Would you like to have an elegant designer Christmas tree this year but don't have any idea how to get a professional look?
Here are some of the tips & tricks that interior designers use to get a design magazine quality decorated Christmas tree.
Color Scheme
Decide on the overall color scheme that you would like to use for your Christmas tree decorations.
It could be all green, red & gold, red & silver, pink & white, aqua & turquoise, or any other color combination that you like.
The color scheme that you select for your Christmas tree should complement the color scheme of the room that your tree is going into.
Consider using some of the non-traditional designer ornament color ideas available this year, such as bronze, magenta, peacock blue, plum, pink, sage green, lavender, and navy, to give your Christmas tree an updated designer look.
Theme and Style
Decide if you want your Christmas tree to have a theme, such as angels, nutcrackers, nature, snowflakes, a specific sports team, family photos, peacock, a specific hobby, Disney, or any other theme.
Having a theme for your Christmas tree is optional.
Most sophisticated Christmas trees do not have a theme, however more family friendly trees do have a theme.
If you do not have a theme for your Christmas tree, it should have a style.
Styles options include modern, traditional, elegant, rustic, English country, French provincial, Scandinavian, and more.
Most people decorate their Christmas tree in the same style as the room where the Christmas tree is located.
Christmas Tree
You can use an artificial Christmas tree or a fresh Christmas tree.
For a traditional look, select a green tree, one that is slightly flocked, or white.
For a more modern and whimsical look, consider using a non-traditional colored Christmas tree.
Ensure that the tree looks very full for a professional designer look.
Most artificial Christmas trees list their "tip count", which is how many stems that tree has. Usually, more tips give a fuller look.
For a fresh Christmas tree, make sure to rotate it to where the best side is in the most visible location and the less attractive side is in a less visible location, such as against a wall or in a corner.
Make sure to keep fresh trees watered daily so they don't dry out or turn brown.
For an artificial Christmas tree, make sure to adjust your Christmas tree branches vertically to ensure the branches fill all holes and don't expose the tree section joints.
Also check each needle cluster to ensure they are straightened before proceeding.
For more detailed instructions on fluffing your tree, see the article How to Fluff and Artificial Christmas Tree into the Correct Shape.
Christmas Lights
Before decorating your Christmas tree with ornaments, you should put your Christmas lights on your tree. Use either clear or white non-blinking lights for a professional designer look. Select a wire color that is the color of your Christmas tree.
Make sure you put the lights on evenly around your Christmas tree - string them in toward the trunk then out towards the tips of each of the branches, not just around the outside.
100 mini lights per foot of tree is the minimum suggested. If you have a 6 foot tall tree, you should use at least 600 lights or 6 strands with 100 lights per strand. Even if you have a pre-lit tree, feel free to add more lights.
If you would like your Christmas tree to have a slight sparkle effect, add one or two twinkling sets of clear or white lights around the trunk of the tree only. You might want to use Christmas lights with a multi-function setting to select the twinkle effect that works best on your Christmas tree. Lights that fade in and out are also nice. Avoid lights with a harsh blinking effect.
You may also want to add several strands of lights that are slightly larger #ad than the mini lights throughout your Christmas tree for added designer interest. Ensure that all of your lights are working before proceeding.
Greenery Stems
For a lush designer look for your Christmas tree, add greenery stems #ad of different shapes and colors to your tree. You can use a stem that looks like a flocked evergreen branch, one that looks like an evergreen branch with berries, and another that is a cluster of glittered branches.
For a standard 7 to 8 foot tall tree, add 3 different types of greenery stems and 10 of each type for a total of 30 stems.
If you have an artificial tree, consider adding in a few branches of a real evergreen tree to fill in the holes, add an additional texture, and add a bit of evergreen fragrance to your room.
For Christmas trees with a large gaps, consider adding an evergreen garland tucked inside the Christmas tree to fill in any large holes.
Garland
There are many designer ways to add garland or ribbon to your tree. One option is to add the garlands or ribbon running from the top to the bottom, tucking the garland or ribbon into the tree about every 2 foot. Another option is to run garlands or ribbon in a circle around the outside of the tree like a barber's pole. A third option is to run the garlands or ribbon in a circle just around the tree trunk, which works well with grapevine.
A newer popular garland material is decorative mesh, also called deco mesh, floral mesh, or poly deco mesh.
