Decorating a Luxurious Christmas Tree
If you celebrate Christmas, your tree can act as the centerpiece for your entire home. You don’t really need much more to create a festive feeling for the whole season! A tree can also be the starting point for your entire decor theme. It’s a beautiful symbol of life, generosity, grace and gratitude. Your tree is a great way to show off your family’s personality. There’s no right or wrong color or theme combination. No matter your personal style, here are some tips to create a lush, luxurious tree that is the perfect reflection of the vibe you want to create this holiday season.
1. Start with the tree itself
The denser and thicker the tree, the more luxurious. And more room for your ornaments! If you usually go for a real tree, a spruce has thicker, denser needles than a fir tree. Look for a tree with sturdy branches that are close together, but not too densely packed. You want hanging ornaments to actually hang, not just lay on the surface of the branches.
2. Faux is fabulous!
Faux trees, especially the pre-lit trees that come with lighting built in, will save time, money and hassle over the life of the tree. The only thing missing is that freshly cut pine aroma, which you can get with real boughs, wreaths or with a scented candle!
3. More is more
If you have the floor space, why not multiply your blessings with more than one tree? Make room for more presents! If you opt for multiple trees, vary the heights and sizes, just like you would any accessory item in your house. Use one tall tree, one medium tree and one shorter tree for a fresh, innovative look. This combination is really a dramatic statement all on its own; you won’t need to go overboard on ornaments. In fact, you could even get away by simply using lots of lights in your favorite color.
4. Are you a minimalist?
Choose a single beautiful, airy tree and just a few large, precious ornaments that are around the same color. Combine some that are shiny, matte or light up. A smaller number of well-chosen objects can be just as luxurious as a tree that is densely packed with decorations!
5. If it glitters, it glows!
Add lots of shiny ornaments and sparkle with crystal, cut glass, lights, mirrors or metallic finishes to bounce light throughout your home for a magical, rich atmosphere. Sparkle goes with every color palette and decor style! You can cluster these items for extra drama. For example, fill a large bowl full of ornaments on your coffee table, or gather ornaments on your mantel. Remember to guide your eye around the tree and the room like you would with any other accessories, by placing similar items in at least three places.
6. Start with the lights first
That way, it’s so much easier to distribute them evenly and you won’t knock down the other ornaments. Work your way around the tree with each string of lights, but arrange them up, down and even inside the branches so you don’t have just rings of lights around the tree. Try to hide the electrical cord if possible by tucking it into the tree and placing the light bulbs where you want them.
7. Using thick ribbon around your tree?
Hang the ribbon after the lights, and before the rest of the ornaments.
8. Hang similar ornaments at one time so they’re evenly distributed
For example, if you have a bunch of shiny red ornaments, silver ones, white ones or sparkly snowflake ones, hang all the red ones first. Then, hang all the silver ones, and so on. Make sure you don’t have a cluster of any particular style, size or color too close together. Check for areas on the tree where there are none of that type, color or size of ornament. Extend the tree look you created to your centerpiece or mantel with similar tree branches or similar types of ornaments.
9. Add impact with a lot of objects in a similar color scheme
Choose a simple palette or theme you love and stick to it. Vary the size of the ornaments. Shiny ones should contrast with matte ones and different textures. All ornaments should essentially have the same look and feel with very coordinated colors, such as off white, silver and gold. Add bows and other types of ornaments, as long as they are in your palette.
10. Mix in sentimental favorites!
Figure out the dominant color, size or characteristic of each treasure, and hang it nearby to similar looking ornaments. It’s OK if it’s not all perfect. These ornaments add interest, and express your personality and history.
11. Use different sizes of clear or white lights to add depth
Different sizes adds interest by making some of the lighting look like it’s further away, giving the impression there is more going on, even when there really isn’t. For example, mix the tiniest mini-LED strings with larger ones. Two sizes make a big impact. Three sizes even more so, but that is plenty. If your tree is pre-lit, choose extra strings in a smaller and larger size. Tuck the wires in deep to hide them. Buy three times as many strings as you think you need. The lights should look like they operate on magic, not on electrical cords. Use“fade” or “twinkle” mode on just one of these sizes, not all.
Have a design dilemma? Jennifer Adams is an award-winning designer, TV Personality and author of “Love Coming Home”. Send your questions to AskJennifer@JenniferAdams.com. A variety of Jennifer Adams Home products are available on Costco.com and in select Costco warehouses.