Follow us!
like us on Facebookfollow us on Twittergo to the Duck Duck Moose websiteemail us

Designer Decorating for the Holidays: Tips for Decorating your Christmas Tree

Decorating for the holidays was big business in my house growing up. I have fond, albeit cold, memories of trekking down to the local tree lot in the Massachusetts winter snow to find the perfect tree.

Even though many years have passed, it still just doesn’t feel like the holidays to me unless I have a Christmas tree in my house. My husband, who grew up in India and Africa, doesn’t have quite the same appreciation for my Christmas tree escapades. To him, it is another year that he has to brave the cold (we live in San Francisco!!) and watch idly by as I inspect every tree in the lot in search of the perfect specimen. I inevitably choose one that is too tall for our ceiling, at which point, we must hack the top of the tree off with a bread knife (because we don’t have a saw and also, because I never learn).

This year, however, he turned over a new leaf and promised to try and get into the holiday spirit. Instead of a Christmas party, we decided to host a French Laundry party (in which I will attempt to make recipes from the French Laundry cookbook) for a few of our friends. Unfortunately our fancy dinner party upped the ante for our tree decor this year.

Over the Thanksgiving break, I spent countless hours combing the web for beautiful and innovative holiday decorating ideas and I am shocked to say that I found very few. In the end, I loaded up on supplies from Paper Source, Arch and Target and spent a day locked in a room hallucinating to the fumes of spray mount. When I emerged, I was covered in a pound of glitter, my socks were sticking to the carpet, but I had a whole new set of ornaments for my tree. I should mention that my husband thinks I’m crazy.

holiday decorating tips: how to decorate a christmas tree

Tips for Decorating a Christmas Tree

Try and choose a tree that is symmetrical
Check for large holes, broken or dead branches.

Tie branches to close up bare spots
I have never found a tree that doesn’t have at least one or two bare spots. To fix this, I will often use fishing line or florist wire to secure branches so that they fill the empty spots.

Plan your color scheme
I usually have a color scheme in mind for my tree. In the past I have done various shades of orange, gold and pink, but this year I wanted a slightly colder looking tree, so I chose silver, white and pink.

I still love this faux tree pictured on the cover of Blueprint Magazine a few years back:
blueprint magazine pink tree

Another lovely fake tree via Apartment Therapy:
fake tree, apartment therapy

Choose some consistent ornaments
I usually pick 3-4 different ornament styles that will be my base and mis in unexpected ornaments at the end. This gives the tree a kind of consistency.

Treat it like a design project
If you are decorating with children, this is a hard one. I often decorate in color groups — all the silver, all the pink, all the white, for example, so that I can make sure that there isn’t an over-abundance of one color or one style on any particular part of my tree.

Match your presents to your tree
Once you have a color scheme, wrap your presents to pull out the colors in your tree.

Make your own ornaments
This year I used ordinary silk flowers that I picked up at Michaels Craft Store. I gave these a little extra shimmer by spraying them with spray mount and dusting them with glitter. Other ornaments on my tree include collaged pieces, snowflakes, and cardboard letters covered in glitter.

holiday wreath decoration

Happy Holidays!
heart Designer Decorating for the Holidays: Tips for Decorating your Christmas TreeDuck Duck Moose

Blog Widget by LinkWithin Book Mark it! del.icio.us | Digg | Facebook | Google | Yahoo

This website uses IntenseDebate comments, but they are not currently loaded because either your browser doesn't support JavaScript, or they didn't load fast enough.

4 Responses to “Designer Decorating for the Holidays: Tips for Decorating your Christmas Tree”

  1. Felicity Says:

    Closing bare spots using florist wire or fishing line is a GREAT IDEA. One of those things that is so simple, but which it has never occured to me to do. Thanks so much for the idea. I’ll be putting it into practice this weekend.

    Your tree looks just beautiful too – how did you get something that big home? Do tree lots in San Francisco deliver?

  2. kaymonproductions.com Says:

    When it comes to decorating, we are all perfectionists about our Christmas tree. Ultimately, this happens only once a year and the decorations are a sight to treasure

  3. Plastic Displays Says:

    Greetings. I’m so pleased I found this web site, I actually found you by accident, while I had been searching Bing for something different, Anyway I’m here presently and would certainly want to express gratitude for the wonderful blog posting along with a all round interesting website (I additionally like the theme). I have bookmarked it and in addition subscribed to the RSS feeds.

  4. nixgab Says:

    sadly no, I threw it on top of my car and we both took an end and tried to shove it through the door. We got it all the way in the house when we realized that it was too tall for the ceiling and had to hack the top off with a bread knife. Ah, the joy of having an Xmas tree :)

Leave a Reply

A compendium of unique design for children
A fun, interactive musical iPhone book, based on the popular children’s song.

One of “The Best iPhone Apps for Kids”
The New York Times

Wheels on the Bus
Buy it for iPhone
Buy it for iPad


Fish School
Fish School (iPhone)
Fish School HD (iPad)
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Itsy Bitsy Spider (iPhone)
Old MacDonald
Old MacDonald (iPhone)