Sheesharee said: I'm trying to grasp putting the ornaments in the middle section. If you don't have enough to fill wouldn't it look like the color is just in the middle? I don't think I'm explaining this right. I don't think your trees look like there's vertical color in the middle. It's all well balanced. Back to Me: I will try to explain it better, sorry, so much easier to show someone in person LOL. OK, what I ment was you would put a large amount of the plain gold balls (in this case) in the internal part of the tree. You can place them sporadically inside the tree making sure though you start at the inside (where the trunk is) with the plain gold balls. Let me make this part more clear with what I deal with. Primary decorative ornaments I want to be able to see easily: Primary tree decorations. The pretty red decorative balls. The crystal drops. The glass icicles. The silk flowers,in this case red(this is something I choose to use) Secondary: The plain inexpensive gold balls. These are ment primarily for the inside "stuffing of the tree", BUT, some are used in a much smaller amount on the outside areas of the tree (parts you can see) for bringing in the gold ball as a SMALL ACCENT. So in answer to your question you would be treating your plain balls as a filler and tiny accent, NOT as the primary decoration. You would be using the PRIMAIRY balls on the outside, icicles, crystal drops, silk flowers. So that means you would buy 100 or so of the cheap balls for the inside and small outside accents. You would then be buying the PRIMARY balls, crystals, icicles in much larger amounts (I use at least a total of 300-500 of these primary items) Now my DD doesn't like as much as an over kill tree as me (although anyone coming to her home and seeing her tree is just in awe of it) So she uses the same items as I do basicly, but cuts the amount of ornament down to about HALF of what I do, and I think her tree is very beautiful. Now, I am just explaining how I decorate a tree, it doesn't mean that it is everyone elses taste. In the evolution of your tree you will come to the realization of what is best for you. My tree that I am doing this year was an evolving process, it took me quite a few years to get where I am, that is because since I am not wealthy, I have to do it a little bit at a time every year. I am happy to say, that I don't think I have to buy any more for the cream, crystal, and gold tree. Thank goodness! LOL Oh, yes, and as a bonus I can used the glass icicles and crystals with any color theme of tree, they fit right on in, so that saves me money too. This is an example of my cream color theme on some stacking plates. Does that make more sense?

Last week was a bit hectic culminating in the remodel version of The Marx Brother's Night at The Opera as I had various workers coming in to do various stuff as well as a visit from the cable guy to move my modem and router from my bedroom where it had been originally placed when I moved back in October 2018 and still didn't have the room divider built which houses the television servicing the den/office and "living room" My room divider houses what I call my stripper pole television as the TV is mounted on a pole which turns so I can watch television from either my den/office or from the "living room". And of course the television in the bedroom was disconnected from cable and so he has to make another service call this morning. The electrician was here to hang the chandelier in the dining room as well as change switch plates to black and add some smart switches for my bedroom. Naturally when he got here, he didn't like the smart switches I ordered and convinced me that I should go with the Lutron Caseta hub so he'll be back. All this to have the digital equivalent of a "clapper" - if I'm in bed, I don't want to get OUT OF BED to turn off the sconces in the bedroom :-). Because my ceilings are concrete it isn't possible to move any lighting junctions in the ceiling and the one over the dining room table is not centered so it has to be swagged. Probably when my condo was built in 1965, swagging was considered the height of elegance but not so much anymore. My designer had recommended a sock and so I thought okay but when I saw what it actually looked like it seemed ridiculous to have what reminded me of Seinfeld's "poufy shirt" covering the chain. To my "non-designer" eyes the cure seemed worse than the cure so against the objections of both the electrician and designer, I had it removed. The chandelier is an old Art Nouveau chandelier that originally had small chains swagging from the bottom and over the course of time some of these had just fallen off. Amazingly what seems like a simple item to procure requires four months for the lighting people to get. But the chandelier is hung and presumably the decorative chains can be added when they come in without having to take down the chandelier. I had the carpenter who did all my cabinets and other wood stuff fabricate a medallion for my bedroom chandelier. My designer had found one which I loved but the company never responded - oddest thing since there is both a website and EBAY presence. At any rate, I am so glad I held out for this one as I absolutely am in LOVE with it. It's got an Art Deco feel and so even though the chandelier is Rococco Revival, it ties in with other design elements in my room since my sconces are vaguely Art Decoish and my wood furniture is my old Art Deco Waterfall furniture. Anyway long winded Saturday morning missive but if we can't share with all of you on this thread, who else can we LOL? I think the angle I shot at - I was in bed - doesn't do it justice This is the chandelier with the new medallion This is the sconce which is on either side of my bed This is the bed with the sconces - I still haven't finished in terms of the bed treatment. I got a faux mink bedspread which I should start using to finishing it off. This is a shot of the room divider which houses my television as viewed from my den/office. You can actually glimpse my chandelier over dining table to the left completely with tacky swagged chain :-)

Atheen, funny how things like that make our hearts rejoice. What a beautiful pic. I never see cardinals in my yard. Someone or something is trying to tell you something since sending anything your way like that is special. Yes, stick around more often and share. Post to the February one too. We need more people like you around around)))) Floral, all plants are equal to me. They serve their purpose. Nice pics and hard to believe spring is popping up some where. Gives us hope. Thanks Tropico, I can't believe you got that to flower at such a young age. I have always wanted to grow one of those. Nice work. Looks like it's well on it's way into a good shape. Yes, see you in February)

We may have just had two more inches of snow, and three feet on the ground, but it's spring and summer indoors. I haven't named it yet, but this is a baby pomegranate tree, about six weeks old. It's in a 2 1/2 pot, receiving sunlight at the window and artificial light from sunset to bedtime and my wakeup time until the sun strikes it. It's just sprouted from a pomegranate seed from a pomegranate from the grocery store for sheer fun and I have no expectations for it. The Ageratum That Will Not Die. Fed organically (20%) and synthetically, it just keeps blooming more nicely as the winter wears on. A "struggling" tropical hibiscus started in...November, I think? Named "Brandy." That's her individual name, not the cultivar. She was struggling a bit, but has recovered recently with keeping the soil moist (there's some cyanobacteria mats on the soil right now), and feeding a lot more than I normally would in February since she's under lights 18 hours a day.