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I think I'm going to do 2 trees this year. One in the living room and a tall skinny tree in the dining room. Our big tree is all the ornaments we collect and make. Everywhere we go gets a new ornament so every year there are between 2 and 5 new ornaments. I was thinking of doing a theme tree in the dining room though. Either a single color or a movie or something. Not decided yet, but I have noticed that theme trees are all over the better homes and gardens and HGTV mags that I get.
Last edited by LO28SWM; 11-08-2018 at 07:26 AM..
Reason: Spelling
I quit shopping for Christmas stuff - I have enough! - so I don't know what any trends are. I'm probably better off that way.
I wish my cats wouldn't knock them off the windowsills. LOL
My Christmas "trend" is retro as well. Legacy ornaments, treasures I've purchased over the years, one live tree and one sassy silver foil tree.
I'd love to decorate outside with those huge C9 lights in the bottom of my Christmas light box (my dad used to hang them along the roof line of our 1955 ranch), but my house is brick and the way I string the lights the wind bashes the bulbs against the brick. So I use mini-lights - just not the LED lights. The colors of LED lights just aren't right - they look harsh to me.
You have a 1955 brick ranch???!!!!! MY DREAM house! Do you have a double sided fireplace? How do you decorate it?
I have a lot of cobalt blue and orange in my living room, so red and green Christmas decorations just won't do. I also have a lot of carnival glass in a lit cabinet. I decided instead of red and green, I would do the antique and vintage blown glass ornaments and then I use orange and white candles - and the orange ones are nearly always on sale because they are "fall!" Here is my living room from last year and I'll do it again along these lines this year:
Kathryn, All Modern has many unique colored ornaments including some beautiful burnished orange ones, and lots of blues.
I like your Mid Century themed Thanksgiving idea from the TG thread.
I found a green ceramic lighted Christmas tree on Craig's List a few years ago, but those white ones are rare - and to die for!
My mom was an enthusiastic ceramics producer in the 70s through the 90s - we all have green and white lighted Christmas trees. I was skeptical when she made them for me, because I was in my 20s and was still a minimalist after moving every 4 months during college, but now I'm glad she insisted.
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People did everything BIG. I remember that my mother's Christmas tree was covered with ornaments of the period and with TINSEL - painstakingly applied ONE STRAND at a TIME!
OMG, that was the worst. Every single icicle's location, length, and drape-ability had to be mom-approved. Drove me nuts.
My parents didn't decorate big outside, but inside ... aside from a tree in every room, Mom replaced all the bric a brac with Christmas bric a brac, replaced pictures on the wall with Christmas stuff, and she had a Christmas village under the tree the size of Cleveland. She stopped short of Christmas rugs and sheets, thank goodness.
She also had these Better Homes and Gardens books from the early 60s with make-at-home Christmas crafts.
Maybe we should start a "ghosts of Christmas decorating past" thread ... ?
One of the most breathtaking trees I remember from my youth was at my BFF's house - her parents always bought a blue spruce, and they lighted it with C7 strands, but used only blue and green bulbs. It was absolutely stunning.
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Originally Posted by sheena12
You have a 1955 brick ranch???
No, I have a 1926 brick twin Colonial. I'll never have enough equity to purchase a brick ranch, not in metro Philadelphia, anyway.
My parents have a 1955 brick ranch; it, too, is more Colonial than mid-mod in design. We bought it in 1964, and the kitchen was wild - turquoise and copper wallpaper with a Coloniawful design of coffee grinders etc., knotty pine cabinets, grey Formica counters and tile floor. My mom is more of a Danish Modern gal, so she ripped off that wallpaper and got rid of the storm doors with eagles on them within 6 months. LOL
Candles haven't gone anywhere in New England! Wreaths and candle on/in every window of a big colonial will always be my favorite! I can't stand tacky, gaudy decorations and those blow-up decorations in the yard make me want to burn down their house (kidding of course)! Could anything be cheesier? After candles and wreaths, I like simple white lights outlining the roof and house.
Oh how pretty that must be! I rarely see a house decorated like that around here (NJ)
Hmmm. I wish someone would start a "best artificial tree" thread. I'm finally considering one this year, but I hate the ones that look like they came from Woolworth's. Would love to hear what others have purchased and liked.
We bought a tree shortly after we moved in 6 years ago, and we waited until the season was well along, so we did not have a lot of choices. We chose one at Target, a narrower tree that was prelit. When we decorate it, it looks beautiful. But every year I put extra strings of lights on it. I feel like it is underlit. If I had bought a tree with more lights, I think I would not feel the need for more lights.
Here are things to consider:
Space for tree. If you have smaller space, you need a narrower tree.
Lights. Are there enough to suit you, and do like the color(s)
Ease of setting up.
How compactly does it store. Do I have room to store it.
How realistic is it? Check color and how the boughs are put together.
I like a less than tasteful Christmas tree. Oh sure, I had my ohsotasteful tree for many years, with little white lights and color coordinated ornaments. Now, I use multicolored lights and a mish mosh of everything that is left after 50 years of Christmases. Tinsel garlands, and icicles...thrown, not placed, just because I can.
I like a less than tasteful Christmas tree. Oh sure, I had my ohsotasteful tree for many years, with little white lights and color coordinated ornaments. Now, I use multicolored lights and a mish mosh of everything that is left after 50 years of Christmases. Tinsel garlands, and icicles...thrown, not placed, just because I can.
I'm tempted to add icicles to my artificial tree this year, just because. I don't think I've used them since I was living in my parents' house, 40 years ago.
My idea of Christmas decorating is what you see on the Hallmark movies in the homes of the really nice grounded parents in the ordinary slightly sloppy homes where the decorations are red and green and everyone wears tacky sweaters, and they make cookies and play board games. Because the snooty cold parents have to have everything just so. Yay, Hallmark. *sarcasm*
Our tree is a basic green artificial with little lights that are either white or multi. The ornaments are mostly a mishmash from all of our childhoods, the kids', mine, and hubby's. I've never been able to make myself buy ornaments with no sentimental value. I've turned into a Christmas Scrooge of late, so it's a big deal that we even put up our one tree. If our adult children weren't flying in, I wouldn't even do that much. The only new thing I might add is more outdoor lighting. I do like a nicely lit house.
I'm not a trendy person when it comes to Christmas decor.
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Originally Posted by ChessieMom
Hmmm. I wish someone would start a "best artificial tree" thread. I'm finally considering one this year, but I hate the ones that look like they came from Woolworth's. Would love to hear what others have purchased and liked.
I bought one from Sam's last year that I really like. It's one of those easy to put together trees, just put the poles together and that connects the lights from section to section. The lights have various modes - just white, twinkling whites, just colors, twinkling colors, and some other modes that switch between white to colors. I keep mine on all white. It also has a foot switch to turn it on and off and came with a zipper storage bag with handles, so it's pretty easy to put away.
I haven't used them for any length of time yet, but I recently bought some battery powered strands of led lights. I've tried them out, and they're bright enough. The wires are really small and look like small gold curly vines. They're all white, which is what I like. They also have a remote. I'm probably going to use them for a table centerpiece with a faux swag or on the mantel with a faux swag. I hate wires and extension plugs. I don't think the battery life is great on them, but I'm going to try them out.
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So I use mini-lights - just not the LED lights. The colors of LED lights just aren't right - they look harsh to me.
Would love to hear what others have purchased and liked.
