Ornaments: How many to use, and where to place them!

When decorating a tree, I like to use a large assortment of ornaments. A tree will have more personality if you use assorted sizes of ornaments. If you used all the same size ornaments some of the special ones would get lost in the sameness of the tree. If you use a variety of sizes of ornaments, it gives depth and texture to your tree. It helps to break the  tree into smaller sections that are more interesting to see. 

Notice on this tree, there are very large purple balls. The angels are quite large also. The purple and gold are excellent contrasting colors. Using colors such as these, the tree is just as pretty with the lights off as well as on! The bunches of purple poinsettias also help to break up the vastness of the tree (this is an 8 ft. full tree) Then there are some medium sized gold cherub heads, as well as some gold instruments. Lastly, there are lots of small ornaments all over the tree. Using icicles gives a droopy snow laden look to the branches and should be placed on last, except for the special ornaments. The special ornaments are always placed last and should be at head level to draw attention.

When placing small ornaments on the tree if you want them to stand out and be noticed, place them in bunches of 3, 5, or 7. This makes them much more noticeable. I'm not sure why, but I have always placed odd numbers of ornaments on the tree, never an even amount. Notice on the tree above how the ornaments just pop out at you. Of course the variation in color helps. This is a Victorian Tree I decorating in a dining room of a Bed and Breakfast. The colors used are burgundy, mauve, pink and cream. The ornaments are a quilted fabric with tassels at the bottom of each ornament. The ribbon, flowers, and berries blend perfectly.

After you placed all the regular ornaments, now is the time to go in and place the special ones. I have ornaments that are picture frames. I have placed special pictures of family members and friends in these frames and they go on last. Make sure to place them in spots on the tree that are highly noticed. Some people have specialty ornaments that bring good luck like pickles, spiders webs, or small purses that hold money. These always go on last. The only things you might put on after would be angels hair or tinsel.

This tree has a large variety of items on it. There are large dolls and teddy bears. The bows and ribbon give the tree unity as well as the variety of toys all over the tree. If you look close, you can even see tiny crystal ornaments that brings some glitter to the tree to offset the material bears and dolls. This tree was themed as a Toyland Tree.