The gold leaves on the Christmas tree in Amanda Brooks’s Cotswold guest cottage are made of paper. Among the glass ornaments, they pick up the warmth of the amber velvet sofa and the woven window blinds. In Owen Gale’s photographs for House & Garden, the room around the tree is just as absorbing as the branches. A writing desk sits beneath the window; a patterned armchair faces the sofa across a low footstool. There is somewhere to sit and something to look at beyond the decorations.

Before unpacking everything, decide where the tree will stand and which decorations you most want to see. Making space for those two things can be more rewarding than spreading the whole collection around.

The tree stands beyond the end of Brooks’s sofa, beside the desk. Its height is conspicuous, but it leaves the space between the seats open.

In a smaller living room, reconsider the familiar tree position before hanging an ornament. A side table might spend December elsewhere. A chair could turn slightly while keeping its place in the conversation. Moving the sofa is a poor bargain if it leaves someone facing away from the other seats or squeezing past branches.

Check the arrangement from the seats as well as the doorway. A tree that looks wonderful on arrival can conceal the television from one end of the sofa or stop the curtains closing. Try an existing artificial tree in position before decorating; for a real one, measure the available space, including the spread of the branches, before choosing.

The safe position comes first: clear of escape routes and heat sources, in a stable stand, with no trailing cable across a walkway. Keep a cut tree watered.

In quilter Kate Owen’s London Victorian terrace, red paper streamers cross the ceiling above a blue sofa dressed in patchwork. There is more red in the checked cloth over the low table and the textiles on the seating. The paper chains overhead feel part of the same cheerful mixture, though nothing has been reduced to a matching set.

The room, photographed by Kasia Fiszer for a feature first published in Period Living and now on Ideal Home, has plenty of pattern at ordinary sitting height. Christmas carries some of that colour upwards. Pale walls remain visible between the decorations, so the room feels airy even with all that activity overhead.

If your sofa supplies a large area of blue, a few blue baubles can be enough to connect the tree to it. The wooden animals and battered paper star can stay.

Nina Campbell has described a particularly good way of making an uneven collection look generous. Recalling her first tree in House & Garden, she explained that plain red baubles went nearer the trunk, while the special ornaments hung towards the branch ends, where they could be seen.

Her collection includes ballet-dancer and skater baubles bought when her children were small, to reflect their interests. An ornament like that deserves to be somewhere its owner can actually see it.

Campbell also has a garland of fir-cone musicians, with gold pipe-cleaner limbs and tiny instruments. She describes bringing the trumpeters and violinists out every year. I like the idea of the same little band returning each December.

Luke Edward Hall and Duncan Campbell’s Cotswold tree brings together decorations gathered over years of their relationship, including finds from winter travels. Ribbons join the assorted ornaments rather than making them uniform.

Not every ornament has to fit on the tree. The same House & Garden report shows a giant clam shell in the couple’s dining room filled with excess baubles. They make a cheerful jumble beneath a sober painted portrait.

In Sean Pritchard’s Somerset cottage, photographed by Tom Griffiths for House & Garden, coloured glass baubles sit in a patterned bowl on a table crowded with books. Beside them are clove-studded oranges. The baubles have the presence of a small still life: their round shapes and bright colours are easy to see together.

A favourite bowl gives familiar baubles somewhere they can really be seen. An intact ornament with a failed hanging loop might sit securely here instead. A sturdy paper decoration could move to a shelf. There is no obligation to use every piece every year.

Keep fragile glass, ribbons and small loose pieces beyond the reach of children and pets, where they cannot be pulled or knocked down.

The foliage on Hall and Campbell’s nineteenth-century Dutch cabinet rises over its carved centre and falls away at either side. A decorative bird settles among the branches; plates and glassware remain visible below. This is the dining room, but a living-room bookcase or sideboard can carry a garland in much the same way.

An existing garland may have more shape once it is out of the box. A familiar ribbon or a few baubles can change its emphasis; neighbouring tables can stay free for a book or a drink.

Keep greenery, paper and ribbon away from heat and flames. If you bring in garden foliage, identify it and check that it suits your household, particularly around children and pets.

A shaded wall light in Pritchard’s library illuminates an armchair and the pictures around it; a small bowl of baubles sits among the books. Through the window, the corner looks ready for someone to sit down.

Try the lamps you normally use before deciding the room needs another set of lights. A table lamp can warm the end of a sofa while the tree glitters elsewhere. Keep a reading light beside the chair it serves, and enough light to move comfortably and see the people in the room.

This is also when the textiles become more noticeable. Opening out a familiar blanket over the arm of a chair makes its colour and texture part of the view from the sofa. It remains within reach, which is a better reason for its position than looking perfectly folded in a photograph.

Before reusing electric decorations, check for damage and loose wires. Electrical Safety First advises following the instructions, avoiding overloaded sockets and keeping lights clear of flammable decorations. Switch them off and unplug them before bed or going out.

Candles need stable, heat-resistant holders on clear surfaces, away from anything that could catch fire. Never leave them burning unattended.

There is room for a little mischief among the careful arrangements. Luke likes tinsel; Duncan is less keen. On the cabinet beside their fireplace, a pair of Staffordshire dogs wear tiny gold tinsel scarves. I would leave those exactly where they are.