Had so much fun decorating our home this Christmas!
Rustic Guest Room Tree
This is a 5 foot prelit tree with red, gold and handmade wooden ornaments.
The wooden ornaments started out as paint stir sticks and each have a holiday saying or message on them. This is a really neat idea from Janet at Today's Fabulous Finds. Janet is so gracious and she even provides the free template download!
My version was to paint the stir sticks a greyish green, attach the printed sayings with Mod Podge, and cover with a layer of gold glitter paint. Janet used wire for her hangers but I improvised with jute string. I really like the rustic look!
The tree stand is a plant container - we removed the original plastic tree stand and placed the metal tree "trunk" in the plant container, weighted and secured by bricks. Tucked raffia in the top of the container to conceal the bricks.
Sentimental Master Bedroom Tree
This tree is also a 5 foot prelit. The tree "skirt" is actually a lampshade that I spray painted gold. To set it up, I slipped the tree trunk (bottom tree section only) through the top of the lampshade, attached the tree stand, flipped it right side up and assembled the remaining tree sections.
The ball ornaments are an annual tradition for hubby and I - we've ordered them each of the 20 years we've been married. They're handmade salt glazed pottery from Eldreth Pottery and each one is dated with the year. These beautiful ornaments are HEAVY! Am still amazed the tree hasn't collapsed from the weight of them.
To add a little sparkle, I draped the tree with gold (spray painted, of course!) raffia. The knotted gold raffia at the top serves as a topper.
A quick and easy way to spray paint raffia is to place a big bunch of the raffia in a cardboard box, and spray with one hand while turning the raffia with the other hand to cover all sides (wearing gloves saves your manicure).
Family Tradition Living Room Tree
Our living room tree is a 7 foot prelit slim style that we placed in an old galvanized tub. We placed heavy pieces of 4"x4" boards in the bottom of the tub and then positioned the tree stand on the boards. I tucked in burlap to conceal the tree stand and boards.
Along with the tree's slim profile, I love that the base container takes up less space than a traditional tree skirt and I don't have to repeatedly readjust it as I would with a fabric skirt.
The ornaments for this tree consist of a wide variety of sentimental family ornaments, many are handmade and most have been on our tree for decades. All well worn and loved. The topper is a multi-colored star and this year I added gold glitter sprays to the top. This year I didn't use tree garland or ribbon - am really enjoying having the ornaments take center stage.
Family Photos and Handmade Ornaments Counter Trees
Our kitchen and dining room are divided by a counter and at each end of the counter is a 4 foot prelit tree in an urn. These are devoted to family photos.
To frame the photos, I used dollar store metal 2" x 3" frames and spray painted them all gold (see a pattern here?!?) and hot glued gold brads to embellish.
The toppers are large gold glitter ornaments that I also found at the dollar store. To convert the ornaments to toppers, I used a handsaw to cut off the top closed tip of each ornament, which created a hollow opening. The hollow opening slipped easily over the top branch of the tree.
Additional ornaments on these two trees are the red and gold shiny and glitter balls, and the star shaped scented cinnamon dough ornaments.
For the scented cinnamon ornament dough recipe, click HERE.
As a finishing touch for the cinnamon dough ornaments, I hot glued mirrored buttons to the centers for a little bling.
Clothespin Snowflake Ornaments Home Office Tree
After setting up all the other trees, I wanted hubby to also have a little Christmas cheer in his home office. His is a 4 foot prelit tree in an urn and it is decorated with snowflakes made from wooden clothespins.
There are many tutorials online for making them and they are quick and easy to do. I painted them with white spray paint, added metallic gold painted washers (the kind you can buy at any home improvement store) and clear mirrored buttons to the centers.
I didn't even attach ornament hangers to them - just tucked them in the branches of the tree. The pop of white and shiny mirrored centers against the dark green tree is really pretty - how's that for a minimalist approach to tree decorating? :)
Stay tuned for part two! Have a great day and best wishes for fun and creative holiday decorating!
