Decorating Your Tree

Decorating your tree with norsu

The festive season is very close to our hearts here at norsu.
We can't help but love all the little moments. Choosing a colour scheme, collecting the perfect tree decorations, finding little festive pieces to scatter throughout the home, picking gifts, and setting the table on Christmas morning. But above all else, we love nothing more than spending time with the ones we love most.

Today, we are going to spill all our secrets on decorating the perfect festive tree as we sit down with Loz, our norsuHOME senior interior designer. Loz is a real stickler for a beautifully decorated Christmas tree, and over the years has perfected her formula for creating Christmas tree magnificence. And it wouldn’t be a true norsu blog if we didn’t share with you Loz’s formula … so keep reading for all the deets to create your own stylish Christmas tree.

START WITH THE LIGHTS
-

Lights on your Christmas tree can have many meanings, we like to think of them as the warmth of family love. This is why we recommend a warm light bulb to create the perfect ambience.

How to best place lights on your tree:
When it comes to placing lights on the tree, there are two different methods you can follow.

The Traditional method - ‘thread around the tree’, starting at the bottom and working your way to the top.
The ‘Shoving’ method (as coined by Loz!). You will need an abundance of lights for this, grab a cluster of the lights and “shove” them into the sections of the tree. Again start at the bottom and work your way up.

Our top tips for Christmas tree lights
- A little trick is to have the lights turned on as you hang them on the tree so you can see what they look like and adjust the positioning as necessary
- Invest in ornament hooks (available at spotlight, target etc), these cheap little bendable gems allow you to hook and finesse lights into the perfect position if needed.

ALL THINGS DECORATIONS
-

When it comes to selecting decorations for your Christmas tree the number one rule is ‘go with what you are drawn to’.

The other important thing to remember is that all those sentimental pieces you have, you know the ones your kids made in kinder with their delicious chubby little handprint, absolutely have a place on your tree.
When it comes to selecting decorations for your Christmas tree, a mix of ‘statement’ and ‘filler’ decorations is key. The trick is knowing how to categorize your decorations and then following Loz’s recipe for achieving Christmas tree perfection!

Small tree approx 1m tall
2 x different types of statement ornaments, 3 pieces per style 3 x filler decoration styles, 3 of each style

Medium tree approx 2m tall
4 x different types of statement decorations - 5 pieces per style 5x filler decoration styles, 5 pieces of each style

Large tree greater than 2m+ tall
6 x different types of statement decorations - 7 pieces per style7x filler decoration styles, 7 pieces of each style

Statement decorations; these could be unique pieces or decorations that have sentimental value. Just like styling, the number of pieces should always be odd.

Filler decorations - these could be our beautiful paper decorations or plain baubles, all in different colours. Again, go for an odd number of pieces.

Remember, don’t get too hung up on the decorations size. Go with what you are drawn to.

THE FORMULA
-

1. Before hanging, sort decorations into groups of the same, ie. by colour, size and shape. So all your statement pieces in one group, your filler pieces in another.

2. Now it's time to hang your decorations! Start by hanging your most favourite to your least favourite.

3.Distribute evenly around the tree, the key is to spread out the decorations, we don’t want the exact same decoration next to each other.

4. Larger decorations/ ornaments should be hung toward the bottom, whilst smaller should be more towards the top. Everything else is distributed in the middle.

Our top tips for selecting decorations:
- If you have one extra large sentimental piece, maybe treat yourself to another piece or two in a similar size to balance it out
- Unique / sentimental ornaments - group these together as one group of statement pieces.
- If your tree is in a corner or against a wall, don’t worry too much about decorating/ hanging ornaments on the back, as they wont be seen!
- Don’t forget the ornament hooks! Not only can they help with hanging the lights, they are especially great if you have a real tree and forget to water it and it get droopy, oops! By tightly threading your favourite glass decorations around these hooks, its an extra level of safety!