Photo: Bliss at Home

Is your taste more traditional or extravagant? Perhaps you fall somewhere outside of the basic offerings, preferring quirky holiday looks that stir up nostalgia of years past. Read on to see which aesthetic best suits you.

Viva La Glam

More is more when it comes to decking your halls. There isn’t a surface in your home that is safe from garland and fairy lights. Between all of the twinkling light and festive scented candles, your entire home is aglow with a tone of lighting that is so flattering and relaxing, you wish it was socially acceptable to keep up this Christmas decor all year long.

You don’t believe that a Christmas tree can have too many lights or ornaments on it, and you like to lay them both on thick. Who really wants to see any of the greenery under those lights and ornaments anyway? When choosing ornaments, you prefer more flash than fa-la-la-la-la, so you tend to keep a strict silver, white and gold color palette, featuring lots of sparkle in the form of glitter accents and crystal ornaments. Take the shimmer and shine up a notch this year and add some rotating ornament hooks to give your tree even more dimension.

Keep It Classic

When it comes to holiday decor, you like your festive adornments just like your home decor, traditional and refined. You decorate in moderation, careful not to make it too over the top. You think colored lights are tacky, preferring the warm glow of white lights on your perfectly picked Christmas tree. You carefully decorate your tree with a mix of classic ball ornaments and your favorite ornaments that you have collected through the years.

As for the rest of the house, the holiday frills are kept to a minimum, save for a little light-strung garland on the stair banister and on the fireplace mantle. For your home exterior, things are kept crisp and tasteful with a simple wreath of greenery on the front door highlighted with a spotlight and white icicle lights along your roofline in all the right places.

Retro Chic

When anyone stops by your house during the holiday season, they expect to hear the soothing sound of Sinatra crooning “Jingle Bells.” And your holiday home decor, as with the rest of the decor in your mid-century modern home, goes right along with exactly what you would expect from someone with “Christmas with The Rat Pack” playing on a loop.

You scoured local thrift shops and estate sales to find the perfect vintage aluminum Christmas tree. You’ve been trolling flea markets for years to amass your near-complete collection of 1960s glass ornaments. Complete with bubble lights and old-school tinsel, your Christmas tree looks straight out of your favorite era.

Your holiday style may fall firmly into one of the above categories or you may blur the lines, choosing the bits and pieces from each holiday style that you love best. Either way, taking a step back to plan your holiday home look thoughtfully is key for creating a dazzling scene this holiday season.

Designed By: Maria Killam

Stand Up for Tradition

A real tree is a traditional sentiment.  The smell of a pine tree lets visitors know you mean business when it comes to representing the holidays.  If you are getting a real tree, a traditional stand is needed.  Regular watering and treatment helps maintain the fullness of the tree and keeps it from losing too many needles.  You want to make a half-inch cut to the base before placing it in the stand.  Be sure to make a level and even cut so it will fit nicely.

Create an Appropriate Setting

A live tree needs a lot of tender loving care.  An artificial tree does not need as much attention, but a real tree needs to be kept away from intense heat (such as the fireplace or heater vents).  Also, be mindful of the temperature of the hosting room.  Establishing a lower temperature will keep the tree from drying too quickly.  Regarding temperature, the water does not have to be cool or cold; the water’s temperature won’t influence the tree’s ability to uptake.  Regularly check the water level- you don’t want the water to get below the base of the Christmas tree.

Dress the Tree Appropriately

Some prefer to dress a live tree sparsely, so the natural beauty can take precedence.  However, a fake tree can be adorned in sets of lights, personalized Christmas ornaments, and loads of ribbon, so the decoration gets more attention than the fake tree it covers.  Take some time to plan how you will arrange the decor before starting.  This will save time as well as make for a better end product.

Go Against Tradition

Sure, it’s traditional to get a Christmas tree, real or fake, but you don’t have to decorate it with lights, garland, or red and green balls.  For example, if you’re a Green Bay Packers fan, you could pay tribute to your favorite football team by dressing the tree in green and yellow along with personalized decorations and football cards of favorite players.  It would be wrong to leave the tree out of your holiday decor, yet there is no wrong way to decorate it.  Create a theme based on family members, favorite holiday destinations, shared family pastimes, etc.