Most people think of red and green when they think of Christmas tree, but you don't have to follow tradition.
Why not come up with your own unique colors for your Christmas tree this year, such as white and green.
Here are the steps for how to decorate a green and white Christmas tree.
photo courtesy of tsayrate flickr.com/photos/35535885@N03/8262826886/
Christmas Tree
Whether you plan on using a freshly cut Christmas tree or an artificial Christmas tree, you should consider the color of the ornaments that you plan on using before selecting your exact Christmas tree.
If you are planning on using primarily medium green or dark green Christmas ornaments, you should use a white flocked Christmas tree or a solid white Christmas tree since medium and dark green Christmas ornaments do not show up well on a green tree.
If you plan on using primarily white and/or light green colored Christmas ornaments, you can use a traditional colored green Christmas tree.
Lights
Before any decorating takes place, you should add lights to your Christmas tree.
Even if you have a pre-lit tree, you might want to add more lights for added drama.
When adding lights to a Christmas tree, the designer rule of thumb is to add 1 strand of 100 mini non-blinking lights per foot height of your tree in either white, green, or clear.
Make sure that the Christmas light wire is the same color as your Christmas tree.
So, if you have a 10 foot tall tree, you will use 10 strands of lights.
Starting at the bottom, weave the lights towards the inside trunk then outside tips of the branches over and over again.
After you have completed putting on the non-blinking lights, you can add 1 strand of blinking lights only around the trunk of your tree if you want a slight sparkle effect.
Another option is to add 1 or 2 strands of lights that have a larger bulb to add dimension. Make sure these larger bulb strands are spread equally throughout your Christmas tree.
Ensure that all of your Christmas lights have the same light temperature - wam (yellow) or cool (blue). Mixing and matching does not look good.
Ornaments and Trimmings
Just using all of the same green ornaments can be rather dull, so select ornaments and trimmings with contrasting texture, shape, and size.
Select items that are soft and hard, smooth and bumpy, and small and large.
Use many different colors of green - light, medium, and dark green.
Green ornaments that are not basic green but a unique colored green (such as apple green, chartreuse, emerald green, olive green, seafoam green, mint green, or lime green) give your green and white Christmas tree a designer look.
You can also add in a bit of sparkle by adding a tiny touch of gold, silver, and/or other metallic color or mirros to compliment the green color.
You can decorate with ribbons, floral picks, pine cones, tree branches, or whatever you desire to set the right mood and complement the other decor in your room.
Consider using 5-7 oversized ornaments that will be the focal point of your Christmas tree. Oversized ornaments on a standard height tree should be no larger than a cantaloupe so as not to look juvenile. The larger the tree, the larger your ornaments can be.
Avoid using ornaments smaller than an orange. If you have smaller ornaments, consider using a twist tie or piece of wire to bunch 3 of them together to create 1 ornament cluster for more drama. Your ornament clusters can be identical ornaments or mismatched ornaments.
Bottom and Top
You can finish your white and green tree by using a color coordinating tree topper and Christmas tree skirt.
You can use a traditional star or angel as your Christmas tree topper, or select most anything else. Some people prefer to not put anything on top of their Christmas tree.
For a Christmas tree skirt, you can use something fancy, or just wrap the bottom with a blanket or other large piece of fabric since it will soon be covered with gifts.
Speaking of gifts, you can decorate your gifts like a designer by using green gift wrap with a white bow, white gift wrap with a green bow, kraft paper #ad with a green or white bow, metallic paper with a green or white bow, or a combination.
Also consider using different gift wraps in different green colors or different patterns (plaid, stripes, etc), as long as they are green and white.
