RHOA star Phaedra Parks opens the doors to her $3.7M Atlanta mansion to show off her decorations

The Real Housewives of Atlanta alum invited our cameras into the stunning six-bed, ten bath, almost 10,000 sq ft property in the exclusive Buckhead suburb of Atlanta.

And the house is a feast for the eyes having been fully decked out for the festive season.

Parks hired celebrity interior stylist Chavien Shy to decorate her home for the holidays and it took him eight days to complete.

Speaking exclusively to DailyMailTV, she said: ‘I began my Christmas decorations the week before Thanksgiving so we were already set.

‘I’m very traditional and I’ve got a wonderful Christmas decorator extraordinaire, Chavien, he comes in and takes about seven to eight days to decorate the entire house and does wonderful things outside.’

Parks continued: ‘We started enjoying the fireplace, the wonderful tree, the beautiful poinsettias, all the amazing nik naks I’ve put out.

‘I have Boxwood dogs this year fashioned in Burberry, I have poinsettias throughout the house. I like to make it homey but at the same time like a winter wonderland.’

Parks wore a revealing red satin mini tuxedo dress with a baby doll bottom, accented with a Chanel brooch, for our photo shoot and posed with her two boys, Dylan, six and Ayden, nine in front of the 16ft tree.

The family also enjoyed some time together making Christmas cookies and hot chocolate in Parks’ huge kitchen.

The star slipped on a red apron with ‘Phaedra’ written across the front while her kids wore holiday pajamas.

‘Christmas time is our most favorite time of the year, the children are excited, I’m excited,’ she raved while giving DailyMailTV the grand tour.

‘What we all love most about Christmas is having our family and friends over, we love to entertain.

‘Everybody knows I’m very extravagant and at Christmas time I can be super fabulous with my decorations, with all of my festivities, this is my most favorite time of the year.’

Parks says her boys have a special tree in their bedroom decorated in red and white with peppermint candies and Rudolph the red nose reindeer decorations. There’s also a festive train track running through their room.

‘My youngest son Dylan, AKA Mr President, loves red and he loves trains,’ she said.

Parks says her two sons are well traveled and they recently visited Cuba for Dylan’s sixth birthday.

‘Dylan loves culture and traveling and this year he’s asking to go to Paris and Beijing for Christmas, we won’t do it for Christmas but pretty much we’ll do it within the next three months,’ she said.

‘He always wants to take a trip, last year he wanted ride along luggage for Christmas.’

Parks says Dylan’s wish list to Santa this year included the trip abroad as well as a Gucci backpack and a pair of white jeans.

The single mom laughed: ‘He doesn’t want any toys, he’s either all in or all out. My eldest Ayden has decided that mom is a better gift giver… someone has told him that momma has more money than Santa.’

Parks says her boys love learning languages with Dylan learning French, Portuguese, Mandarin and Spanish, while Ayden is learning French and Spanish.

The socialite, come attorney, funeral director and TV star, says her house will be packed with 30 friends and family on Christmas Day.

She explained: ‘I try to invite all my friends who are in Atlanta alone or they don’t have parents any longer or they’ve lost loved ones.

‘Christmas is special because I think it’s a very hard time for people and being in the funeral business that’s when I see the saddest part of Christmas. So I really try to be cognizant of people who have lost their mom or dad or both parents and I’ve had a few friends who that has been their reality this year.

‘So I’m paying very close attention to making sure I really love on my friends who are still grieving the loss of their parents.’

Parks says she’s very hands on in the kitchen and starts cooking three days before Christmas.

‘I cook turkey, ham, ribs, pot roast, all the delicious meats, because I am not vegan,’ she said.

‘I cook all the fixings, I’m a southern girl so we have greens, we have dressing, rice dressing, we have sweet potato, we have red velvet, pound cake, potatoes everything you can think of.’

She added that the champagne and wine will be flowing for guests, served from one of the four bars in the house.

As well as the main lounge which boasts high ceilings and a mini grand piano, which Dylan is learning to play, Parks has a terrace level entertainment room which she loves to show off.

The impressive room has crystal studded emblems of high end designer brands like Gucci, Chanel and Louis Vuitton, overlaid on the mirrored walls opposite the bar.

The room opens up to the Olympic sized heated swimming pool and terrace.

Parks bought the two acre property three years ago and has carried out extensive renovations.

It also has a separate guest house for any tipsy Christmas guests who want to stay over.

The two bed, two bath 2,500 sq ft house even has an elevator and a two car garage.

While Parks admits she and her boys live an ‘extravagant’ life, she says she doesn’t want to spoil her kids too much this year.

‘It’s really not about gift giving for us, it’s Christmas every day in our home, my kids really don’t want for anything, so during the Christmas season I really make it about family and memories and giving to others and really appreciating what we have as a family,’ she said.

‘Yes Christmas is about the birth of Christ but it’s also about showing people love.’

Parks says she and the boys will help their community by delivering meals on wheels to the elderly right before Christmas and handing out gifts and blankets to those in need.

She’ll also be doing some work with the Phaedra Foundation which runs educational programs.

And when it comes to being charitable, Parks reveals her ex husband Apollo Nida is back on the scene after being released from prison for a second time.

In June Nida – who had served five years of an eight year sentence for fraud and identity theft – was released early from FCI Fort Dix in New Jersey and moved into a halfway house in Philadelphia where he was expected to stay until the middle of October.

But the former RHOA star landed himself in jail again after violating his parole.

The 40-year-old was rearrested after, according to the United States Marshals, breaking a ‘technical requirement pertaining to the rules of his release,’ and after a second stint inside was released in November.

Parks reveals she and the children saw Nida over Thanksgiving and he may feature in their Christmas celebrations.

She said: ‘The one thing that will be different about this year is that my son’s father is home from being incarcerated, so hopefully he will be able to join us for some of the festivities.’

As for any love this festive season Parks reveals she’s still dating and very much in love with handsome actor Medina Islam, who is ten years her junior.

As revealed by DailyMailTV, Parks has been seeing Islam, the star of Tyler Perry’s The Haves and Have Nots on the Oprah Winfrey Network, for almost a year.

The 35-year-old 6ft 2in actor and model, who also works in the tech industry as Urban Initiatives Director for Block Chain real estate firm Propy, is originally from Newark, New Jersey.

And what’s on Phaedra’s Christmas list this year?

‘I think I have everything I need, great health, family, great friends, a wonderful life, I don’t want for anything…maybe an air fryer or some spa days.’

As for 2020 Parks says she’s ‘super excited’.

‘I’ve got great exciting things coming up, I’ve got a new TV show, a cosmetic line coming out, a new book series, 2020 is gonna be awesome.’