OH Christmas tree, OH Christmas tree!! It’s that time of the
year, and while if you use an artificial tree you probably already have your
tree up (before Thanksgiving if you’re like me!) but those that use real trees
are just starting to get into tree decorating. For Friday Favorites today I’m
sharing some of my favorite trees of different styles, along with my own!
Monochromatic Trees
By far the easiest way to decorate a tree for the holiday. Choose a color and use only that color or varying shades of that color. For a little extra dimension add a metallic shade (silver, gold, bronze) or a neutral such as white.
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| Love the shades of pink with a few touches of gold |
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| Classic red + white |
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Growing up we had a large tinsel tree in our basement
that we decorated with bright colored ornaments.
Absolutely love this mini version. |
Colorful Trees
The one thing I love about Christmas is that you aren't locked into certain colors as you are with most other holiday decor; any color can be festive for the season. In fact, in can be fun to do something that's a complete departure from your typical decor. The key to keeping bright colored trees more polished and less Candy Land-esque is to limit the colors or to hang them in an ombre effect. Also, don't forget to mix in metallics and neutrals to balance out all the bright colors.
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| Matching wrapping paper finishes this tree |
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| Great saturated colors + adorable galvanized bucket |
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| Antique-style ornaments on a mini tree |
Neutral Trees
If you want your tree to blend more with your existing decor consider doing a neutral tree. You can use varying shades of metallics or natural elements to create these beauties. To prevent your tree from being boring add lots of texture and sheen- beaded branches, satin ribbon, burlap, feathers, reflective and matte ornaments.
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| Gorgeous flocked tree |
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| If you have the space, a grouping of trees makes for high impact style |
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Natural/rustic trees can be just as elegant as a tree decked with
satin, beads and silver glass ornamnets |
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| Nothing sweeter than a simple Charlie Brown tree |
My Favorite Tree.... My Tree ;)
In our last home we had room for two trees, and had one that was all metallics and another that was more traditional with shades of red, green + white. Our new home only had room for one tree so I decided to mix up the ornaments a little bit. I used the metallics + white ornaments but added in some navy ornaments this year. I also opted to use peacocks feathers as my tree topper to tie it all together.
A few tips for decorating your tree (excuse the crappy iPhone pics). After your lights are on start by weaving ribbon in the tree to fill in any sparse areas. I then hang any large ornaments (or simple ornaments) towards the inside of my tree. So many people only decorate the outside of their branches but miss creating depth by layering ornaments in further. Next year I would like to add a few really large ornaments to my tree to play with scale a little more. When I hang ornaments I have found that by grouping together a few like-colored ornaments creates more impact than spreading them all out.
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| Sad tree with ribbon only |
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| 3 gold ornaments hung together |
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| Lots of ornament groupings in brown, navy + gold |
Once the base of the tree has been decorated, now comes time for the fancier or more unique ornaments. I also add branches or fake floral at this time to fill in any other gaps I see throughout the tree. Last, I add my topper which this year is a whole cluster of peacock feathers.
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| Metallic leaf ornaments |
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| Branches with crystals |
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Glitter poinsettia branches and
wool ball garland with metallic wood beads |
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| Peacock tree topper |
After cleaning up under the tree I add the tree skirt, except mine isn't a tree skirt. I couldn't find a simple metallic one I liked so I bought a bronze-colored blanket and wrapped it around the base of my tree. Whew!! And there it is- my steps for decorating a Christmas tree. Hope you all are enjoying decorating for the holiday as much as I am! In the next week or so I have several projects to share with you that I have been working on for clients, but in the meantime, enjoy the weekend!!
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| OH Christmas tree, OH Christmas tree! |
