The Best Christmas Decor Tips From the Woman Who Decorates the White House for the Holidays

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When it comes to Christmas decor, who better to get tips from than the designer of the White House Christmas, Genevieve Gorder? (No, seriously, have you seen the White House at Christmastime?)

Here, Genevieve shares her best tricks for making artificial Christmas trees smell like pine, creating beautiful mantel decor...without a mantel...and more.

"When I’m working with a faux tree, I'm happy for the sustainability but I’m missing that smell of pine, so you can add a layer to appease the senses. You can either mix on part pine needle essential oil with two parts distilled water in a spray bottle and simply spritz your tree, felt ornaments...all of it. Or you can use a diffuser with essential oils!"

"When you're decorating a tree, think about decorating the darkest parts of the tree first [and] working your way to the outer branches last. Bring the lights—and really reflective, glittery and light-colored ornaments—to the inside of the tree. Reach in and go to the trunk and work your way out, leaving those superstar ornaments that everyone loves to the outer branches. What you create is a magnificent sculpture with depth and layers rather than just a tree with some decor sprinkled on top."

"I love doing a cascading vertical ribbon down the tree to create a high-end look. It's what I do in the White House and it creates this 'wow' moment that's really easy to do!"

"Pine trees are great, but there are so many different greens to play with, and magnolia is my absolute favorite for mantels. They use these expertly on every mantel in the White House almost every year. What I love is the two-tone leaves that add depth and that dose of extra we all crave during the holidays. But what I love about this tip is you don't need a mantel to do it! It works beautifully on any flat surface in your house. I weave flameless candles on the surface and then bring in a few birds and you're done."

"This works for your dining table or any tabletop surface that needs a little something, but sometimes you just don't want to DIY, so I love this idea. Lay a wreath down the center of your table and adorn each center with a group of varied size flameless candles. It's simple and beautiful and you can use any wreath you like. If you want to take it up a notch and do a little DIY, you can also use wreath wire to add in a layer of small photos of nostalgic family moments."