Floral designer Jake Boone's home isn't just decorated for the holidays, it's dressed to the nines.

Inside the elegant Bolton Hill rowhouse he shares with longtime partner Bryan Jones, the season is celebrated in a dazzling display of color, texture, and luxe style.

"Every year we have family and friends dropping by, and neighbors peeking in the windows to see the decor," says Boone, who juggles roles as a real estate agent for Hill & Company, floral designer and event coordinator. "It's fun."

Fun, fabulous and eco-friendly might be the catchphrases for holiday 2010. From towering trees and glam table settings, to handcrafted ornaments made of paper, many designers in Baltimore and beyond are creating swoon-worthy decor this season, despite the still wobbly economy.

"More is more," says Boone, while strolling through the couple's three-bedroom, three-bath house, filled with antiques and estate sale finds, traditional furnishings and global art.

His holiday tableau complements the home by melding personalized touches and imagination.

For starters, a bronze French chandelier in the dining room is draped with some 350 shimmering ornaments in amethyst and chartreuse hues. Nearby, on a sideboard, twin brushed gold metal "ribbon" trees — each 6 feet tall — are accented with a thick cuff of hydrangea, artichoke and jewel-encrusted grapes.

A table-length swag of gilded magnolia and holly adorns a mahogany table set with eight Chippendale chairs. Faberge eggs, gilded twigs and berries, and sugared pomegranates are artfully arrayed around it. Silver champagne buckets are filled with roses in crimson and purple, while slender 32-inch tapers rest on the mantel of a marble fireplace.

And that's just one room.

The Baltimore native, whose projects have run the gamut from floral set design for film and television shows such as "The West Wing" to private high-end clients, doesn't decorate all at once.

Instead, he sketches ideas, determines a color palette, purchases new supplies and retrieves old favorites from storage. Then, over a period of weeks beginning around mid-November, he begins to execute his grand holiday vision.

"I think about an overall theme," says Boone. "Then I consider the tree — the size, type and where it will be. Floor to ceiling? Maybe on a tabletop, or more than one in several different parts of the house."

"Fresh greens," such as pine, will be incorporated. And of course, expect beautiful, fresh flowers – roses, hydrangea, amaryllis and narcissus, to name a few.

Unabashedly extravagant? Yes. "But always tasteful," Boone says.

Interior designer Linda Hartman, of Severna Park, favors a subtle, yet eye-catching aesthetic when readying homes for the holidays.

"It all depends on what the client wants, and how formal or casual the house, but I tend to do low-key with bits of sparkle and glitz," she explains. "I love using what's natural — pine, poinsettias, woven baskets mixed with evergreen branches, holly and magnolia."

But the centerpiece for Hartman is always the tree. "In my house, our tradition is a 12-foot tree. We get it every year from an old-time tree farm in North Carolina."

Hartman, an associate with the design firm Karen Renee Interior Design Inc., has more than two decades of experience.

Over the years, she has witnessed the shift from once ubiquitous red and green holiday decor, to vivid trees in white, silver and pink, to eclectic ornaments and accessories.

"You're seeing more ornate color schemes, but it's not as much of a head-to-toe coordinated look," she notes. "That's fine, if you wish, but I'm typically more relaxed. You don't want a hodgepodge, but everything doesn't have to match."

The designer recalls one year in which she worked with a client whose house was done in shades of peach, green, and gold.

"They wanted to use glass ornaments from their world travels," she explains, but the colorful collection didn't quite jibe with the existing decor.

So Hartman opted to make gold the focal point, to synchronize the look.

"I bought a lot of big gold balls, beads and ribbon," she says. "The gold tied it altogether, so you didn't notice that maybe some of the ornaments were red. It made a statement."

Creating dramatic spaces is all in a day's work for Samuel Hytovitz, founder/president of The Plant Connection LLC, an interior horticultural service in Randallstown.

His team of artists and plantscapers are behind the towering trees, poinsettia installations and thousands of ribbons, bows and ornaments from around the world that fill Baltimore's Harborplace, The Gallery and the World Trade Center for the holidays.

"The secret to a beautiful tree is to think artistically," says Hytovitz, whose handiwork can also be seen year-round at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium. "It's like creating a painting in terms of color, appropriate size and special touches."

While the award-winning company does mostly commercial work, they also decorate private homes. Hytovitz says he has designed some visually unique trees for his clients' homes.

"One lady, who worked as a clothing buyer, asked for a tree with dolls dressed in Gucci and Dolce and Gabbana. The dolls had little minihandbags. It was gorgeous."

This year, another client has on his Christmas list a 12-foot tree with purple ornaments and flourishes. No surprise here: "He's a big Ravens fan," Hytovitz chuckles.

Artificial trees and plants tend to be easier to maintain in settings like malls, the designer says, though he insists it's near impossible to discern what's real or fake.

"We decorate them so beautifully, you need a really good eye to tell the difference."

Holiday decorating tips

Want to make your holiday home and/or tree look as stunning as some of the most famous in the world? Here are tips from local, national and international experts.

Add sparkle and paper. Award-winning designer Paul Olszewski leads the team behind the windows at Macy's Herald Square in New York. He says LCD lights (mixed in with traditional string lights for added sparkle), retro themes and colors (lime and pink, instead of red and green) and paper decorations are hot this year.

"Almost every detail within each window is made from paper, cut both by laser and by hand, and has been layered and manipulated to give a beautiful and unique quality," said Olszewski about this year's Macy's 2010 Christmas window displays which follow a theme of "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."

Be eco-friendly. "For couture eco-friendly ornaments, use newspaper strips tied to a foam circle to make a wreath with texture and attach round ornaments and ribbon," advises graphic artist Carla David of Carla David Design in Savage. "We always add a special touch of a personalized tag with the family's holiday message or name."

She also suggests using wrapping paper to make place mats, cutting a decorative edge using special-edged scissors. "You can even mix patterns and styles but use different shades of colors."

Find your focus. "Think long and hard before you start work on your tree and let ideas come to you," says Michael Hammers, an ornamental ironsmith whose projects include production of the Swarovski crystal star for the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. "Pick something that fascinates you or of deep personal significance," says Hammers, of Aachen, Germany. "Think also about the area around your tree, taking particular note of colors, shapes and lighting where the tree will stand. Choose your ornaments and other decorations carefully."

Let light play a big role. "Think about buying Swarovski crystal pearls, threading them and fixing them at various points on each thread you use to produce a kind of crystal lametta which twinkles even in low light conditions and looks like stardust," suggests Hammers.

Top it off right. "Choose something that really takes your eye to sit at the top of the tree and make sure that it is in proportion with what surrounds it," says Hammers. "If your tree has a theme, make the tree-topper part of it."

Look for the unique. Baltimore has plenty of venues that carry kitschy, pretty and unique holiday ornaments. Christmas in Baltimore at Harborplace carries thousands of bulbs and figurines, ranging from gilded fruit and ballerinas to Nativity scenes. At Best of Baltimore, also at Harborplace, regional manager Robin Eraso says Baltimore-themed ornaments are big sellers. "We have a handblown red glass crab that's popular." They also carry bulbs with the Natty Boh character."