Almost anyone can decorate a Christmas tree, but there are a few secrets that designers have learned to make a Christmas tree look like it belongs in a design magazine.
The best designers think outside of the box and use creativity to set their Christmas tree apart from the others.
They often follow some rules, but bend the rules a bit to add interest.
Here are a few designer secrets that you can use to make your Christmas tree a show stopper this year, but feel free to put your own twist on it.
The Tree
Designers know that the secret to a good looking decorated Christmas tree is to start with a good looking tree.
The Christmas tree should look full and healthy without any ornaments on it.
Real trees always look best, but are more challenging to decorate than artificial trees.
Taller and wider trees are more dramatic.
Your tree must look full, so make sure to fluff your artificial Christmas tree. For instructions on fluffing a Christmas tree, see the article How to Fluff an Artificial Christmas Tree into the Correct Shape.
If you are using a real Christmas tree, don't purchase your tree too soon else it may dry out and look dead by Christmas.
If your tree is not as full as you would like, a designer secret is to add some fillers. You can add a greenery swag #ad that is simple evergreen or something with flowers, berries, or pinecones on it. Also consider adding grapevine #ad.
The Lights
Christmas lights make your tree sparkle, so don't skimp on the lights.
It is nearly impossible to use too many lights.
White or clear lights are used most often, however you can get a designer look with colored lights.
A bare minimum number of lights to use is 1 strand of 100 lights per foot height of tree, so a 10 foot tree would get 10 strands of lights.
Feel free to double or triple that amount.
Even if you have a pre-lit Christmas tree, feel free to add more lights.
Make sure to put the lights towards the inside and outside of your Christmas tree.
One designer secret to make your Christmas tree sparkle is to use 1 to 2 strands of blinking lights that are spread throughout your tree, but don't make all of your lights blink.
Another designer secret is to use a few strands of larger bulb Christmas lights #ad to add dimension and depth.
For more detailed instructions on how to light a Christmas tree, see the article How to Put Lights on a Christmas Tree.
Garland
There are many different ways to put garland on a Christmas tree.
You can use ribbon garland, beaded garland, paper garland, or whatever you like.
In order to get your garland evenly on your tree and not knock off any ornaments, designers put it on after the lights.
Feel free to use more than one type of garland or ribbons with different colors or patterns.
When putting on garland, floral picks, ornaments, or anything to your tree, a designer secret is to stop every 5 minutes or so and stand back from the Christmas tree, evaluate how it looks, and make any adjustments.
Make sure to leave room for your ornaments when adding garland - don't overdo it.
For more detailed instructions for putting garland on a Christmas tree, see the article Different Ways to Add Ribbon Garland to a Christmas Tree.
Floral Picks
In order to add a variety of texture to a Christmas tree (as well as fill in holes, add color, and help the tree look more cohesive), designers use floral picks #ad on a Christmas tree.
Floral picks can be faux flowers (such as poinsettias), berries, balls, greenery, tinsel, or most anything attached to a stick that can be poked into a floral arrangement or Christmas tree.
A designer secret is to put the floral picks in the Christmas tree in the same direction as the branches, not sticking up perpendicular, for a more natural look.
Spread the floral picks through the tree, but especially in any spots that might not look as full.
Ornaments
Simple round ornaments are great for creating a color story for your Christmas tree inexpensively.
A designer secret for decorating your Christmas tree with plain round ornaments is to group them together in clusters of 3. The ornament clusters are more dramatic than 3 standard sized ornaments by themselves.
Put some lesser expensive ornaments towards the inside of your tree to fill in the holes and nicer ornaments towards the outside of your tree to show them off.
Another designer secret is that the larger your tree, the larger the ornaments you need. A 10' Christmas tree needs bigger ornaments than a 6' tree that can use standard sized ornaments.
Typically, smaller ornaments are placed towards the top of the tree and larger ornaments towards the bottom of the tree; however some designers have gone away from that rule in recent years in order to add drama.
Many designer Christmas trees have recently started using focal point ornaments that are 6" to 12" tall. Designers use about 1 focal point ornament per foot height of tree (an 8 foot tall tree would use 8 focal point ornaments), spread throughout the Christmas tree.
Ornaments over 12" tall tend to look juvenile.
Yet another designer secret is to use ornaments of different textures.
Shiny ornaments are nice, but also consider adding ornaments that have a matte finish, are rough (like burlap), glittery, pearlescent, mirrored, or fluffy (like faux fur).
Typically more is better when decorating a Christmas tree, but make sure to have a little bit of tree showing.
Some people have gone overboard and have over decorated Christmas trees that are comparable to someone wearing all of their jewelry at once - don't do that.
Gifts
Designers know that gifts under a Christmas tree are part of your Christmas tree decorations.
Purchase gift wrap of an appropriate style that coordinates with your Christmas tree.
For a vintage style Christmas tree, consider using simple kraft paper #ad as wrapping paper.
For more colorful Christmas trees, use 3 different wrapping papers and 3 different ribbons (that coordinate with your color scheme) used in different combinations for interest under your tree.
Larger graphic patterns (plaid, stripes, dots, etc.) and solids work best.
For More Information, See the Video Below
You might also like the article Designer Tips and Tricks for How to Make Your Christmas Tree Really Sparkle.
