A Designers Guide to: Decorating the Perfect Christmas Tree

Christmas is such a magical time of year. The festive atmosphere, the delicious treats, visiting family and friends, and at the heart of our holiday home is the Christmas tree. The tree is the center of many a party, pictures, and memories for years to come. As such, I believe it deserves a little bit of extra love and attention. As a licensed Interior Designer, and professional Holiday decorator for over 15 years, I am here to give you my favorite insider tips and tricks to designing a tree worthy of the spotlight!

This article is going to cover my signature “Art of the Tree” process and share with you how to create a beautiful Christmas tree using the treasured items you already have. This season is a time that I look forward to all year, because I love Christmas and I especially love decorating Christmas trees. Everyone has their hobbies; decorating beautiful trees happens to be one of mine. Now, let me share with you some of the techniques and tools you can use to make your own tree look its best for the holidays!

There are endless ways to decorate a beautiful tree and truly no right or wrong way, but I want to give you all some tips today to make your tree decorating process this year the easiest and most beautiful ever! I consider tree decorating to truly be a 3-D art-form, and as just as a painter has tools and techniques, so should you as you work on your next masterpiece.When it comes to decorating your tree, we’re going to start with tools- Not all of these are necessary on every tree so pick and choose which elements match the look you are doing and the feel you want to achieve:

The tree: Purpose-The canvas. So many options, real or artificial, green or flocked, slim or full, how tall? You need to really consider the size of your space and the look you want to achieve when selecting your tree. For a list of pros and cons of real vs artificial, see my book “The Christmas Tree”.

Lights: Purpose: Add brightness and sparkle. Most of us probably use white lights as our base, but consider adding a strand of twinkle lights for a little extra magic!

Theme Elements: Purpose-Create repetition, set the overall look. Can be an actual theme such as cardinals, santas, angels, etc. A color theme-red, white, blue, green, gold, etc. Or even a feeling-natural, romantic, traditional.

Garlands: Purpose- Add direction and texture. wide for wrapping and thin for hanging vertically;

Picks: Purpose- truly give the tree it’s personality. Glittered, natural, floral, berries, truly endless styles; **Great way to freshen an existing tree**

Ribbon/fabric: Purpose- add softness, color, and pattern. Used for wrapping, tendrils, bows, add softness and fullness; **Great way to tie look together through rest of house**

Ornaments: Purpose-Main element or filler on tree. Endless opportunities. Variety of sizes is so important (Most important is to add large), as well as shape (not just round!), and finish (shiny and matte). **Add 8-10 new ornaments to add new theme or color to existing look** You do not have to toss all of your ornaments you’ve collected through the years to get a new look. Just add some feature ornaments in prominent places to your existing pieces.

Fillers: Purpose-Add whimsy and fullness. Have fun! Can be anything! Baskets, birdcages, branches, florals, tree bouquets, stockings, berries, etc.Vertical Elements: Purpose-Directs the eye up and down. Adds drama. Beaded garlands hung vertically, icicles, finial ornaments, etc.

Topper: Purpose-Crowning glory of tree, creates starting point. Light branches, star, bow, angel, floral picks, wreath, **If you change nothing else freshen your topper**

Base: Purpose-Weights the bottom and anchors the look. Tree stand, tree skirt, fabric, figurines, even wrapped gifts or a festive train.

Start with your largest ball ornaments tucked deep into the branches. This step may seem unimportant, but adds a very essential element! If you don’t have any large ornaments this size (think cantaloupe) invest in some to use for years to come. They are used to fill the holes on the bottom of the tree and to reflect light.

Wrap your diagonal element into the tree to add movement. Garlands and/or ribbon are perfect for this step. Tuck them into the tree so they don’t cover up the ornaments.

Now create the structure of the tree by adding florals and or picks. This step adds so much softness, fullness and personality to the tree. Simply changing out your florals and picks can completely change the look and feel of your tree. You can apply these items in a few ways.

The standard way is to kind of tuck your picks/florals into the tree wherever you see a blank spot. There is nothing wrong with this approach, but I like to use a different approach that really adds a lot of balance to the tree.

I call this the “Diamond Technique”. Every girl loves diamonds and your tree does too! To create the diamond on your tree, start with a pick or floral at the top, then place another 2 pieces below and to the sides of the top one. Place the bottom point directly beneath the top and viola’! You have a diamond! To create harmony all over the tree, simply connect your diamonds to create a harlequin pattern.

Another way to really add wow factor is found in one of my Designer trademarks. The “Tree Bouquet” is a custom arrangement consisting of a blend of florals, picks, and/or ribbon that you can custom design for your tree in order to give the tree a focal point. These tree bouquets can also be used to create your diamond pattern described above.

This is the step where we actually hang most of our ornaments and filler pieces. There are a few tips to remember here. First, try to distribute your ornaments so the colors and different textures are uniformly distributed. Hang smaller ornaments up top and on the tips and the larger ornaments lower, deeper, and nestled on the branches. Make sure you have different shaped ornaments. All ball ornaments make the tree look almost goofy. Different shapes add dimension and interest.

This is where you tackle the topper. Now you can put your topper on at any point, but I have found I always end up re-adjusting it at the end anyways, so I just save it for last. The topper is another area that you can easily update to really makeover your tree. The topper needs to balance the rest of the tree. Get creative and brainstorm ways to update what you currently use. If you have a favorite angel, consider tying a big bow to go at her base with tendrils winding down. Branches and florals with light sticks added in can really light up the top, a star can be nestled under a big bow, a wreath can be wired onto the top, or you can even add a Snowman or Santa hat to cap off a themed tree. So many options!

The final elements for your tree are the “finishing touches”. These are items such as vertical garlands or ribbon tails, icicles, or branch clips. These items are meant to go on the very tips or outside of the tree and really complete the look. I love to play around with fun and fanciful finishing touches as the branch tips are often forgotten areas on the tree!

Now that we have covered all of the different materials, techniques, and application tips, I encourage you to take some time to plan out your tree for this year! If you are looking for even more ideas, pictures, and inspiration, then please check out my new book launching this year titled “The Christmas Tree Book” by Cassie Kitzmiller. Inside you can find countless ideas to get you inspired to design your best-looking Christmas tree ever!

Read the full magazine here