How to Decorate the Perfect Christmas Tree: Planning + Best Buys

Christmas is my favorite time of year — winter in particular is so magical to me! (Particularly Christmas tree decorating) As soon as the first major cold snap happens, I’m pulling out all of our winter and Christmas tree decorations. In previous years, the first cold snap somehow has aligned with when my husband and I begin our Advent series — excitedly anticipating the coming of Christ. This year has been a bit different, so I’ve pulled some of our decorations out a bit earlier than usual.

As a home decor and interior design enthusiast, every year I’m trying something new and discovering new ways to decorate spaces. Since Christmas is more methodical for me, I thought I would share some of my secrets to creating a beautiful, but completely personal (to you!) Christmas tree.

So pop in a Christmas movie from our 25 Days of Christmas Countdown post and let’s get started!

SELECTING THE RIGHT CHRISTMAS TREE(S) FOR YOUR SPACE

There are two types of people: those who house hunt and say things like “oh this is a nice house! I like the banister, and the kitchen cabinets…” and those who walk in and immediately say “the Christmas tree is going THERE!” I am (unfortunately, for my husband) the latter. As soon as we walked into our house, I knew exactly where not one, not two, but three Christmas trees would look amazing in this house.

It’s a strange gift, but there is a method to the madness. The most important thing to keep in mind is that every home is unique. Each decision you make in selecting and decorating your Christmas tree should be a reflection of you and your family.

Here are the top tips I would keep in mind:

• LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! I personally like to choose rooms where we frequently hang out or walk through. However, just because traditionally most families put their Christmas tree in the living room doesn’t mean you have to. Make sure the tree will be out of the direct path of foot traffic, and it won’t block anything you need to access regularly. Some great spots are usually to the right or left of a fireplace, in front of a bay window, in an entryway, or a corner of a room. If you plan to set up multiple trees, space them out on different floors. You also can mix up the type of trees if two are nearby (ie: a flocked tree and a regular).
• Real or artificial? We have three trees. Two are artificial pencil trees, one is next to the stairs when you come into our house and the other is in our bedroom. Our “main tree” goes in the living room in front of a bay window. Last year we opted for a real tree for the living room. Growing up, I only had artificial trees. I’m told real ones are a hassle, but I didn’t feel that way at all.
• Height and width make all the difference! Most rooms are typically 8 ft tall. If you have a topper like a star or angel, you likely won’t want to go above 6-7 ft so you still have some clearance. Usually I recommend a 6.5ft tree if you have a star or angel. If you have vaulted ceilings or a two-story room, taller trees look amazing. You will want to consider the width of the tree. Always measure the ideal height/width for your space before shopping so you avoid choosing a tree that is too big or small. If you have a smaller corner or a lot of furniture in a room, a pencil tree is a great option.

Here are a couple of my artificial favorites for Christmas tree decorating:

When it’s time to pack up and store your Christmas trees for next year, I’d recommend grabbing some of these Christmas tree storage bags. They are durable and keep out insects, dust and moisture.

PICKING A COLOR SCHEME OR THEME

One of the best recommendations I have when it comes to Christmas trees decorating is to use a color scheme or a theme. The great thing about it is that it can be completely personal to you! Maybe you want a Broadway tree or a Harry Potter tree. Or maybe you want to do a completely neutral tree with beige/brown/white/tan.

For example:

While Pinterest is a nice spot to get some inspiration, I would recommend pulling out your current ornaments and looking for similarities. We tend to buy individual ornaments that make us smile when we look at them. Can you group ornaments with similar themes or colors together? Are there colors that go nicely together? If you need some help finding colors that complement one another, check out interior design color palettes!

I separated our ornaments into three different categories that ultimately became the themes / color schemes for our trees:

• Woodland Theme – natural and white wood, burnt orange, deep purple, and some mixed metals in silver, bronze and gold, with rustic finishes
• Gold and Silver Color Scheme – gold and silver, white ceramic, glitter and metallic finishes
• Traditional Theme – red, green, gold, silver, with some glitter finishes

OUR WOODLAND THEME (THE MASTER BEDROOM TREE)

Don’t be afraid of mixing metals and finishes when you’re Christmas tree decorating. Ceramic and metallic finishes actually pair beautifully together, as do matte finishes, metals and wood. It adds texture and depth. For now, separate out what themes or color schemes you’d like to try with what you currently own. Filling in the holes is the next step. But before we get to that step, let’s talk adding lights and/or garland.

ADDING LIGHTS AND / OR GARLAND

That’s right — I said and/or. You don’t have to use both lights and garland to create a beautiful and personal Christmas tree. Sometimes it looks great to add both, but it also can be overwhelming to the eye. Personally, if I’m decorating a pencil tree, I use one or the other.

