This is my 8th year designing sponsored trees for the annual Festival of the Trees event put on by the Orlando Museum of Art. I love doing it each year and have had so many happy sponsors pleased with the results. Each tree requires a good dose of inspiration and a lot of preparation, not to mention the actual setup, which must come off perfectly. While it is a lot of work, creating beautiful Christmas trees is so rewarding, especially seeing the faces of delighted children.

For this year, I was asked to create a tree honoring our Healthcare Heroes by Orlando Health. They gave me some delightful nutcrackers representing doctors, nurses, and other frontline healthcare heroes for my Christmas tree inspiration, and I built a tree around these wonderful toys. I picked up on their colors and expanded it out through lights and decorations supporting the fun healthcare hero nutcracker and other ornaments. Check out the photos – I hope you like the tree! Who wouldn’t be inspired by such wonderful representations of our Healthcare Heroes!

This year, Spectrum News 13 interviewed me while I was decorating the Healthcare Heroes tree for Orlando Health, and featured a lot of my comments as a “seasoned designer”, having done this for so many years now. The interview was fun, and they captured some windy moments outside too, while I and my assistants were adding fake snow (flocking) to my second commissioned tree for  Corcoran Premier Realty.

Chocky Burks, Broker at Corcoran Premier Realty commissioned me to do a tree that we call “Home for the Holidays.” My Christmas tree inspiration came from the color and style of the light blue ribbon I had selected, and led me to create a very elegant Christmas tree, complete with wintery snow-flocking. The silver, white, gold, and light turquoise colors are meant to impart the coolness of winter as well as the luxury and elegance of a finely-appointed holiday tree in a finely-appointed home. And the memories that can stir have a warmth all their own.

Holiday decorating is a year-’round pursuit

Of course, what I create for the Festival of the Trees spills over into my holiday decorating work and vice versa. The Christmas Decorators is my team (and myself) that’s totally focused on creating Christmas and other holiday decor throughout my clients’ homes this time of year. It takes a lot of planning and organizing, which is why I normally start advertising for bookings as early as June or July of any given year. And I’m collecting ideas and samples and materials throughout the year.

Christmas tree inspiration is all around, I find it anywhere, from a fabric pattern or color to an object like the light blue ribbon I mentioned, to a client’s favorite piece of artwork…and sometimes even through a dream. I think to be truly creative in one’s work, you must be truly inspired, and I pair that with the ultimate goal of making my clients feel at home…in their home, whether it’s Christmas decorating, or complete interior design work. It all springs from the same source, and with the same goal in mind.

I hope you enjoy what you see here, and that you’ll consider booking me to bring some of this holiday sparkle into your home for Christmas 2022. If that idea inspires you, be on the lookout for when I announce booking time mid-year 2022. And you know I’m always available to help you with the design and decor of all of your interior spaces throughout the year. Just choose a contact method right below this blog post, or click this “contact” link. You can also email me at: carmen@sohointeriordesign.com And you can always call me anytime at (407) 743-2399.