Joy Conyers loves to decorate for the Christmas holidays. Joy Conyers has already decorated her home’s Christmas tree three times and there are still 12 days left until the big day — maybe time for a fourth!
“I enjoy working with colors — anything that has to do with color, I’m into,” says the Harrison resident.
And she’s got an eye for it.
Conyers was creating color-themed trees — purple, lavender, teal, lime green, copper and other combos — before the “nontraditional tree” ever came into fashion this season. In 30 years she has never reused a color scheme, she says.
Six wire trees on a kitchen sideboard are combined with sugared berries and cotton batting for a frosty winter setting.Conyers goes all out for the holidays — even wrapping pictures on the walls of her home in paper to make beribboned packages that coordinate with the theme of a room’s tree. She decorates adjoining rooms in floral centerpieces and table settings in coordinating colors and ornaments.
For 15 years she has been part of the beautification committee that decorates Hawkinsville Missionary Baptist Church for the holidays. She loves the season so much, she willingly volunteers her skills to anyone who wants decorating help — from her own friends to the East Brainerd nail salon she patronizes.
This Christmas tree decorates the wall next to the stairway leading to the basement. “She does have a definite flair for decorating,” says Jacqueline Lyons, Hawkinsville church member. “This year she used a wisteria purple and lime green combination for the Christmas decorations at the church. They are gorgeous! I never would have thought to put those two colors together, but they turned out beautifully.
“Any events we have at church, such as the Marriage Ministry’s Black and White Gala, she does all the decorations. She’s a very creative person, and it’s something she naturally loves. She really is our go-to person … and she has a good team of people that help her,” says Lyons.
Conyers’ dining room tree hasn’t come down since last Christmas. Earlier this year she decorated it in purple; then, when happy with that look, she took everything off and boxed all the ribbons, lights and ornaments.
She decorated the tree a second time, “then I went to a Christmas open house, came home and took everything down and started over,” she laughs.
This current third incarnation of her living room tree is an elegant combination of red and leopard print shimmering in 800 twinkling white lights. She covered the 7-foot tree in 30 bows (which used 20 yards of three colors of ribbon), leopard-print poinsettia blossoms and five dozen ornaments that are restrained to either chocolate brown or red balls in three finishes of matte, glittered or satin. Leopard ribbon wraps the circumference of some. She filled between branches with red flocked leaves and gold-glittered picks. A leopard-print skirt surrounds the foot of the tree; a tree topper she made by combining four separate pieces crowns it.
A 5-foot teal and copper wall tree in the kitchen, above, complements the room’s teal decor.In her kitchen, a 5-foot tree hangs on the wall decorated in teal and copper to complement the room’s rich teal walls. She has decorated it with seven teal and five copper poinsettia blossoms, orange lights, eight copper snowflakes, copper balls and a teal snowflake topper.
“My color combinations are whatever I like at the time. I am constantly picking up decorations as I find them. I love to see the finished project — love to see it come together,” she says of her style.
Conyers is employed as the pharmacy manager at the Harrison Bi-Lo. Her husband, Fred, is retired.
“If she stopped decorating so much, she might be able to retire, too,” he kids.
But Conyers is already formulating a plan to get a return on her talent. Just like the purple tree’s decorations, she will box the red and leopard ornaments also. They are the first of a tree-in-a-box idea she is formulating to sell complete tree-decoration packages for 7-foot trees online. She plans to launch these package deals on eBay when she has five themes finished and boxed.
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.