Don’t you just love Christmas? I love this season for so many reasons…
- First, it reminds me of who I belong to, Christ the Lord, and why we have Christmas in the first place,
- Secondly, my family means everything to me, and I love being with them more than anything in the world,
- Thirdly, I LOVE to decorate for the season! Decor that would clearly be ‘over the top’ at any other time is just perfect for the holidays.
In this post, I want to show you how to give any tree a designer look… a simple 8 Steps to a Designer Tree!
The tree you will see today goes in our entry and I call it the Hall Tree. It is decorated in fall colors, and I try to have this one up well before Thanksgiving. The tree in our family room is, of course, the Family Tree and is decorated with ornaments we have collected through the years. I apply these principles to that tree as well, but I also think there is a place for a purely decorative tree that is just eye candy! No matter where you put your tree, I hope these tips are helpful to you…
- Make sure your tree is to scale with the room. In our case the foyer has ten foot ceilings. A tree can be dwarfed by its space, so I have some tricks for adding height. I turned my 7-1/2′ tree into almost a nine footer! Several years ago, Mr. At Home made platforms for our trees. He made them with scrap lumber and this one is 6″ high and about 24″ square. This is the base for the tree, and elevates it off the floor. The stand sits atop the platform and is covered by the tree skirt.
- ‘Fluff’ your tree and check the lights! After being stored all year, the branches will likely be bunched up and misshapen. Carefully straighten and arrange branches with some fullness. You will also want to check for any blown bulbs and replace before you get the tree all dressed up!
- Make sure you have one of these awesome step-on switches! I hide this one under the tree skirt, and it saves me from having to crawl under the tree to plug and unplug! Once the tree is ‘fluffed’ and checked, it’s time to decorate!
- Use botanicals. This is really the second part of adding height to your tree, but it’s also decoration. You can see that I added florals. Part of what I added are magnolia stems with some lovely twiggy parts! There are 2 of them and these go at staggering levels at the top of the tree. Just stick the long part of the stems right down beside the trunk of the tree. It’s really up to you how much height you give the tree with the stems! You can easily add 8″ here, combined with the previous 6″, so you’ve added about 14″ to your tree height. This trick works with any ceiling or tree height… you can make a 6′ or 6-1/2′ tree seem much taller! Next, tuck in some more long floral stems (or other large accents) in the same colors or theme… in this case, some pumpkin orange and celery green. Dried naturals are beautiful too (such as hydrangea or magnolia blooms). Stagger these around the tree.
- Use decorator ribbon and make loops. No need to do bows… just make some pretty loops, twist together with a chenille strip and attach at tiered levels on the tree. Wind the streamers through the branches.
- Now it’s time to hang the ornaments. Vary the sizes and shapes, but have enough of each for continuity. Here, there are several balls and about 24 ‘icicle’ shapes, 12 medallions and some cool poinsettia clips I found at the discount store for $1! Notice how in staggering the ornaments, you can make out a zig-zag pattern, which also kind of makes a spiral around the tree.
- Fill in the gaps. If there are gaps where you can see the trunk, you can use these awesome glittery snowflake discs that just lay on the branches and do a marvelous job of filling spaces.
- Think outside the box when it comes to your tree skirt! Use a swath of fabric, a pretty tablecloth, even a painter’s drop cloth! And of course, you can be very unconventional and place your tree in a wash tub, crate, or large pot!
Have fun decorating your own ‘designer tree’!
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