Our house has two pencil trees. For one we opted to use lights and for the other we used garland. For our woodland themed tree in our bedroom, we decided to add warm white lights to make the ornaments stand out. However, for our tree in the foyer, we decided to use a delicate white snowflake garland.

As you can see, the hall tree is flocked. That combined with the fact there wasn’t an outlet easily accessible to us made us opt to use solely garland. Personally, I think the lack of lights allows the garland and snow to stand out with the ornaments. I felt like adding lights would be a bit overwhelming to the eye.

When adding lights, I recommend 100 ct per tree foot. So if you have a 6 ft tree, that’s a total of 600ct.

This next comment may be a bit polarizing — but remember, you do you when it comes to your tree — I personally only like warm white lights for decorating.

Hear me out. When you’re doing a color scheme or a theme on a tree, colored lights (multi-colored or a single color) draw attention away from ornaments, garland, or other additions to the tree. I would rather everything be balanced where my eye focuses on different elements over time, instead of immediately looking at the strands of lights.

I love these warm white lights — they’re 300ct which is perfect for Christmas tree decorating.

If you’re looking to create a traditional tree, personal or handmade garland is a fantastic option

Our living room tree is the quintessential traditional Christmas tree. The others are just for fun, but this tree is the most special. It’s in front of this tree that we read the Bible story of the coming of Christ and where we thank God for the Ultimate Gift that He gave us. This tree holds the most ornaments of sentimental value to us. So we also made a few additions that make us smile, including the Hogwarts Express.

One of those other new additions is garland made of popcorn. But some other great garland options for traditional trees include:

• Wooden bead garland
• Felt pom pom garland
• Cranberry bead garland

CHOOSING AND PLACING ORNAMENTS

So, at this point you’ve chosen where your tree will go, the size of your tree, your lights and/or garland, as well as the theme or color scheme that you want to do. You’ve set aside your ornaments that you already own, but there’s definitely not enough ornaments. Right?

The number one thing I say when friends ask me why their tree doesn’t look “quite right” is this: you don’t have enough ornaments.

Don’t feel like you have to be stingy with your lights or your ornaments. Expand your color scheme to include light and dark shades, maybe some mattes and metallics, or glitter and glass.

I like to follow a 70/30 ratio with ornaments when decorating. Here’s what that means:

• 70% of the ornaments are from different sets of 8, 12, or 24 that are the same shape but have various sizes
• 30% of the ornaments are either single sentimental ornaments or they have a unique shape

70% may seem like a lot, but the idea is to have a bunch of ornaments that are the same shape, but not the same size or design. When you have 6, 8 or 12 identical ornaments spaced out on a tree multiple times, it allows your eye to take in the special moments that stand out and are different (aka: the other 30% that are your sentimental ornaments or unique ornaments).

Whenever you find new “filler” ornament sets, I always recommend laying them out together in a group. The main difference with shopping for your filler ornaments and any sentimental one-time purchases is that you want your filler ornaments to all complement one another. What I found when I did that in the photo above is that I wasn’t completely happy with all of these selections together. I actually ended up using the far left and far right sets on our woodland tree while the top and bottom sets went on our hall tree.

When you begin Christmas tree decorating, start with the larger ornaments that are in your sets

Why? Because when you have 8 ornaments that are the largest on the tree, you want to ensure you can space them out. I always start with the largest ornaments and filler ornaments (anything in a set) first, then I put on sentimental and do some shifting around of the filler ornaments.

SELECTING YOUR FINISHING TOUCHES

Star or angel? (I’m personally not a huge fan of the giant ribbon bows, but again, you do you!)

Before you select your tree topper, make sure you double check what the clearance is above your tree when assembled. Ideally, you want to have at least a few inches of space above your tree topper. My recommendation is at least 3-4 inches of clearance for a pencil tree, and at least 6+ inches for a regular tree.

You can check out the rustic star tree topper we have for our bedroom tree here.

There are so many options when you’re Christmas tree decorating of what you can do to add a special finishing touch to your tree — from a working train and a tree skirt, to weaving ribbon between branches or adding scented pinecones and pouporri (which is what we did and it smells awesome!!).

Some of my favorites include:

• Hogwarts Express Train (here’s a similar one to ours)
  • Or you may prefer this Polar Express Train
• Cinnamon Scented Pine Cones
• Gold Christmas Tree Ribbon
• White Faux Fur Tree Skirt
• Gold Glitter Poinsettias
• White / Silver Poinsettias

I hope all of this helps you as you’re planning your own Christmas tree decorating! I would love to see photos of your trees, so definitely send those my way on Instagram – @jennifer_atl!

Much love,

Jenn