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You could say that Christmas is Alec Puskas’ life. It certainly consumes most of his working days and is never far from his thoughts.

Puskas has designed year-round commercial and window displays for companies such as Vulcan Enterprises, Luly Yang and Silberman Brown Stationers; designed and staged model units for condominium buildings; and helped residential clients with everything from choosing paint colors to redecorating entire homes.

But two-thirds of his company’s business is tied to the holidays, and for much of the year, about half of Visionart’s 2,500-square-foot SoDo warehouse is filled with artificial trees, strings of lights, colored balls, wreaths, giant candy canes and assorted other accoutrements of the season. He has turned a corporate lobby into a fanciful North Pole (with penguins and polar bears), installed a 40-foot tree at the Space Needle and for the past 12 years has been bringing holiday cheer to the homes of dozens of private clients—none of whose names he can divulge. “One of my clients flew me to Hawaii to decorate their homes in Hawaii for three years in a row,” he says.

Every January, Puskas attends the Holiday & Home Expo at the Dallas Market Center, where he collects ideas and places his orders for the holiday season 10 months away. When he returns to Seattle, he meets with his private and corporate clients to plan their next season’s decor, then takes a break from Christmas until about June, when the orders start pouring in and he has to unpack, organize and begin assembling decorations.

Though the holidays are his busiest time of year, for the past five years, Puskas has decorated a tree for Providence O’Christmas Trees, which raises funds for Providence Senior and Community Services. He starts that project in September, then stores the tree at his warehouse until the day after Thanksgiving, when it is moved to the Westin Seattle for the charity’s annual holiday events. For the 2008 auction, his “Champagne and Caviar” tree (sponsored by Seattle Caviar with champagne donated by Barefoot Winery) is an elegant champagne-colored tree with decorations in shades of chocolate, cream and copper.

Christmas comes early at Puskas’ own home too. The house he shares with Ron Garrison, his partner of 18 years, is always decorated by Halloween and stays that way until every inch of garland and ounce of sparkle from his clients’ homes and businesses has been stashed in the warehouse. “It’s kind of like the shoemaker’s children,” Puskas says. “If I don’t do it at the end of October, it doesn’t get done. I live with it for about three months.”

In October and November, when shoppers are just starting to think about the holidays, the Visionart warehouse is abuzz with activity. Lights are attached to cases of garland, ornaments are secured to trees and trees are wrapped in plastic and put on dollies for transport. Soon, the elegant trees and wreaths with their lime-green, orange, gold and copper balls have been moved to the Pan Pacific Hotel, and a trio of black, silver and white trees to the Space Needle, where Puskas puts up the Santa booth, and decorates the restaurant, retail area, banquet space, observation deck—everything except the tree on top.

By the first week of December, all of his commercial clients are ready for the season, and by the middle of the month, every light has been lit and every tree topped in the homes of his private clients; then, finally, Puskas gets to relax. That’s when he throws a big party for 100 or so of his closest friends, giving them a sneak peak at his newest decorating ideas. “I like to push the envelope and do things differently—and I can do that in my own home,” he says.

For 2007, he chose a black-and-white theme, inspired by his three-and-a-half-year-old dalmatian, Malcolm, and also by trends Puskas saw at the January 2007 Holiday & Home Expo. He loved the elegant black trees at the show but knew black for Christmas might be a hard sell for clients, who sometimes have to see something to believe it will work in their own home or business.

In his living room, décor was easy because the furniture already fit the color scheme, with a sleek white leather sofa, black-framed prints, mirrored coffee tables and a white fireplace mantel. For the holidays, Puskas added a black artificial tree covered with black, white and silver baubles, a wreath made of black and silver balls, crystal votives and a hint of playfulness with gray-and-white penguins on the mantel.

In the entryway, he suspended an 8-foot white tree upside down above the grand piano, securing it with an aircraft cable and a boat winch in the attic. Shimmery icicles and black-and-silver ornaments exude glamour and provide dramatic contrast. At the top (or bottom) of the inverted tree, Puskas added a whimsical touch: An inquisitive seal greets visitors as they ascend the open stairway.

Despite years of decorating homes, offices and public spaces for other people for Christmas, Puskas isn’t tired of it. “I’ve found something I really love to do,” he says simply. And he’s gratified by the feedback he gets from clients as well as the general public; what means the most to him is “to have them be so in awe of everything I’ve put together for them and put a big smile on their face.”

“People still love Christmas—the excitement, the anticipation,” Puskas says. “It gives them hope. It sounds corny, but it’s really true.”

Design Details
Interior Designer
Alec Puskas, Visionart, LLC, (206) 328-4537