Sutton Place Tree Pageant Inspires Designers

The Sutton Place Hotel’s 7th annual “Home for the Holidays” Christmas Tree Pageant has filled the lobby of the iconic hotel with trees adorned with musical instruments, swans, snow shoes and peacocks

These unique trees were decorated by local designers and companies in support of the Sutton Place’s annual charity drive.

  You can vote for your favourite tree for $5, and in doing so, support PALS, BC’s only school for autistic children. “We were thrilled to chosen as the benefactor for this event, it’s a great idea and something the students get really excited about,” said PALS founder and president, Katy Harandi. “We only do a few fundraisers a year and this one is an enormous part of keeping the school a success.”

PALS students and parents decorated the largest tree in the centre of the lobby with gift boxes they had made themselves.   Other contributors included Sublime Interiors, Urban Presentations, Accentrix and, most notably (although I may be a little biased as one of its designers), Space Harmony, a Vancouver home staging company.

Space Harmony’s tree concept, explains owner Negar Reihani, was to create a real feeling of home. “The holidays are about family, and the best memories from that time are all about sitting around together making things – be it dinners, wrapping gifts – you name it, it’s all about getting creative. We wanted to create that feel of home and family while still representing who we are as a company.”

With that in mind we chose to design decorations using items that surround us daily. Mounds of fabric samples, paint charts and even pieces of chandeliers were all transformed by hand into beautiful decorations.

  Voting runs until January 2. Votes cost a minimum of $5 with all proceeds going to PALS Autism School. There is also a prize draw for the voters, the winners of which will be announced in January.    

Decorate Your Own Designer Tree

Don’t overdo it. Too many decorations covering every available space may seem like a good idea, but if you step back you’ll discover that you have in fact created an ornamental pyramid. Trees are beautiful by themselves; your decor should just be the icing on the cake.  

Be picky. It’s ok not to use every decoration you have every year – mix it up. If anything makes you groan when it comes out of the box – it’s time for a change. Choose your favourites and stick to a scheme.   

Think outside the box. If you’re finding yourself with sentimental decorations that don’t really match your palette, how about displaying them in a different way? Try hanging one in the centre of your wreath, displaying them in glass jars on the window ledge or even have them hanging between the joists as you go up the staircase.

  Get organized. Order your decorations in piles so that you get an idea of what you have the most of and start with those. Chances are you’ll only have a few of your favourites, so by the time you get to them they can be pride of place.  

Don’t forget the inside. We all have a tendency to only decorate the very tips of the branches. Placing decorations further in toward the trunk, (particularly ones that catch the light) will create a multi-level, twinkling tree from every angle.