Your Christmas Home Could Look Like This With These 10 Tips

Hello friends and welcome back to the channel. Today is an exciting day because it's the first Christmas video of the year. And not only that, but one of my favorite creators out there is going to join me in giving 10 holiday decorating tips. So meet Johnny. You may have seen him on Instagram gardening, baking, or designing. He's known for his signature happy wave at the start of his videos. He drove to JD's from Chattanooga to celebrate Christmas in July with me. I love Johnny and I am so inspired by his content and his good heart. Make sure you're following him at Instagram at Johnny's Home Designs. We just love, love Christmas decorating and so we're going to share some of our tried and true Christmas decorating tips with you. Let's get started. Tip number one. After fluffing your tree thoroughly, you'll start by adding lights. Add more lights than you think you'll need and weave them into every branch, not just the outside branches. If you're wondering how many lights you need for your tree, well here is a general rule of thumb. You want your tree to glow. Remember, a beautifully lit tree will almost always look more expensive than a tree loaded with ornaments but lacking light. All right, so tip number two. When decorating a wreath or a swag, remember you'll need one large focal point. That could be either a bow, cluster of bells, or any other decorated item, but having that one focal point on the wreath or the swag is what takes it from basic to designer and it gives the eye something to land on rather than overwhelming it completely. My preference is to have one focal point either at the top or the bottom of the wreath. Tip number three. When decorating a tree, start with ribbon, not ornaments. This allows you to weave your ribbon in and out of the tree and gives it more dimension. See how the ribbon is layered in and out of this tree? This is how designers achieve that elevated holiday look. No matter what style you add ribbon to your tree, adding ribbon first is the way to go. Plus, adding your ornaments last ensures you don't knock any off your tree and break them while you're decorating. So tip number four is to mix together two different garlands to create an extra full look. This is such a great designer trick because it creates dimension and mimics nature. Like branches growing together, I love to just mix them all together and I use cedar garland or even picks to nestle into pine branches to create just a full and beautiful look. Tip number five. After you add lights to your tree, hang cheaper gold glitter ornaments inside the tree closer to the trunk. I love this tip because not only does this give depth because the lights are reflecting off the glitter but it also hides any holes in the trunk itself. This is a great strategy for trees that are more sparse or lacking in full branches and it's super budget-friendly. All right, so tip number six is probably one of my favorites. If you have a gate on your driveway, rather than using two separate wreaths on each gate, take one very large wreath and then cut it in half and attach it on both sides of your gates to where it opens. It has such a beautiful and dramatic look. It's one of my favorites to do. I did this and I absolutely loved it and all my friends booed and awed over it every time they came to visit. Tip number seven. If you can, buy quality ribbon. If I could only splurge on one Christmas decorating item, it would be beautiful thick wired ribbon. A designer ribbon can elevate an average tree while inexpensive ribbon can make even expensive ornaments look less polished. I know it can be an investment but truly it makes such an impact. Look at these ribbons side by side. See the difference? And here's a bonus tip. If you've chosen to invest in designer ribbon, store it with tissue paper in each loop and put the ribbon in its own box. By storing the ribbon this way you will ensure you can use it year after year. All right, so tip number eight. Especially when you're decorating a large Christmas tree, use bigger ornaments or decor than you think you'll need. One of the biggest reasons your tree may feel a little underwhelming is because you're using ornaments that are too small for the scale of your tree. So if you have a nine foot tree, I like to use ornaments that are about six to eight inches that nestle them inside of the branches. You can also use decor like bells or snowflakes or even stars and fasten them to your branches with zip ties and just get creative. Tip number nine. After adding your wide ribbon, grab a narrow wired ribbon. Now make sure it's wired. Also choose a ribbon with a satin gold backing. Then cut about 12 inches of ribbon, wrap it around a fat marker, give it a squeeze and make sure it's wrapped tight and then just slightly pull and you have an adorable spiral that you can hang on your tree. I absolutely love how this adds a beautiful touch. And tip number 10 and most importantly, remember to include ornaments and decor that mean something to you. Following trends can be so fun and there's truly joy to be found in creating new looks every year. But if that's not something that's interesting to you or maybe it's just not in the budget for it this year, consider leaning into that nostalgic vibe. You can absolutely create a wonderful holiday home using what you already have and things you've already created. A huge thank you to Johnny for making the trip to JD's for this Christmas in July video. He is truly such a joy to be around. Please go show Johnny some love and support on his Instagram. Okay friends, more Christmas videos are around the corner in the upcoming months, so be sure you subscribe and following along so you don't miss any. And if you're close to Nashville, come visit us at JD's All About Home. Thank you so much for watching this video and I'll see you in the next one. That's a big word. It is a big word. How about... Because it creates such a fuel... Fuel! Think I won't. Sorry. Yeah, I'm really good at apologizing. So, so sorry about that. Southern, that's what we do. Wait, whenever you're ready. The circle goes through the square. Sorry, I made you laugh, my bad. Okay. We just went ugh at the same time. Because I just thought about it because I had a spider fall across me one day and I was like, I died. I'm over here.