For a wider garland, consider using fabric instead of ribbon.
You can even use several different types of garland or ribbon on your Christmas tree.
For more garland ideas, see the article How to Add Garland to a Christmas Tree.
Ornaments
Next, decorate the Christmas tree with ornaments in the color scheme that you have selected. A designer trick it to use Christmas ornaments that are slightly oversized since they look much better than standard sized ornaments - this is especially important if your tree is taller than 7 foot tall. 10 large Christmas ornaments per foot height of tree typically works well.
For a 7 foot tall tree, avoid using ornaments smaller than a tennis ball or larger than a cantaloupe.
Multi-pack Christmas ornaments also work great because they are usually less expensive, but purchase different styles of multi-pack ornaments #ad (different shades of the same color, different shapes, and/or different textures) so not all the ornaments look exactly alike.
If you already have simple ornament spheres of a smaller size, try connecting 3 ornaments together with wire to create one larger Christmas ornament cluster.
You can also use natural elements to decorate you Christmas tree with, such as pine cones, grapevine, feathers, or twigs, or artificial natural elements such as ornaments made to look like birds or butterflies.
For another designer touch, get 5 to 7 different focal point ornaments that are oversized and will be the first thing people notice when looking at your Christmas tree. Focal point ornaments are not always Christmas ornaments, but other Christmas decor that you hang on your tree. You can use dolls, wall hangings, toys, and whatever else catches your eye.
Larger ornaments should go towards the bottom of your Christmas tree and the smaller ones towards the top for a more traditional look. Some more modern trees do not do this.
If you are using multiple colors, start by putting all ornaments of one color on your Christmas tree at a time and ensure that each color is equally distributed throughout the tree.
For added effect and a modern touch, consider getting a few ornament rotators #ad to show off your most beautiful ornaments (maybe 1 for every foot height of tree). You can also use ornament rotators on mirrored ornaments for extra sparkle.
Family Ornaments
Now it is time to decorate your Christmas tree using your sentimental family ornaments.
These ornaments might not have design magazine flair, but they are full of memories.
Some people choose to have multiple Christmas trees in their home The Christmas tree(s) in the public areas of their home are decorated without family ornaments, however they have one Christmas tree in a family area of the home with all of their family ornaments.
You can decorate using crafts your child made in school, ornaments from your last vacation, and sentimental Christmas ornaments from your childhood.
Christmas trees should be filled with memories, so one idea is to purchase a new ornament each year for your Christmas tree to remind you of something special.
Your yearly ornament could be a small ornament photo frame with a photo of your children with Santa, an ornament you select as a family on a planned Christmas ornament shopping trip, or Christmas ornaments that you craft as a family each year.
Floral Pick Fix
A designer trick is to add more floral picks if your Christmas tree is not quite to your liking.
Add about 10 matching textural floral picks (that coordinate with your color scheme) evenly around your Christmas tree for a more full overstuffed designer look.
You can use floral picks that look like berries, tree branches from your garden spray painted gold, evergreen stems, magnolia leaves, eucalyptus, or anything you like.
This is especially helpful when you have your children help decorate the Christmas tree and they leave some holes.
If you prefer an even more full and textural Christmas tree, feel free to add another set of 20 matching floral picks that are different from your first 20.
Tree Topper
A tree topper finishes off the Christmas tree decorations.
If you have a lot of very precious breakable ornaments that you are decorating with, you might prefer to add the tree topper before adding ornaments to reduce the risk of knocking an ornament off the tree.
Traditional tree toppers include a star, Santa, a fancy designer bow, and an angel.
Some Christmas tree toppers even have integrated lights with different lighting options.
A current designer trend is to create a large clump of about 5-10 floral picks of different types to be used as a tree topper. Some of these floral pick Christmas tree toppers are quite large and elaborate, using items such as huge peacock feathers.
You can even use a traditional tree topper with floral picks.
Some people with modern trees choose to not use a Christmas tree topper at all.
Gift Wrap
Another designer trick is to color coordinate your Christmas gift wrap to your Christmas tree's color scheme.
You can use multiple colors, textures, and patterns of paper and ribbon in your color scheme.
Simple brown kraft paper #ad used as wrapping paper with a fancy bow (or even simple twine) is always a designer favorite.
You might also like the article Your Christmas Gifts are Part of Your Christmas Tree Decorations.
For more Christmas decorating ideas, see the video below.
