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Students deck halls of Leu House for holidays

Wednesday, Nov 16, 2011
Loraine O'Connell

Interior design students chose a "fireside glow" theme for their holiday decor in the Leu House living room.

Interior design students from Seminole State College of Florida have once again used their creativity to transform the Leu House Museum into Leu’s Holiday House.

“We’re using purple, a color we haven’t used before, in Mrs. Leu’s bedroom, and vintage clothing featuring cheetah prints as an inspiration for Mr. Leu’s bedroom,” says Seminole State student Beth Ciullo, who has coordinated the project for five years. “A set of vintage cobalt blue glass plates I bought set the tone for the dining room.”

Student designers include Ciullo, Dawn Dill, Deborah Kirkland, Andrea Martoccia, Alice Mulcock, Kelly Shah, Delene Smith and Kendra Waller.

Kay Herring, interim curator of the Leu House Museum, says she expects about 8,000 visitors during the holidays.

“We get a lot of compliments on the decorations,” she says. “The students’ creativity is just amazing, and their creations are what people are coming to see.”

This year’s themes are:

• Living Room: Fireside Glow
• Dining Room: Winter Solstice
• Children’s Bedroom: Candyland
• Hallway Outside Children’s Bedroom: Santa’s Workshop
• Sitting Room: Ho-Ho Holidays
• Mrs. Leu’s Bedroom: Velvet Noel
• Mr. Leu’s Tree: Call of the Wild

The holiday display runs through Jan. 5 at the museum, which is at 1920 N. Forest Ave., Orlando. Hours are 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. For more information, visit the Leu Gardens website.

For more than 30 years, Seminole State’s Interior Design Program has been a leader in Florida. Seminole State offers the only public four-year interior design program in Central Florida. For more information, visit the Interior Design website.

Photo credit: Tony Firriolo