle.

Solar panels, which have lowered their power bills, can be viewed from a bedroom on the second floor and elsewhere in the home, which has an abundance of windows.

Solar panels, which have lowered their power bills, can be viewed from a bedroom on the second floor and elsewhere in the home, which has an abundance of windows.

Another holiday scene leads to the elevator in the three-story Ellijay home, which has 5,324 square feet.

The couple collects prints by Ben Hampton of Chattanooga, Tenn., including his work that reflects Indians in the Southeast U.S.

Ornate furnishings in the master bedroom include carved chairs with spindles from an auction company in Ellijay. A nativity scene and embellishments such as tassels match the gold garland above the bed across the room.

Thomas Kinkade paintings, accented by picture lighting, fit with the home's bucolic setting on 10 acres on top of a ridge in north Georgia. The homeowners have an array of antique furniture.

Calvin and Marcelle Rolan purchased the European lodge-style home in December 2009, and Marcelle spends about six weeks decorating for Christmas. Groups in Ellijay often tour the home to view the holiday decor.

A total of 16 wreaths are lined up outside the home, which originally was brick with yellow aluminum siding and a red metal roof. The metal siding was replaced with log siding and Perma-Chink.

The newest addition to the Ellijay property are the steel gates, which have a woodland scene design. Automated Creations of Blue Ridge installed the gate.

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Marcelle Rolan spends about six weeks preparing her and husband Calvin’s north Georgia home for the holidays. Her DIY decor includes swags, garlands, wreaths and more than a dozen Christmas trees, which join nativity scenes and elaborate table settings.--Text by Lori Johnston

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