You've seen them. You love them.
The epically decorated Christmas tree.
It's a thing of beauty to behold. If it feels unattainable to you, I want to dispel that inner voice inside of you that thinks you can't create something like this, because you totally can.
Oh, and before anyone clicks away because you could NEVER do a tree like this because you have too many cherished (but not always pretty) handmade kid's ornaments and childhood ornaments and gifted ornaments, I have a fix for that too.
TWO TREES.
Yep, I always set up one tree that is stunning to look at, and one that is full of memories that the kids can go crazy on. Everybody wins.
So, if you can wrap your mind around that concept, or you don't have any ugly ornaments because you're an epic Christmas curator, here's how to get that majestic, "decorator" Christmas tree look at home.
Also be sure to read to the end to get this look at home.
1. NAIL DOWN YOUR COLOR PALETTE AND MOOD
First things first - one thing amazing decorator trees have in common is that they are sticking HARD to a theme and color palette. In this case we wanted to create a Glam tree that pulled from colors that were already in our clients home. For you it might be more neutral, or rustic, or modern, or colorful. Your home has a style 11 months of the year so lean into it! Then we'll add some Christmas flair to it.
Here are a few other palettes to get your juices flowing:
2. LARGE SCALE ORNAMENTS
Another hallmark of decorator trees - BIG FATTY FAT ORNAMENTS. Most of the regular ornaments you see in the store are no bigger than your fist. We want to add some melon-sized bad boys to the tree to get some oooomph. Scale is one of the biggest tricks up a designer's sleeve and one that most folks miss.
Get at least 5 mega sized ornaments for an 8-9' tree. Always in odd numbers too. BONUS TIP.
3. THE ZIG ZAG
Next we'll start layering in regular sized globe ornaments. What you want to do here is to create zig-zags all over the tree with your pops of color or with like-ornaments. This keeps your eye moving around the tree, finding new things to look at. We call that "creating interest."
Sidebar - there are for sure trees out there that don't have any globe ornaments and are full of figurine type ornaments. If that's your jam, cool, but for me a tree has to have classic round ornaments. If everything has a different shape it can feel distracting and overwhelming. Globes create simplicity, unity, and cohesion.
This trick isn't exclusive to the Christmas tree either. We use this trick each and every time we style a bookcase or open shelving. I'm full of the bonus tips today.
4. GO DEEP
You don't just want to put ornaments around the outer edges of the tree, because by this point you are a pro. You want to hang ornaments DEEP into the tree, all the way towards the trunk. This gives the tree incredible fullness and depth. When you just hang them around the outside the tree can feel a little flat and ho-hum.
5. HAVE FUN
Last but not least, add novelty ornaments. We're talking fun shapes, vintage ornaments, blown glass, reindeer, Santa, stars. You name it, now is the time to add it on.
But keep this in mind: Keep it consistent. If you want a natural rustic looking tree, stick to that theme. Adding cartoonish Santas isn't going to fit. Wooden ornaments, reindeer, snowflakes - that will fit the vibe better.
We were going for glam here, so we added in lots of rose gold and metallics, sparkly stars and reindeer, and a handful of other sparkly figurines that fit our color palette. And we topped it all off with a metallic sputnik-style tree topper.
There you have it! Our top tips for creating a stunning designer-style Christmas tree that you won't be able to stop staring at all season long!
You can see more of this house that we transformed to the holidays in our blog post here!
GET THE LOOK
Here are a few of our favorite items from this season to get the Glam Christmas look.
