Priscilla Richardson

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A few days ago, I asked Amparo Kunze how her house got on Buchanan's Christmas house tour. Not only is the 1845 three-story brick house a few miles north of Buchanan drop-dead gorgeous. But Amparo, 61, with her husband, Kurt, 64, did all the decorating work after the plumbers and electricians finished their modernizing.

"Harry Gleason had been after us for a long time, since 1998," Amparo Kunze said about the tour organizer. "But we were always saying, 'not ready yet, not ready yet.' " So last fall, "We said, 'OK, we'll get Harry off our backs and do it.' "

"Do it" just happens to be an understatement. Right after Thanksgiving, Kunze started putting up the Christmas decorations. She put swagged greenery on the second- and third-floor porches. She made a Williamsburg half-moon with attached fruit that went over the main front door. Inside, she decorated with more greens. "I have tried to buy good-looking artificial stuff, and I did the three mantels downstairs."

But Gleason's publicity for the tour touted natural decorations. She protested to him, "My house is plastic city; I need real stuff to put with the fake stuff." So Gleason supplied holly, magnolia leaves and blue spruce. She then did her whole kitchen with nothing but natural greens. So the visitors who paused there to nibble almond macaroons and cookies also had a feast for the eyes.

Just decorating a big house like hers for the holidays would take all my time and energy. But not Kunze. Not only did she clean, but, using the tour as her goal, she also finished the wallpaper in the downstairs hallway, plus the floor. "Two days before the tour, I'm there stripping the floor, because the tour was coming. And the big door in the parlor -- I sanded it down and installed it." After all that work, she still had "much fun" individually greeting the 250 who came to see her place.

Kunze's full-steam-ahead approach to the tour is similar to her approach to the house generally. The Kunzes acquired the house almost by accident. They were looking at another old house 11 miles south of Staunton before Kurt Kunze was ready to retire from the foreign service. But it wasn't perfect for them. Then, later, "our Realtor heard we were still looking for an old house. This had been on market for more than a year." The 150 acres of hilly land feels good to Amparo Kunze, too, making her feel safe. So they've put the land in a conservation easement.

Kunze has worked to create the sophisticated look her house now shows. She's still purchasing antique furniture, generally in the Federal period style. She made all the curtains. She shops for remnants to find interesting fabrics. She quilts, too, but never to sell. "They are priceless," she said. The quilts go to her three grown children and other family members. She does on occasion sell pillows she makes out of old Persian rugs.

With her husband's full-time help, they're able to heat with wood and grow a big garden. She freezes berries and uses them to make jam. They care for their three dogs and three cats and read a lot. You might think that someone who loves to cook and have guests stay with them would be thinking about starting a bed and breakfast. "We have so many friends from Washington, much fun, but not a business. I couldn't imagine getting up at 6:30 to make breakfast for somebody else."

This native of Colombia has adapted well to Botetourt County life, quite different from the new country every four years they experienced during her husband's career. As you might expect, they both love their place and living in it. And Amparo Kunze is letting people know the house has a name, Renix Crossing. "That's what they called this creek [on the property], Renix Run." Hence the name of the house, because the property crosses the creek twice. "We want to have a sign with the age of the place one of these days. Before the next tour."