I was provided with a Balsam Hill Christmas tree to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
We have a living room that appears very large. The walls are BIG, and the ceilings are 25 feet in part of it. It gives a feeling of being a very large, spacious and open room.
But… it isn’t. With a couch, love seat and armchair in it, it’s pretty much packed. Adding a Christmas tree isn’t easy! And with the price of trees, it isn’t affordable to buy a tree that looks good in our space. (Have you SEEN the price of 12+ foot trees???)
Here’s what happens when you get a tree that fits our CEILINGS in our room (but not the suqare footage). Yes, I did actually buy this tree and yes my husband somehow got it in our house. There was a LOT of cursing that year. IT. TOOK. UP. THE. WHOLE. ROOM. and it was partly in the dining room.
Just call me Clark Griswald.
It was very National Lampoon’s. Oy.
Thankfully, I came up with a great solution for our brand new Balsam Hill tree that fills up space efficiently and also makes it look like we have a very large tree that fits in our grand-looking (but actually quite small) room.
This is so easy I can’t believe I’m going to post it- but I can’t believe I never thought of it before!
Guys… I put my tree up on a table! I put it on a side table and covered it with a beautiful burlap tree skirt that hangs down from the table, and allowed me to keep my couches and chairs in place (without having to cram them into different rooms like I usually do at Christmas) while making a reasonable sized tree look much larger.
We didn’t want to get a big tree, because we’ve thought about starting to look for a house with more land- and if we move into a house with smaller ceilings, we’d need an all new tree- so I wanted to go with one that would fit a budget and be able to work in any space. If we want to change things up and put the tree in a different room- we can! Plus no runny noses, fire risk, and the pain of schlepping in a tree. My Balsam Hill tree’a base is super sturdy- I wouldn’t try this with flimsy tree bases- and if you do, you could bungee cord it down for safety.
See, I’m not super into themed trees. I LOVE them- but I have these beautiful ornaments I’ve had all my life, and ones I’ve collected along the way. I always want to do a pretty, gorgeous themed tree, but I want my beautiful, sentimental ornaments to shine more. I love the feeling I still get seeing some of the ornaments I felt so magical about as a kid- and love seeing my kids love them too! They light up and smile when they point out their favorites, and love putting up their own. We have so many ornaments I love, I always skip the designer theme and just let them do all the talking (PS- can you spot the TARDIS and Dalek on the tree??). And this tree is so gorgeous and easy to set up, it lets us get straight to the fun!
This Balsalm Hill Fraser Fir is PERFECT. My friend was just over and looking at the tree and asked how I kept the water from coming off on the table, that she was worried our table was damaged. I feel a little commerical-announcer saying it- but this really is the most beautiful, realistic tree I have ever seen! And right now they are all on sale- AND have free shipping!
Seriously: here it is close-up. Have you ever seen an artificial tree that looks this real? And it even FEELS real!
And the tree was super easy to put up. I did it all myself when my husband was out of town- anyone could.
You just take it out of the box, and unwrap it. Then pop open the base, click section one in , then two, then three. Quickly “fluff” the branches, and plug it in! From the box to the table, my tree took under 30 minutes. And Balsam Hill even included a set of gloves to wear to protect my hands while fluffing the tree! So cute- and avoided scratches!
Kaththee
December 6, 2018 at 10:20 amI am looking for a way to make my tree look taller this year and I love your idea. Your tree is gorgeous as it is (Balsam Hill is the best), but I wanted to assure you that you can still have a theme tree and still use your treasured ornaments. All you need to do is add coordinating bows and floral picks, and some glass balls in an accent color. Use your accent color ornaments (new or old) evenly spaced out on the some of your outside branch tips to give the accent color hierarchy. You could easily make the cobalt your accent color, because you already use it in your beautiful collection. If you added Balsam Hill’s Navy and Copper Magnolia picks 12 would be gorgeous, and Ribbon Wreath Decor on Etsy has -Plaid wired ribbon, plaid metallic gold wired, holiday wired plaid 2″ x 10 yards for only 3.95. It has a bit of blue running through it along with plenty of red and green and would bring your treasured ornaments and blue together beautifully. Overstock has a set of inexpensive balls – 24-Piece Shiny and Matte Royal Blue Glass Ball Christmas Ornament Set 1″ (25mm) for 18.63 that you could add to your other blue pieces. I would exchange the red skirt for one that was mostly white with a bit of green, red and blue. You could even a Christmas tablecloth or even a piece of decorator fabric to give you more choices. Jambearies on Etsy has a beautiful fabric -Way Up North – Red Green Blue Snowflakes on White – Riley Blake C7324-Multi – 1 Yard Cut BTY – Christmas Fabric – Multicolored Snowflakes, which would work beautifully and bring the sofa colors in with the Christmas colors. These suggestions are just to give you an idea of how you could have a theme tree without sacrificing the treasure trove of ornaments you have collected. There are more ways to do that beyond my suggestions of course.
Jared Sykes
November 30, 2017 at 3:22 pmWhy was the tree photoshopped in? I am confused what the reasoning was behind to photoshop for this post. Beginning to think that the tree never existed in the first place….. or if it did… it was definitely not like you had posted… explanation?
Courtney ODell
December 1, 2017 at 2:05 amNot super sure why you think it’s photoshopped in, because it definitely isnt… if it was, I’d have made it fit better in the first place, thereby taking away any need for this post 😉
Michele
November 11, 2018 at 7:03 amHaha!! GREAT answer!!! Also, I LOVE the little Westie ornament! Westie mom of two here! 🙂
Betty N.
December 7, 2014 at 12:12 pmThis would work great in our home. Could you tell me what size tree this is?
Courtney ODell
December 8, 2014 at 9:33 amThis is a 6′ tree.
Janet
December 12, 2013 at 5:53 amWe have this problem as well. We have a small living room and we do not have high ceilings. When we bought our tree we were so concerned about the height but we never considered the width of the tree. It took up half of our living room, at least that is how it felt. For the past three years or so we put up a half tree. We put the back in a corner or against the wall and no one knows the other half is in the attic. It has been working like a charm! I do have good ideas every once in a while!!
Have a beautiful day!
Karen
December 12, 2013 at 11:58 amI am so glad you addressed this issue. We have a 7 1/2 ft tree and it always seemed to get lost in the bay window with a 9 ft ceiling. We found two wooden wine boxes and it lifts the tree about 8-10 inches and it’s perfect. We have a stand that turns the tree and we were also having issues getting gifts under the tree without them being caught on the limbs as the tree turned. Merry Christmas to all.
Nancy
December 11, 2013 at 4:12 pmThat is a great idea and such a beautiful tree! I would love to buy a new tree this year but not in the budget, maybe next year! 🙂
Courtney ODell
December 11, 2013 at 5:09 pmNancy, watch Balsam Hill’s sales! They have some great sales, and I can’t tell you enough how fabulous they are!!!
katie
December 11, 2013 at 2:55 pmI love the idea and your tree looks beautiful!