written by Janet Harrold

Your tree should be a reflection of your love of art, let your personality shine through! Whether you like a traditionally decorated tree full of classic color tones and years of memories that your children have created, or you want to glam it up a bit with a trendy dramatic color palette of shiny copper and teal over sized ornaments, sprayed metallic  leaves and a tree topper of fancy feathers. These few tricks of the trade will help to give you a more polished and professional look.

The Lights   The more lights the better! Colored lights vs white lights….again, decorating your tree is a personal preference and the color of lights that you choose is not as important as the way you hang your lights. When installing your them. Don’t forget to start from within, close to the trunk and work your way out to the tips giving your tree more depth and dimension.

The Ornaments   Many of us have a variety of shapes and sizes so when hanging your ornaments don’t just hang them anywhere. Dangle them in empty spaces…i’m not a fan of having ornaments sit on the branch below it, when this happens the tree  tends to look rather “clunky.”   Just as you did with your lights, dangle some of the heavier, larger ornaments in deep and towards the middle or lower portion of the tree to distribute the weight more evenly and  balance them off with smaller shapes and sizes on the outside branches and towards the top region of the tree.

The Tree Skirt ahh, so many options for your tree skirt.  This is an area where you want to open up your mind and think outside of the box. Don’t limit yourself to using just any ole  “tree skirt” under your tree, utilize other fabric options such as a gold or red curtain or an under used Christmas table cloth.  A gray and white  chevron  pattern for a more modern look, and if yours is a  traditional tree, a ruffled  burlap cloth  is very handsome. For the young at heart instead of a tree skirt how about an electric locomotive train set.

The Tree Topper For many, the most important part of the tree. This can be the single feature that ties your entire tree together. It can be creative, sentimental or elaborate. A few suggestions can be as simple as a large bow, a finial,  a lighted star or an angel that your kindergartner made out of a paper plate and glued glitter on the wings.  The choice is yours and the possibilities endless.