the perfect way to decorate a christmas tree

Take inspiration from the surrounding landscape to infuse your tree with festive spirit and local flavor. The setting for this tree is Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, and that shows proudly with a profusion of palm fronds, oyster shell accents, and a palette of gold, burnt orange, and chartreuse that matches the interior. Tweak the look to suit your own home. Our Favorite Christmas Trees Use our traditional and themed decorating ideas to make your tree extra special this holiday season. Christmas trees are the centerpiece of the home and the holiday season. A beautifully decorated Christmas tree will evoke memories of the holidays for years to come. The first rule is to pick the best tree for your space, whether that be shorter and wider or taller and slimmer, and then the decorating fun begins. Fill it with colorful lights and ornaments, wrap in ribbon, or display a beautiful tabletop tree. No matter how big or small or how it is decorated, the tree should always reflect the personality of you and your family.

Bring out the garland, wreath, and Christmas trinkets, and create a festive space with your Christmas tree as the star of your holiday decorations. Whether you’re celebrating Christmas on the coast, in a cabin, or right at home, let the decoration around the room and outside the window inspire you to create a picture-perfect decorated Christmas tree. These inspiring Christmas tree decorating ideas will refresh your holiday look this year and bring new cheer into your home.Rustic Christmas BannerPaper Christmas GarlandsPaper Tree GarlandChristmas OragamiXmas OrigamiChristmas Tree Decorations DiyTree OrigamiOrigami GarlandOrigami DecorationsForward*Please read this listing carefully. It has recently been changed to add more buying options! This adorable rustic evergreen garland is now available in two lengths. Please select your length at checkout! The 6 1/2 foot garland strand contains 15 - 2 inch tall trees that are folded from dark green acid free paper. The trees are connected by brass jump rings to jute 2mm 20lb cording.

The ends of the garland are accented with lovely 11mm brass star beads. The 4 1/2 foot garland strand is…Decorating the Christmas tree has always been one of the great joys of the holiday season for my family. We wait, impatiently, until the day after Thanksgiving, forgoing Black Friday shopping for getting our Christmas tree up. When the boys were small, we’d pile into the minivan and head to a tree farm, trotting up and down the rows until we found the perfect specimen for our family room. Then the search would continue until the boys picked a smaller version to decorate for their own room. Once we were home, Christmas music would fill the air, and the day would not end until both trees were lighted and dressed. This ritual is such a part of my life, I was surprised when a friend confessed that he was hopeless at decorating Christmas trees and never knew where to start. For those of you who feel the same way, here are some tips to help you embrace and enjoy the tree-trimming process.

Your first decision will be whether to go with real or faux.
dining room decorating ideas blue walls We go with prelit faux for one primary reason: putting lights on a real tree is a complete pain, and by the time we’re done, we’ve already turned into Grinches and ruined the season.
best beach house exterior colors(The first time I ever heard my father swear was when he was putting lights on a tree.) In my opinion, whoever invented prelit trees ought to get the Nobel Peace Prize. The next step is to decide whether to do a themed tree or simply a conglomeration of ornaments. If you have family ornaments, or ones that tell a story or share your life, so much the better. Deciding on the components of your tree is not that different from doing the interior design of a room.

You want to mix it up. Different textures, shapes and sizes will give your tree lively interest. Mike and I use angels large and small that we have collected over our decades together. We mix them with gold and silver balls in varying sizes, and then add the large marbleized pink balls we bought off the display at a huge and marvelously decorated department store in downtown Seattle years ago. (Note: If you buy from a store’s display at the end of the season, you can score some great stuff inexpensively.) Twigs and branches in silver and gold, along with faux icicles, fill out our design. Becky Dietrich, Interior Designer, original photo on Houzz Your first step is to decide on your tree topper, and to affix it first, instead of risking your neck getting to the top of a fully decorated tree. This stunning chocolate- and cream-colored Renaissance angel is too heavy for the top branch, so she is actually suspended from the ceiling. Silver twigs give the impression she is resting on an ethereal cloud.

Second — and this may seem strange to many of you — we insert glittery, feathery silver twigs and clusters of twigs with gold berries along the length of the tree’s branches. We do this because they add interesting texture and really help soften what would otherwise be the too-perfect shape of the artificial tree. We balance them visually around the tree, while making sure that their tips extend well beyond the tree itself. If you use garland, this is the time to apply it. The next step is to put the largest elements on your tree. In our case it’s a half dozen really large angels. We start with the remaining chocolate-colored ones, making sure they travel down the tree from top to bottom, and around the circumference, not one on top of the other. The large silver and gold angels come next, carefully juxtaposed against the chocolate ones. As with the lights, it’s critical that you tuck decorations back into the recesses of the tree, not just hang them on the tips.

This will give you a lush look. Once our smaller angels have been placed into the appropriate holes, nooks or crannies, we add other elements. Note that although our tree is almost monochromatic, with its rich golds, silvers and browns, fabulous pink balls keep the scheme from dying. Just be careful if you choose to add a contrasting color that the balls are tucked in amongst the branches, and not hanging on the exterior, where they would become too prominent and could prove to be a distraction rather than an enhancement. Sparkly pewter-colored snowflakes in three sizes add yet another texture. You feel more than see them on our tree, but if they weren’t there, the tree would lose some of its life and interest. A new shape is introduced with very inexpensive but quite marvelous faux crystal icicles. They catch and reflect the tree lights and add sparkle, which is really important. Are you old enough to remember the tinsel that folks used to drape over trees in the 1950s?

These serve the same purpose. No winged theme would be complete without birds. Stores tend to be full of fairly tacky birds, so we wait till we find ones that call to us. Don’t be in a hurry and compromise your taste in order to “finish” your tree. If it takes years to find the right things, that is perfectly fine. It will be worth the wait. Becky Harris, original photo on Houzz Your Christmas tree should tell your story as much as anything else in your home. This contemporary and spare tree is absolutely stunning. Notice that even on this tree, balls are carefully hung inside along the branches, not just on the outside. (Can you tell I think this is really important?) Some people design their tree around the design of their room, and this is certainly a beautiful example of that. Notice how the textures of the ornaments and the sizes of the balls are varied. The addition of the sapphire blue color is perfect, and in just the right amount. Julie Ranee Photography, original photo on Houzz