Copley designer helps decorate White House
By this point in the holiday season, people are either thinking of ways to deck their halls or perhaps have finished trimming their trees and abodes.
But one Copley woman had the opportunity to help decorate a famous house for the holiday season.
Jill Pangas, who operates Jill Pangas Designs, was one of the volunteer decorators selected to help festoon the White House with holiday ribbons and décor.
Yes, that White House. The one in Washington, where the president lives.
“This has been a Christmas wish for four years,” said Pangas. “This is the ultimate design project I could do. I’ve been sending applications and packages for four years.”
“I’ve been decorating and designing all my life,” Pangas said.
She only recently started a business focused on interior design, events, orchid arrangements and Christmas decorating. But her artistic touch has been seen for years at events such as the Akron Children’s Hospital Holiday Tree Festival and at Stan Hywet Hall’s Deck The Hall.
Pangas said she decided to go from strictly designing for family, friends and community events to making it a business after receiving a letter from the first lady regarding her petition to be one of the White House designers.
“The second letter had a line that I should ‘please follow your natural gifts locally,’” she said. “So that is what inspired me to go into business.”
While the fourth time was a charm, Pangas said she almost didn’t apply. However, a friend of hers, a designer in Columbus who has gone to the White House twice as a volunteer decorator, encouraged her to do so.
A few days later, Pangas said she noticed that the White House had checked her Linkedin account. Then, some time later, while watching a Hallmark movie, she said she received the email notification that she was selected.
Decking the White House Halls
Pangas was a part of the group assigned to decorate the grand foyer. A team member at the White House was assigned to about 10 volunteers. Generally, volunteers are assigned for three days at the start of the decorating period, or the three days at the end, but Pangas was selected to be there for the entire week.
The first lady plans the décor in the rooms of the White House, and the teams work on enhancing it, Pangas said.
“The first two days, we were boxing up things,” Pangas said. “I saw some amazing things at the White House. Seeing the Secret Service was surreal. They had to go through everything, they had the guard dogs there. It was like, ‘This is real!’”
The White House theme for the 2022 holiday season is “We The People.” Decorations included metal ribbons inscribed with the names of all 57 states and territories and the District of Columbia, and mark the year each became a part of the United States.
Two large, fresh evergreen trees are adorned with gold-framed words from the Constitution.
“That was extremely difficult for me to do,” she said. “They must have been ripped down three times before we got it right. But the room is absolutely breathtaking. When it is done, the pictures do not do it justice. In person, you are just sitting there in awe.”
A bigger challenge came two days before the end of decorating, Pangas said.
“Our team leader got sick,” Pangas said. “There was a big designer in our group who wound up managing the team, and I became his assistant. If you would have told me I’d be one of the ones in charge of the White House groups, I wouldn’t have believed you. That was a little bit crazy. If they would have filmed me those two days, that would have been a story and a half. But we got that room finished.”
Seeing the first lady
The experience went beyond decorating, Pangas said.
“There’s the White House gingerbread transported in front of you, historic things being transferred behind you,” she said. “There are very important people walking around you. We got the chance to walk through the rooms.”
The decorators also had the opportunity to see and take photos with First Lady Jill Biden, Pangas said.
“I didn’t get to meet her personally, but I did see her,” she said. “I stood next to her for the photos. She was a very down-to-earth woman.”
Pangas said the work was intense and tiring, and decorators were responsible for costs associated with transportation and lodgings, although the staff could help volunteers find deals at the area hotels. Breakfast and lunch were provided by the White House.
When Pangas was asked whether she would volunteer to go again, her answer was automatic: Absolutely.
“It still doesn’t seem real to me,” she said. “It was an honor for me to be there, but one thing I want people to know, especially in these current times, don’t stop believing in your dreams and goals. There are good things in this world, and we have to focus on that.”
Volunteer decorators didn’t even need to be professionals to apply, Pangas said. One volunteer had never even fluffed a tree before coming to the White House. Those wishing to apply should watch the White House website starting in October for details.
It was a good deal of work, but for Pangas, Christmas came early.
“I have never had such a big dream come true,” she said. “It was an experience of a lifetime. For a designer, for anyone to be selected for such an opportunity, it’s like winning the lottery. I’m so honored.”
Reporter April Helms can be reached at ahelms@thebeaconjournal.com