Do you ever walk into stores like Pottery Barn, Pier 1 or even fancy hotels and think, "What is it about this tree that makes it so fabulous?" Well, so do I! Do you also say to yourself "Oh man, I don't think I can afford to buy all of those expensive ornaments"? I know I have...but you don't have to think that way anymore :) There are great dollar stores, carrying a great selection of ornaments. I chose to go with white, cream and ivory colored ornaments to keep that VaVaVoom impact, but I'm sure you could chose a multitude of color combinations that suit your own personal tastes.
HAVE FUN DECORATING FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Start off with a white tree if you want that VaVaVoom look! It just looks expensive right of the bat, right!? This somewhat scrawny and sparse tree is from Walmart for $59.98. I had purchased it a year ago to use as a basement tree last Christmas. We have a lot of Disney style decorations from our travels to Disneyland and Walt Disney World. We were there last November to celebrate my daughters engagement and I purchased the Santa light hat and colorful bulb light up necklace :) That became the "angel" on the top and then the rest of the ornaments quickly brought a plain white tree alive! This year, however I decided to change things up. The Disney tree will still go in the basement, but I purchased a 7 ft green tree for that area and stole the white tree for our dining area.
WHY NOT TAKE AN AREA LIKE THE DINING ROOM AND MAKE IT FESTIVE?
Okay, now that we have the background covered, let's dive in to all of the wonderful things to buy to take this scrawny tree and make it shine! There are A LOT of wide open areas on this tree, therefore the first thing to look for are large (5-6 inches across) pieces to shove in those areas. I chose large snowflakes, poinsettias, roses and winter berries. The poinsettias, winter berries, and snowflakes are from Dollar Tree and the roses are from Dollarama.
The roses, snowflakes and poinsettias all have that glittery shimmer to them...and always remember, if it shimmers, its a winner! Then the berries have a mat finish to them, so they bring that balance the tree will need. Start by placing each of these items into the wide open spaces on the tree using an equally spaced diamond shape placement. If you place them in that shape you will always feel like your tree was dressed well. I purchased about 6 of each item. After this first step, you'll see that the tree already looks fabulous!
THIS IS REALLY HOW YOU TURN YOUR DRAB INTO FAB!
The next step is filling the other spaces with regular sized ornaments.
Aren't these so beautiful!!?? I purchased smaller snowflakes, turtledoves, winter trees, and clear...ahem...plastic bulbs (you'd never know!). I was going to put white feathers into the bulbs, but when I got to Michael's they were all out of white feathers, so I left it out, and I actually like them a lot better that way! They would've made the tree too clustered in my opinion. The ornaments came two to a pack, so really they were around .62 cents each! That's such a bargain! I bought 6 packs of each kind. I just have to disclose that there was A LOT of fine dusty shimmer EVERYWHERE so beware, you will need a vacuum after :)
MAKE SURE YOU THINK CREATIVELY
Every tree need a skirt and a topper, right? For my topper, I headed over to Homesense and purchased this large glittery rose ball for $6.99 and this unbelievably soft ivory blanket $ 19.99 which I can reuse after Christmas is over. You're welcome. hehehe....I love using blankets or table cloths for tree skirts (I used a plaid table cloth for the Disney tree) because they can be used again for other things! Why not?
WRAP IT ALL IN LOVE
I didn't add any garland to this tree but you could definitely add some white feather boa, light wooden bead garland, white tinsel, pearls...the sky is the limit! I actually added frosted pine cones a few days later too! I felt like it needed a bit more of a woodland feel. This tree looks fabulous now and I only spent a small fraction of what it would've cost me at one a high end decor store.
BREAK OUT THE CHRISTMAS CAROLS...ITS TIME TO SING!
This the night-time view all lit up! It's beautiful in the day and even more beautiful at night. The white branches of this tree really light up my whole dining room. This beauty makes me want to sing sing sing. It's a shining star that everyone loves and your guests won't believe that it mostly came from a dollar store. For more exciting tips head to my Instagram page!! Have a great day! -Jenn