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The Christmas Trees of Houzz

Readers get creative with their decorated trees and celebrate family memories

Anne Colby December 25, 2017

Houzz U.S. Editor

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Houzz readers love their Christmas trees, whether they’re traditional evergreens, glamorous artificial trees or minimalist DIY creations. A recent Houzz Call brought nearly 250 submissions of beautifully decorated — and often inventive — holiday trees. We’ve highlighted some of our favorites here.

Branching Out Creatively

Houzzers who wanted a tree but had space limitations, adventurous pets or a desire for something different came up with some wonderfully imaginative alternatives.

On the wall. A two-dimensional tree mounted on a wall is a popular choice this year. To get around a Christmas tree-destroying cat, Gwen Duda Studios put together this colorful tree-branch creation with a glue gun and fairy lights.

Larabela’s birch-branch alternative to a Christmas tree is simplicity itself and puts the focus on the ornaments.

This creative wall tree from dwehrle is made from PVC piping and solved some space constraints. Ornaments are displayed in the cubbies.

Moncton D CO put some heart into this budget-friendly wall tree.

Minimalist. Other readers took their decorated trees down to the bare branches and trunks. Heather Cowen’s cat seems to approve of her Nordic hygge-style Christmas tree. All the ornaments are made of wood, felt, knit or pottery.

Mlanie Laplante loves her Scandinavian-look wooden tree.

Stock Jonekos and his partner enjoy Asian culture and art, and found decorations they liked in a Chinese shop before buying the tree. “Finding the right tree was a bit of a challenge,” he writes. “Scouring the internet we found a lighted cherry blossom tree that we both thought could be kind of neat.” The design came together with red and gold Chinese decorations, gold light-reflecting ornaments and a ceiling ornament.

Calmavetter is enjoying a first Christmas in a snug Miami Beach condo with this delicate tree decorated with treasured garlands.

Melanie Garcia feels good about going with a minimalist tree this year.

Liza Castellanos’ clever Christmas tree is made from recycled cardboard tubes.

Handcrafted. Some readers constructed their own freestanding trees, often using recycled or reclaimed materials. Juke66 writes, “This is a Christmas tree my husband and I put together with salvaged wood we had lying around our workshop. (I don’t like to throw away scrap wood, lol.) The old cast iron tree stand was a rummage sale find. All the greens were foraged from our property.”

Cats often love to climb Christmas trees, sometimes shattering ornaments along the way. Instead of trying to change this behavior, jenyjenny’s household embraced it with a plywood tree designed for their Manx cats to climb. “It has two shelves with openings they can crawl through, and two small holes with catnip ornaments hung from cup hooks,” jenyjenny writes. “The base is two plywood boxes on the front side and one on the back, to keep it level, and it is attached to the fireplace mantel with a chain.”

Furniture maker Lignis constructed this Christmas tree from small pieces of hand-joined rosewood that otherwise would have been discarded.

Sonya Olson and her husband also built their wooden Christmas tree. They used a tree that once was sold online as the starting point for their design. “We love that it can be enjoyed for years to come, and that it’s made of natural materials,” Olson writes. They can hang ornaments from the LED strings between the dowels and stash gifts underneath. The tree can be taken apart to store.

Traditional with a twist. Some readers are going with different shapes of evergreen-style trees. Popular with some this year are upside-down trees. Besides having an unusual look, these offer more space for hanging ornaments at eye level. Erma0071974 calls this upside-down tree “my Christmas tornado.”

A few Houzzers have fallen for a dress-form tree. Writes carcuri01: “When I took her home I placed a crown on her and added a few sparkly balls. I’m enchanted by her beauty and my husband is repelled. Obviously he has no taste.”

Pencil trees are on display in homes that are short on space or that have a slim corner to fill. “Our vacation home in Vermont is small, so a pencil tree works best for us,” kroche30 writes.

Variations on a Theme

Many Houzzers enjoy decorating a tree to reflect a favorite collection, interest, locale or color palette.

Collected look. Debbie Wall has been collecting photo Christmas ornaments for 20-plus years, and her adult children have kept up the tradition in their own homes as well.

A favorite rock band gets a shout-out in stonezgirl’s home. “As a longtime Rolling Stones fan, I got crafty one year with memorabilia,” stonezgirl writes. She displays a traditional tree in the living room, and this one in her den. “Both make me smile,” she says.

Susanculpepper and her family are football fans, and they celebrate the Southeastern Conference championship with their holiday decor. (It’s a “Southern thing,” she says.) Their tree is topped with a University of Georgia cap, and the 1950s doll displayed next to it is dressed for Christmas in a Clemson University jumpsuit (for her daughter), a University of Alabama necklace (for her husband) and a UGA visor (for her). Jan. 1 “will be a college football extravaganza for us!” she writes.

