What’s the right Christmas tree height for my room?

It’s hard to believe that the holiday season is here now! I know 2020 has been a really crazy time for everyone, including myself, but that hasn’t stopped me from wanting to feel festive as long as we are staying safe and healthy. Every year though I get asked the same question about how big should your Christmas tree be. I decided to write a blog to help you get better idea of what is the proper Christmas tree height that works best with your ceiling height.

Traditional living room with a Christmas tree. Image created using AI via Imagine

Before you get a Christmas tree - think about the space where you want to set it up. Many rooms have varying ceiling heights with recessed areas or a vaulted ceiling. Secondly, if you plan on the addition of a tree topper, you have to take the height of that into consideration. Typical tree toppers are usually around 12 inches.

Let’s say your living room ceiling height is 9 feet tall then you would want to get 7 feet Christmas tree plus a tree topper which adds up another 12 inches. That would leave at least 12 inches gap between the top of the tree topper to the ceiling. It will help balance the overall look of both Christmas tree and living room. If you’re not putting anything on top, then you can spare a few more inches of height on the tree itself.

My general rule of thumb is to purchase a tree 2 feet shorter than the ceiling height. There’s a little graphic below to visualize that.

Christmas tree height chart created by Joshua Jones, JJones Design Co.

Now, just because you might have a loft style space with a 20 ft ceiling does not mean you have to go with an 18ft tree! You can obviously get away with a much taller tree, but remember that means the overall width is going to get bigger as well and still needs to work with the rest of the furniture in your room. In my old home in Ventura, California, the living room was around 25 feet tall and we had Christmas tree that was 9 feet tall plus a tree topper that added up to around 10 feet tall and it looked great.

I hope you will find this blog helpful in selecting the right tree for your space that you’ll be happy with. You might want to check out my other blog, Artificial Christmas Trees - Unlit or Pre-lit, That is the Question to help you decide which one you should get for your room. If you have any questions about Christmas trees or even holiday decorations in general, please leave comments below!

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