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Ornaments deliver pops of color as well as mementos of holidays past.
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Flowers like small limelight hydrangeas, magnolia leaves and pine cones can be added to the ribbon on your tree.
If the holidays are the most magical time of the year, the Christmas tree is the centerpiece of that magic. But what’s the best way to decorate your tree for the holidays?
First of all, take a cue from the space where the tree will reside. For a real life example, let’s look at the living room of Pillar & Peacock’s Brandeis Short.
The palette of her living roomincludes saturated hues of blue, orange and poppy, specifically in Schumacher’sChaing Mai Dragon fabric. Thankfully, tree décor doesn’t always need tobe the traditional red and green,especially if those colors clash with your room décor.
Secondly, the scale of your tree is important. Moving furniture around to create the perfect space for your tree is commonplace, but make sure you get the right sized tree for your space. Tall, slender trees work for smaller spaces, while full wide trees that aren’t as tall can be great for rooms with lower ceiling heights.
In our region, Balsam, Fraser and Douglas Firs are the most popular.Every family has their favorite and this is a personal decision. We both agree that for our families, Fraser Fir is tops. The Fraser has sturdy dark green and silvery needles with a wonderful aroma that will make the whole house smell like the holidays while holding the ornaments for weeks.
When it comes to lights, there are two camps: white lights versus coloredlights. In many cases, it depends on the space. Typically we tend to go with white lights and let the ornaments bring the color, but there’s no right choice. For this tree, we’re going with white lights. Remember, it’s important to test each strand and not be stingy with lights. We start at the top and slowly make our way down, making sure to get lights far enough in towards the trunk that the whole tree is well lit.
We like to add a 3-4" wide ribbon that begins at the top of the tree and loosely wraps around it all the way down. Don’t over-think where the ribbon lays, just place it where it falls naturally and tuck it into the branches here and there. Flowers can be added to the ribbon for a party, but don’t have to remain there the whole season.
Without the flowers, the ribbon fills the space and still looks beautiful. If you do add them, our favorites include small limelight hydrangeas, magnolia leaves and pine cones. Remember to add self-watering cups to each stem of hydrangea so they’ll last longer. Then use your ribbon as your guide to place the fresh décor along the ribbon.
With a good full tree—and the sturdy branches of a Fraser—you won’t even have to tie the flowers in, but merely just secure them within the branches.
Ornaments deliver pops of color as well as mementoes of holidays past. For this space, we chose to decorate with deep hues of royal and teal blue, orange, purple, pink and green to work with the room’s existing palette. We’re also using only round glass ornaments that are shiny for a uniform look. We recommend using various sizes of ornaments from 2" to 8" in diameter to fill the tree. Hang the ornaments in a well-spaced manner so as to still enjoy the beauty of the tree itself. Balance is essential for the look we want to achieve.
A good tree skirt finishes off the look of a well-trimmed tree. We like skirts with volume, so using furs—sheepskin rugs or chunky blankets—or a beautiful fabric results in a lush look. It looks better for the skirt to have fullness with loose folds rather than just lying on the ground flat.
Again, don’t overthink the placement. Let it look natural. For our tree example, we chose deep blue velvet fabric left over from the sofa. In order to create more folds and depth, we used leftover boxes from all those Amazon deliveries underneath to help create varied height. Simply drape the fabric loosely over the boxes and fluff as needed.
With patience, the end result will be magical.
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