Sounds like you have a plan. Since I decorate EVERYTHING in my house including over 7 trees that are 6' or taller and several more that are over 5', I start Black Friday (which is red & green Friday for me, LOL) and it takes all that weekend and then my Mom comes over on Monday to help with the 9' tree. I have the outside of the house ready to turn on lights Thanksgiving night, except the front porch is still Thanksgiving, so right now I have a schizophrenic house, LOL. I highly recommend the pencil tree for bang for the buck! It is tall enough, but takes up very little floor space. A live tree would be fun and smell so good, but I have them up for over a month, so live trees aren't an option for me. Your little basket tree was darling! Tinsel is so pretty, but very time consuming! Unless you use the toss method, LOL. Have fun planning and purchasing! TFS, Candy

What a good tip, OA, never thought of using just string as a guide for how much. Also Blizlady, good to know about 40 ft being recommended. I've been thinking about buying one of these trees this year. Michaels has had them on sale for $50. mistycakes, your garland is so colorful and cute. I am looking forward to seeing photos of it on your tree :o)

I'm bringing this back up as you asked about my painting real shells & adding Twinkles glitter! Wish I could show a pic but my camera will discard all my pics that are on it now unless I get DD over to change setting & after she puts them on backup! Anyway this is so simple. I tried the antique copper metallic paint- OK, doesn't show up much on tree, but then I used FolkArt 675 Metallic Champagne brush it on & let dry overnite & brush on "Twinkles" crystal by DecoArt for a beautiful shimmery shell. Folk Art 659 Metallic pearl white brushed on & brushed with Twinkles the next day is wonderful also!! I just cut a 3 in. piece of fine gold cord & knotted it on the end & put the knot in Weldbond on the back top center edge of shell for a hanging cord. So simple & so beautiful. I did a doz. today & I love the fan shaped shells but the small conch? shells are nice also. They shimmer in gold,purple, blue, green etc.(All those colors in the crystal bottle, it is best glitter I've ever used & very fine, doesn't look like glitter. I have some other by same company but it is tacky looking & very little shimmer. This glitter reminds me of sparkle of white sand on a beach in the sun!! Try it. You don't have to be a painter, any artist type brush that is flat & about 1/4 to 1/2 in across will work, watch for drips & remove them but it's so easy. I let them dry on a board covered with smooth Formica but wax paper would work just fine. I had gotten a bag of shells from WalMart craft area & some of those were used. I only painted the front side not the side the animal lived in. I was careful not to get paint on it so it would look nice on the tree from any angle. Some of my fans had lovely purple on backs. Fun & fast! Enjoy!! Jan

Well decorating your Xmas tree with a felted wool made garland is a brilliant and innovative idea. In fact now i am planning it for myself? As far as length is concerned i think it is enough for the vertical height.