The Christmas tree is the heart of most Christmas decor. I always have at least 2 full sized trees in my house, one for my basement and one for my living room. In my basement, I use a faux tree I bought on Black Friday 4 years ago; I paid $15 for it, and it looks rough. It may be my last year using it, but I do my best to cover up how awful the tree is. I alway get a real tree for my living room, and cannot get that until the week of Thanksgiving or else I’ll kill it. This blog post will be based on the faux tree in my basement, but I decorate my other tree the exact same way. I will be sure to share photos of all of my trees in the next few weeks.
Once you have a theme for your tree, you’ll need to buy the supplies to make your tree look great! The items I recommend buying are:
-Lights of Varying Sizes
-Ornaments of Varying Sizes
-Ribbon
-Floral Picks
-Floral Wire
1)Fluff
If you’re using a faux tree, you’ll need to fluff out the branches to make it look fuller. I recommend wearing long sleeves and maybe even gloves! If you want detailed instructions on the best way to fluff a tree, there are great videos on Youtube! My tree is so bare that fluffing it can only do so much to make it look good. It has lost quite a few branches in the last few years, which is what I get for having my tree in 3 different houses in college.
2)Lights
I like to use two different size lights on my trees to add some dimension to the tree. I use larger bulb lights around the “trunk” of the tree. I then add the standard smaller lights to the outer edges of the tree. If your tree is pre-lit, you can still add the large bulb lights to the inside of the tree to create the same effect.
3) Ribbon
I love adding ribbon to my trees! It adds color, texture, and glitter (my favorite thing) to the tree without having to spend a lot of time or money. There are multiple methods for adding ribbon to a tree. I chose to drape the ribbon vertically on the tree, but you can also wrap it horizontally or place smaller strips strategically within the tree. I chose vertical since this tree is skinnier. I wire the ribbon to a branch at the top of the tree and tuck it into the tree at varying levels until it reaches the bottom.
4) Floral Picks
Floral picks are a great way to add different textures and shapes that you can’t find in normal ornaments. They are also a great way to fill in bare spots on your tree. I used some of the same poinsettia picks I used on my mantle garland (see my post about that here), and they filled in the emptier spots between layers of the tree great. I normally would have added a few more, but since the poinsettias are such a statement, I wanted them to be the focus.
5) Large Ornaments
I recommend using large ball ornaments in addition to the smaller normal ball ornaments. If you have a tree that is lacking fullness, use the large balls to fill in the space within the tree near the trunk. I usually just set these on the branches so they naturally fall into the emptier spots. I usually buy these from Walmart or Target and use them year after year, but since they aren’t super visible, you don’t need to spend a lot on them.
6)Small Ornaments
Next, I add the smaller ornaments such as normal ball sized ornaments and special ornaments I’ve collected through the years. I place these on the exterior of the tree. If you’re feeling fancy, you can get ornament spinners that will twirl your more elaborate, prettier ornaments.
7)Tree Topper and Skirt
The last step is to add your tree topper and tree skirt. This year I used my ribbon to make a bow for the top of my tree and placed a white faux fur tree skirt underneath.
Those are the steps I take to decorate my trees. I hope you enjoyed, and can apply some of these tips to your tree decorating this year! Make sure you are subscribed to my newsletter so you can see all of my decorating tips, gift guides, and much more!
xx Clare