Acheive a stylish, sophisticated tree in a few easy steps
Now you have chosen the tree and put on the lights it’s time to decorate. The rule with Christmas tree decorating is: there are no rules. You can let the children run riot and put on anything they want, things they find in the wood; such as pine cones, sprigs of berries or holly or things they have made at school or been given by Grandma. As long as you love it and it holds special memories for you, don’t let anyone tell you it hasn’t been decorated properly. Or, you can follow these tips for a more stylish tree.
Choose a basic colour and add one or two secondary colours; a good guide is 50% main colour and 25% each of the secondary colours, or you can always keep it simple and sophisticated with just one colour. After a few years and you are fed up with seeing the same old decorations you can keep the basic colour and just replace one or both of the secondary colours; without breaking the bank and buying a whole set of new decorations. Good basic colours are: gold, white, red, cream, burgundy and cocoa.
Gold can be teamed with red, white, silver, cream, burgundy, cocoa, cerise, lime, purple, crystal, black, natural, orange, forest green and turquoise. White can look cool and wintery teamed with turquoise, crystal, snowy/frosty, natural, cocoa, forest green or pewter; and also looks good with pink and royal blue. Red is the traditional Christmas colour which goes well with gold, white, black, silver, crystal, natural, forest green, cream, orange and burgundy. Burgundy looks rich and opulent teamed with red, orange, gold, purple, cream, black, pewter and crystal. Cream looks classic and chic paired with gold, red, natural, orange, burgundy, purple, black, crystal or forest green. Cocoa is a good basic colour and can be teamed with white, snowy/frosty, natural, orange, crystal, pewter, forest green or turquoise. If you want a huge colour statement why not try the jewel colours of cerise, lime, turquoise, purple and orange.
A mixture of textures will add depth and interest to the tree; so consider tinsel, garlands or broad, wired ribbon, florals, ornate tree decorations, baubles, natural items such as: cones, branches of berries, dried apples and pears, cinnamon sticks or homemade sweets and biscuits. If using tinsel place it in the centre of the tree before putting on the lights, as it reflects the light and illuminates the centre of the tree, so creating a feeling of depth. Tinsel has fallen out of favour lately but it can look quite stylish by putting it inside the tree. Also make sure there are several sizes of decorations; too many small decorations will make the tree look fussy, whereas using some larger pieces will make the whole design more cohesive.
Evenly twirl the garlands or ribbon around the tree, pushing it about a third of the way into the tree so that the decorations hang outside.
Place the largest decorations or florals evenly around the tree.
Next place the medium sized items. If you are using plain baubles these can be fastened together in groups of three to give more impact.
Next fill in any gaps with the small decorations.
Finally top off the tree with a star, angel, fairy or bunches of florals. This can be done more easily before decorating the tree, as there is less risk of damaging the decorations.
To finish cover the base of the tree, either using a tree skirt or fabric swirled around the base. Empty boxes of varying sizes wrapped in toning paper also effectively disguise the tree base. If the tree has a natural theme you could place a web of twigs around the base then place in woodland animals and plain baubles.
Tree illustrated is the Alaskan Fir.
We have one of the largest selections of artificial Christmas trees in the north west of England; all of them coming with a 5 Year Guarantee.
Here at Hayes Garden World we are proud of our service and thankfully the majority of our customers think so too, so you can order with confidence. If you do have a problem our sales team are only too happy to sort it out to your satisfaction.