Interiors Designed & Painted Finds: ... Holiday Decorating: How To Style a Tree

Christmas decor can be beautifully designed may different ways. Everyone has their own style and no one way is necessarily the "right way". If I had to put my Holiday style in to words I would say the "less is more" approach is more my style. I love decorating for christmas, but some people take it a bit too far. I do not want my designs to look like christmas threw up all over the place. I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about... you have that one neighbor or friend that can't ever seem to stop decorating, good or bad.

Take a look at this Christmas tree for example... OK yes we all think its stunning, but I'm sure most first reactions would be WOW!! Although this is a beautiful tree it is just too much to look at. My eye can't see all the fun parts and ornaments because there is just too much crammed into the branches. This poor tree... I'm assuming there is a tree under there.

{Pinterest- source unknown}

And then there is the minimalist style. This tree too is beautiful, but it seems to be lacking a bit in the decoration department. I can see to much of the tree and not enough decor.

{Pinterest: Makely Home}

So how do you achieve the perfect amount of decor without going overboard? Lets start from the beginning. First things first, what is your Christmas Style? Are you traditional red and gold? Or do you walk a bit more on the wild side- bright, fun and playful? I have to admit I have always been traditional when it comes to Christmas, but this year I had a client push me out of my comfort zone and together we created quite the stir with her idea of a bright and glitter filled Christmas. No matter what your idea of Christmas is, decide on your theme before purchasing anything for your home. If you try to mix too many colors and themes your tree will begin to look like a hot mess. And thats never a good thing.

TRADE SECRET TIP: If you are using an artificial tree as opposed to a real one, place a soft blanket on the floor under the stand. This will allow you to easily slide the tree around as you are decorating it.

How I Decorate Christmas a Tree:

I personally like to start with my ribbons. As I said before I am defiantly a traditional girl, but you can not have christmas with out BOWS! Bows are a classic Christmas staple and they make every tree look beautiful. I use my ribbon as garland when designing my trees. I typically start in the front of my tree right in the middle. I then work my way around the tree draping ribbon from bow to bow. Like I said before, there are many different ways to decorate this is my personal approach.

Moving from left to right I make sure the bows are evenly spaced, but not perfect. The key to the perfect tree is actually not perfection. {I know its a shocker!!} On this 12' tree I added large round ornaments with smaller bows to fill some of the space. A bunch of small ornaments would have not only gotten lost in this large of a tree, but it would have begun to look cluttered. I used your typical size ornaments as accents to compliment the enormous bows and garland like ribbon.

Once I had created the desired look with the larger items I went to work accenting the tree an adding some depth with one of my favorite christmas items- SPRAYS!!. What is a spray {also know as a pick or embellishment}? A spray/pick can be anything from a sparkly curly item you stick in the tree to a bundle of berries on a stick. Whatever your Christmas colors and preferences are then seek out accent sprays to help sell your Christmas story.

{Glitterville Christmas Picks}

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My secret to cutting those thick Spray/Pick Wires:

{KNIPEX Mini Wire Cutters}

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Its time to put on the ornaments!! This is the fun part for the children and man in your life. As you are building your tree remember to step back every so often to make sure you are evenly spacing things around the visible sides of tree. You don't want to be too ornament heavy on one side and not enough on the other. Also remember to evenly space color and different size items throughout the tree. One of my favorite tricks to ornaments is handing them off the sprays and ribbons. My design for this tree was to be very whimsical and I wanted ornaments to literally pop off the branches.

{Please be very careful on ladders- Safety First}

Now its time to talk about the topper! I love putting strange and interested things in my trees. For this Topsy Turvy Glitterville Christmas tree I decided the topper needed to look like ornaments were exploding out of the top. What better way to make every little girl jump for joy then by adding BIG sparkly presents and in a bed of glittery curly cue sprays to top off this whimsical tree?

The largest present {Center} was actually red, but not to fear.

A little craft glue and some pink glitter to the rescue.

Whatever you do do not forget about the skirt! If you can't seem to find the perfect tree skirt to finish your dream tree, do not stress. Try purchasing a few yards of a fabric that match your theme and attach a ribbon trim with a sewing machine or hot glue gun. If you are really crafty you can sew on a back layer of lining and stuff it with some cotton padding. TADA instant tree skirt!

The finished product:

I must admit this tree captured the dreams of two very special little girls that definitely boosted my ego with their enthusiastic comments!

For those of you who, like myself, would prefer to go the traditional rout:

I like to draw inspiration from fun unexpected christmas decor items. For this tree my client and I stumbled upon this festive gingerbread family. I am notorious for putting the strangest of things in my trees, but this wasn't too far out there. I used my ribbon as a stepping stone to stagger the family of gingerbread throughout the branches of this 7.5' tree.

After the garland was carried around the sides of the tree it was time for the ornaments. This family tree was made special with child's homemade ornaments and memories from christmas past.

Topped off with a BIG beautiful bow-a classic way to finish any Christmas tree. You don't always have to have a big elaborate tree topper. Simple is elegant. If you are looking to carry Christmas around your room try adding some garland with ribbons to match your tree. A few ornaments tucked here and there are the perfect touch to create a extension of your tree.