I love the Christmas holidays and put up the Christmas tree early in the season. My philosophy is this - Christmas only comes once a year, so I want to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells as much as possible. We're usually pretty well decorated for the Christmas holiday by the time Thanksgiving weekend rolls around, then enjoy the holiday decor through year end.
No matter when you decide it's time to do the holiday decorating, the Christmas tree is the centerpiece of traditional Christmas decor. There isn't really a 'right' or 'wrong' way to put up a Christmas tree, but there are some holiday tree decorating ideas that will make the task a little easier and result in a beautiful Christmas tree.
First,decide what kind of tree you will use, real or artificial, and what size will work the best in your space. I'm always an advocate of artificial trees. You can get just about any size, shape, style and price point desired - it just makes sense. Best of all, the needles don't fall off! If you enjoy a Christmas tree in your home for more than a week or so, an artificial tree is your best bet.
As for the size of your Christmas tree, make sure you are taking into consideration:1) the size room it is going into, 2)ceiling height and 3) the space allocated for the tree. These are the three things that will determine the size of the tree.
Try to get the most tree out of the space you have. For example, if you have a 20' x 18' Great Room with 12' wall heights, a 7' slim Christmas tree tucked into the corner might look a little lost in the room.
So now you have the Christmas tree. Our next decorating idea is about the process of putting the tree together (we'll assume you have an artificial tree for this section).
Whether your tree goes together branch-by-branch or in two to three main sections, here is a very important piece of advice: make sure that you fully open and 'fluff' each branch before putting it into the trunk of the Christmas tree.
When I put our tree up, I literally take each branch and pull every piece of greenery out, rotating some greenery above the branch and some below. You want the branch to look as real as possible, so a random number of greenery above, below and extending out is a good way to approach the task. This is a rather tedious process, but take your time and the result will be well worth it!
When you have all of the branches fully opened and on the tree, step back and look at your work from all angles to see if you've left any 'holes', or branches that need adjusting.
Your next tree decorating idea is a fool proof method for putting the lights on the tree. It doesn't matter what style of light or color you select; follow these steps and it will be absolutely beautiful.
First, make sure you test all of your lights before putting any of them on the tree. It's not a 100% guarantee that you won't have any issues down the road, but at least you'll know they work.
You should have a strand of 100 lights for every vertical foot of the tree. So if your Christmas tree is 7 feet in height you should have a minimum of 700 lights. I use more than that on my trees - my 8' tree has about 1,200 lights on it because I put them very close together and enjoy that look.
Here is a Christmas tree decorating idea that I find very helpful: to put the lights on your tree,start with the lowest branches and place the lights on each branch. Have the tree lights turned on while you place them.
Make sure you take the lights all the way to the innermost part of the branch, then work your way back out on the next branch, repeating this process until you have literally circled your way around that layer of the tree. You are using a zig-zag process, if you will.
Now for the next Christmas tree decorating idea - the garlands or roping for the tree. Of course, this is optional depending on the style of tree you are creating.
There are many different types of garland available, and it's a point where your creativity comes into play. You can fashion the garland out of just about anything that suits the style of your tree.
- Traditional Christmas tree roping found in the 'tree trimming' section of your favorite holiday store is always an option.
- There are many types of beautiful, wide ribbon that has wire inserted into it, so you can shape it as you rope it around the tree.
- Beads, fabric, silk floral roping, faux berry/natural element roping, etc.
- Use your imagination!
We are finally to the most fun part of the holiday tree decorating ideas - the ornaments. Gather all your tree ornaments and separate them by size, style, etc. so you know what you have to work with. It takes a few minutes to do this but is well worth the time.
Hang your larger ornaments first, using the lower part of the tree for the majority of those. Save the smallest ornaments for the upper portion of the tree.
If you have both matte finish and shiny finish ornaments, be sure to vary them around the tree.
Hang the ornaments on the inside of the tree as well as the outside, just like the lights (although the majority of ornaments will be near the outside of the tree).
Step back and look at your handiwork as you progress, to keep things evenly distributed.
I always like to use fillers on my trees to cover the inevitable gaps that occur between layers of branches. I use a variety of silk flowers and greenery, birds nests, etc. You can literally use any type of 'filler' that you want, depending on the theme of your Christmas tree.
Use your imagination with these Christmas tree decorating ideas and have fun!
Candi Randolph is a Design Consultant and author of 'Ten Simple Steps to Design Success'. For more great home decorating ideas please visit http://www.great-home-decorating.com.
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