News

Tree Decorating 101 - Don't despair:
Help Available for Decorating Impaired!

By Sheryl Schmeckpeper
living@norfolkdailynews.com
Published November 12, 2005

Amy Renter turned a length of ribbon into a bow, plunked it in the branches of an artificial Christmas tree and looped the streamers in and out of the greenery.

Then, she attached an angel to the middle of the bow and scattered Christmas balls of various shapes, sizes, colors and textures here and there.

The average Christmas-tree decorator – meaning me – would have tied the angel to the top of the tree, wrapped the tree with a spool of ribbon or garland, hung a few glass balls on the tips of the branches and called it good.

Welcome to Christmas tree decorating 101.

In the weeks before Christmas, Renter, co-owner of Magnolias in Norfolk, invites the decorating-impaired to attend her Christmas tree decorating workshops.

The workshops are an intense, 45-minute session where Renter demonstrates the intricacies of shaping, lighting and decorating designer trees. You go home with visions of holiday sprigs and colorful ribbon dancing in your head.

She tells students they need to take the time to shape each one of the branches of an artificial tree before lights or decorations are added. And, she said, it’s best to start from the bottom and work up, shaping as you go.

The branches should be pulled up and back, layer by layer, she said. The tips should also be tilted up a little, "to maximize the fullness," she added.

There are two ways to light a tree, she said. "The easy way . . . and the hard way."

INSTEAD OF wrapping each branch with lights, Renter loops lights around the branch, working from the inside of the branch to the outside, going back and forth in a "zig-zag" fashion. The effect is just as intense as wrapping each branch with lights, but not as time consuming. Plus, she said the lights are easier to remove when the tree is taken down if they are "looped" and not "wrapped."

Renter said it’s best to not plug more than 400 lights together. Instead, the wires should be run down the trunk of the tree to a power bar at the base of the tree.

"Or you can run an extension cord up the pole to plug in the top bunch of lights," she added.

Once Renter had a few lights on her tree, she gathered a handful of sprigs, flowers and branches, which she stuck in the top of the tree.

It seems that in the world of designer trees, stars and angels are strategically placed around the tree and not on top. Instead, many trees are topped with floral pieces that, Renter said, add color and interest and also make the tree appear taller.

"Work stem by stem . . . and slip them along the pole and behind the (light) wire," she said. "Work in threes . . . for balance."

She made it look so easy.

This is the point at which Renter added the bow and angel. Instead of trimming the ribbon’s streamers, she tucked it into the branches, letting it poof and drape at spots.

"Drape is good. It adds movement and creates interest," Renter said. Putting the angel inside the bow on the front of the tree, "gets a lot more show out of it."

In most cases, a 10-yard roll of ribbon is sufficient to make a bow and have enough leftover for streamers for a 6-foot tree, Renter said.

She suggests bending the tip of a branch to keep the ribbon in place, and then running the ribbon to the bottom of the tree and bringing it back up the other side.

GARLAND CAN be handled the same way, she said. However, she cautioned students to use only one or two types of garland, so the tree doesn’t become "cluttered."

Fabrics can substitute for garland or ribbon, but it’s best to use only one type of fabric, she said.

She encouraged students to think "out of the box" when choosing ornaments, and to think about the finished product’s theme or desired "look."

For instance, one of the trees in the store, which is decorated in mauve and white, featured silver picture frames and mirrors. Ornaments, glass icicles and snowflakes hang from sprigs and stems sticking from the top of the tree.

Birdhouses and birds nests, bronze leaves, pine cones and feather-covered balls hang on another, which make it look as though it belongs in a forest.

A "contemporary" tree is decked out in shiny silver and black.

"Large trees need large ornaments," Renter said, as she walked her students through the store.

Those and other large items should be put on first and placed "deep in the tree" to give it depth, Renter said. Flowers are added next and should be "balanced."

"Don’t put the flower in flat. Give it a little tilt up. It will draw the eye into the tree," she said.

Smaller ornaments, flowers and other accent pieces should be added last and placed on the end of the branches. They can even be wired together to make ornament bouquets, she said.

But don’t despair if you’re agonizing over what to do with the box of heirloom ornaments tucked in the closet. They too, Renter said, can be incorporated into almost any design.

Renter doesn’t give any exams when decorating 101 is over. She and Rachel Kurpgweit of Madison, the other owner of Magnolias, just answer questions and help students pick through the selection of ribbons, trimmings and specialty items that will help them create their own designer look at home.

THE MOTHER-DAUGHTER team opened the store in Norfolk in 1998. Before that, Renter had a store in Plainview, where she lives with her husband and two daughters.

They start thinking Christmas in January, when they travel to market to purchase items for the next holiday season.

By early November, the store is head to toe Christmas, which isn’t a minute too soon, especially for the decorating-impaired like me who need all the help – and time – we can get.