Welcome! It’s 9:50 PM on a Monday here and I have been on the other side of the phone receiving bad news after bad news. I am wondering if its the end of all things good or the beginning of something fabulous. I am wondering if I was too excited that things fell apart or is this that s*** happens and this is typically life giving me lemons? But regardless of what it is, I shall decorate my Christmas tree like pro and give you bits and bobs of how to decorate a Christmas tree. Haha, this blogger will not back down.

Christmas Tree Closeup

Coming to the point, for years I have struggled with decorating christmas tree. I used to look at the trees in magazine and wonder how do they really do it. What is the trick to make them look oh so beautiful. There are ornaments yes {back in 2010 finding a glass bauble or a bell was next to impossible and online was just catching up} but even trees that barely had any ornament looked impeccably gorgeous. Maybe it’s not the things but the way of doing it up that made all the difference.

And over years of unlearning and relearning, I can now proudly proclaim that I found out the tips and tricks to decorate a Christmas Tree like pro. I will not waste your time in faffs today but get straight to the point.

What kind of tree it is will determine its decor

For example? If you choose a regular, tall thin tree, your Christmas tree decoration will follow one path. If you have a bushy, tree, it will follow another. First, determine your tree before you buy decorations and lights. In India we generally get artificial trees which comes with stand so I am not talking about stability.

Christmas Tree Lighting: Always Lights first

Collage_Lighting
#Rule 1: Always add lights before putting your ornaments. This will help you two ways:

a) It will help you decide faster as to where to put your Christmas ornaments so that they shine and are highlighted

b) You don’t run the risk of pulling or breaking ornaments as you string the lights.

Spiral or Irregular?

No matter what size of tree and of what circumference, never add the lights in a round or spiral fashion. Unless you want a bare tree with just the lights- as in an entry or doorway or garden trees. You want your Christmas Tree to look dreamy and have a lot of depth. The lights should highlight your tree and the ornaments and not overpower it by staring at you in the face.

To make a dreamy tree, add the Christmas lights or rice lights or fairy lights irregularly, going all the way inside the leaves near the stem. Never get the lights too close to the tip of the leaves as it will create a blind spot behind it where the ornaments are actually hanging.

Plus, you want your photos to have a nice Bokeh now, wouldn’t you? 😉

 

Christmas Bokeh
How To Hang Ornaments

Oh, you might think its easy but let me tell you those magazine like Christmas trees are meticulously crafted so it looks like a thousand bucks in a photograph. And what will look beautiful in a photograph will definitely look fabulous to the naked eye. Here’re some tips to hand Christmas Tree ornaments

Closeups ornaments

Symmetry: How do you ensure that the tree looks fabulous with all its ornaments? Symmetry! By ensuring that at any point of time, a similar group of ornaments form a triangle if you draw lines. Which means, if you put a red ornament at point A, place other reds on branched either left or right of A and never in the same height. See! Formula!

To achieve this easily, try grouping your ornaments and hanging them one group at a time. For my tree, I started with the red baubles first and then moved on to the transparent golds. Start from the top, keep a gap of about a branch line and place the next one. Exhaust the first batch and move on to the second. Apply same formula.

Christmas Tree BlogHow to ensure every ornament is visible

The trick is to push some ornaments to the end of the leaves near the stem and keep some half way in the leaves. In addition, if you have ornaments that are long like an icicle or a glass hanging, it’s best to push it towards the stem, at the end of the leaf where it’s joined with the other singular leaves. This is to ensure that leaves don’t obstruct them from hanging properly and because there is enough empty space near the stem, it’s completely visible.

To make sure the ornaments at the back of the tree are visible too, take a look at your tree from the front. Identify empty spots and hang the ornaments on a leaf that fills the empty pockets. This way you will ensure that whatever is hanging at the back is visible too.

If you want to hand heavy ornaments at the tip of a leaf, make sure you turn the leaf around in a semi circle to give it more support.

How To Add Garland in a Christmas Tree

If you have a thin tree, a garland can add body to it- no doubt. But a weirdly placed garland can make the entire tree look like Ron Weasley’s house. For garlands, by all means keep it spiral. For plain garlands- go half way inside the leaves and never to the stem or leaf. This will give it body and yet won’t overpower the tree. If you are planning on adding a burlap garland, use a scalloped pattern to do the same. In this case, use the tip of the leaves to attach the garland.

DIY-Burlap-Garland

How to hide the Christmas Tree Stand

Last but not the least- how to hide the stand or the base of the tree. Now traditionally people have been using a skirt but I think I’d prefer a crate, a galvanized bucket, wicker baskets or even a plush brass planter depending on what theme are you decorating the tree with and what is the overall theme of your decor. For a rustic chic look, grab a fruit crate and use it to hold the tree. That’s what I did! Here’s how one of my favorite bloggers does it.

Here’s a final image of our tree!

Christmas tree trumatter Final

A bit of product details: 

Motif Fabric Christmas Hanging (reindeer and tiger) by Safomasi

Vintage Cut Glass Christmas Ornaments by Indian Shelf

Tree: Locally bought

Crate: 20 Rupees, APMC

Garland: Amazon.in

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little Christmas decorating tips and tricks: If you have some up your sleeves, feel free to mention in the comments section.

Its almost 12 AM, gotta sleep!

Love

TrumatterXO

 

 

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