Plan your Christmas tree and holiday decor — check it fits first

Step by step

1. 1

   Search "christmas" in the furniture panel

   In the furniture panel on the right, type christmas in Search Furniture & Fixtures. The Holiday Decor section lists every piece, each tile with its size. xmas, tree, wreath, garland, gifts, presents, stockings and nutcracker work too, in every language the app speaks. Browsing instead? The section sits in the Living Room, Dining Room, Bedroom and Office tabs (after Decor), and the trees and wreaths are in the Outdoor tab too, for a porch or a yard.

   

2. 2

   Add the tree and pick its ornaments and lights

   Tap the tree that matches the one you'll buy (or the one in the loft), then +Add. It lands in the middle of the room, selected, so its panel is open: the size boxes show its real width, depth and height, and at the bottom you choose Ornaments (Red & gold, Silver & blue or Multicolour) and Lights (Warm white, Multicolour or Off). Your tree is a different size? Type its height and its width at the bottom into the H, W and D boxes.

   

3. 3

   Let Flow Check tell you where it doesn't fit

   Dropped in the middle of the room, the tree sits on the coffee table, and Flow check in the toolbar turns red. Tap it to see why. It warns when the tree overlaps another piece or a wall, stands in a door's swing or in the space you need to walk through a doorway, or blocks a fireplace. Rugs don't count: a tree can stand on a rug.

   

4. 4

   Drag it to its spot and check again

   Drag the tree into the spot you have in mind: a corner, beside the fireplace, in front of a window you don't need to open. When Flow check OK comes back green, it fits without touching anything. Then check the room still works around it: the tape measure in the toolbar shows the gap between the tree and the sofa or a doorway. About 36" is a comfortable walkway; 24" is a squeeze. Trying sizes? Select the tree, delete it and add the next size down, or type a smaller W and H, until the corner works.

   

5. 5

   Check the tree's height against your ceiling

   Flow Check works on the floor plan, so it won't warn you that a tree is taller than a flat ceiling (it only does that under a vaulted ceiling). Compare the two yourself: your ceiling height is in Plan Settings → Ceiling, and the tree's height is its H. Leave room for the star or angel on top, usually 6" to 12". As a rule of thumb: a 6½ ft tree suits an 8 ft ceiling with room for a tall topper; a 7½ ft tree fits an 8 ft ceiling with about 6" to spare (as here); a 9 ft tree needs a 10 ft ceiling or a vaulted room.

   

6. 6

   Hang wreaths, the garland and stockings on a wall

   The wreaths, the Mantel Garland 6 ft and the stockings hang on a wall. Tap one, tap +Add, and a hint asks you to tap a wall to place it: tap the wall where it goes. It hangs flat on that wall at a usual height: a wreath at 4 ft, the garland at 4' 2", just above a standard fireplace mantel, and the stockings at 2' 10".

   

7. 7

   Set a wreath's height, or hang it on the outside

   Select the wreath to change its Mount height. Other side moves it to the other face of the wall, for example the outside of the front wall of the house. On a door: the app has no way yet to hang a wreath on a door's leaf. A wreath tapped onto a wall over a door hangs in the doorway (in 3D the door is drawn open), and Flow Check says it blocks the door. Hang it on the wall beside the door instead.

   

8. 8

   See it lit in 3D

   Open the 3D view (tick Dollhouse to look into the room). The tree is fully dressed: layered branches, glass ornaments in the colours you picked, string lights that light up the room around it, a ribbon spiralling down, a skirt at the base and a lit star on top. This is the moment to check it doesn't swamp the room.

   

Common mistakes

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