Designanddine writes: “Bought a Mardi Gras headdress in New Orleans (one of my favorite cities to visit) and couldn’t resist topping the tree with it in my Brooklyn loft!”

Regional roots. A number of readers nod to local flora and fauna in their tree decor. “As a native Virginian, I love using cardinals (our state bird) in my Christmas decorations,” monok8s writes. This tree is decorated with red cardinals, white doves and red poinsettias.

Bettyod33’s household is planning a move to Florida’s east coast, so her tree has an “under the sea” theme this year.

Joann Hambuechen of south Florida also went with a fun, beachy look to go with her coastal locale. Her pets are on board with it.

Dawn Y writes: “We live surrounded by a prairie and decided to do a ‘natural’ tree.” Look closely and you’ll see grasses, flowers, berries, pheasant feathers, birds and birdhouses in the branches. “It takes a while to layer it on so that you can see it and it makes an impact. But we love it. Pics just don’t do it justice.”

Tarah Burke went with a rustic-style Christmas tree for her mountain chalet.

Texas pride is on display in rauraum’s Western-themed tree, which is decorated with chili peppers, cowboy hats and other symbols of the Lone Star State.

Color-coordinated. Others achieved a put-together look with decorations in various color palettes. Dana Bostwick tried out a new way to hang ornaments by color this year.

“Every year I switch out my color theme for the Christmas tree, and I have been enjoying my blue-and-silver color scheme!” writes digitaldiva2015.

Warren Miller lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, where it rarely snows in December. “So we like to decorate our Christmas tree in white,” he says.

Christmas trees go up as early as mid-November in Mary Grace Libiran-Carino’s home. The family chose a white, gold and red palette for this knockout tree. “Decorating the tree and the entire house is a form of bonding for the family,” she writes.

Festively Southern Interiors’ 14-foot Balsam Hill tree is decorated in blue, gold and silver to coordinate with the room. “The highlights are the two turtle doves on each side of the star tree topper and partridges scattered throughout the tree.”

“We have decorated our tree in purple for the last 10 years in memory of a loved one,” Lolly Ravak writes. “Her favorite color was purple, so this is our way of celebrating her life.”

“Most people are shocked when I tell them I have a black Christmas tree,” Jo Ann Bradley writes. But “they are amazed how beautiful it is.” She says the silver ornaments with lime green accents look “festive while having a contemporary feel.”

“I like traditional decorations with red and gold glass ornaments,” vjs12 writes. “The tree skirt was made by my mother-in-law 35 years ago. She purchased the hook-latch kit with the yarn…remember those? I keep it in my cedar chest and it still looks brand new.”

Zazfuzzroc has hidden lots of little animals in her dreamy winter-white tree.

Traditional Beauties

Natural look. Some decorate to let the beauty of the tree shine through. Zelina Wright changes her decor each year and says this tree is her favorite.

“I live in the Pacific Northwest, where fir trees grow like weeds, so my Christmas tree is always a Doug fir that I want clipped out of my view,” alexsutton0 writes. “They are a bit leggy but they look great with my cast and torchworked glass ornaments (I’m a glass artist), so each year I get to make something different.”

Chekrei writes: “This year we went with a Fraser fir, red and white lights, straw garlands and topper, some gold heart chains, and a lot of classic ornaments in red and metallics, plus a variety of stars.” Also in the decorative mix are nuts and pine cone ornaments.

The U.S. Forest Service’s tree-cutting program “is a big part of our Christmas experience,” Ginger writes. “It helps the forests and provides a great experience.” Ginger’s tree comes from Pike National Forest near Colorado Springs, Colorado. “The sled was made by my husband’s father, and the snowflake ornaments by his grandmother.”

Treasured. Some readers have amassed ornament collections they love to display. Pamelajoy4 trims her living room tree with more than 250 ornaments that she has collected over the past 35 years. It takes her two hours to unwrap the ornaments, many of which have sentimental meaning, and about five hours to decorate the tree. “I consider it a work of art for family and friends to enjoy!”

Lady Garcia writes: “Every year I would get my mother an angel for her Christmas tree. When she passed away, I inherited her ornaments, including her angels.” This tamale angel is Lady Garcia’s favorite. “It reminds me of hours spent at the table on Christmas eve helping my mother make tamales. It was a family event with all the family helping out.”

Mkebmmhppjjt’s tree is adorned with handmade and hand-painted ornaments collected over the past 66 years.

Stephen Suggs has acquired lots of ornaments in various styles over the years. He says his tree takes about eight hours to put up and decorate, “but the outcome is always gratifying.”

Your turn: Post a picture of your tree and share your stories in the Comments!

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The Christmas Trees of Houzz

Readers get creative with their decorated trees and celebrate family memories

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