I start from the room rather than from the tree. The sofa, the floors, the art and the light already in the space decide the palette, and the palette decides what goes on the branches: one metal, gold, silver or a soft bronze, and one temperature of light. Choosing those two things first is what lets a box of old ornaments and a few new ones look as if they were bought together.
The lights go on first and go deep, wrapped through the inside of the branches as well as along the tips, so the tree glows from within instead of showing a lit outline. Ribbon follows in long cascades from the top, then picks and ornaments in layers, and the topper last, sized to the tree rather than to the box it came in.
The base matters as much as the top. A skirt or a collar finishes the tree, and the gifts are staged under it, wrapped in the same palette if you’d like me to do the wrapping too, so the floor around the tree looks considered rather than like a pile of boxes.
If there is a second tree in the house, for a bedroom, the office or the entry, it’s dressed in the same palette as the first, so the rooms speak to each other. I decorate trees across the Charlotte area, from Huntersville to Waxhaw, and installs are scheduled from October in the order they’re booked.