9/19/19 update – My Christmas tree pins on Pinterest have gone viral! Last year I made a fast time lapse video of me decorating the tree. Because of the popularity of this post, this year (2019) I will be making a detailed YouTube video of each step of the process. I will update this post when the video is live! I’m glad you all love colorful Christmas trees as much as i do!
11/14/19 update – The step by step Youtube video is live here! My fast video is still up on my Instagram @maryannajefcoat
Where everything came from will be linked at the bottom of this post. To say I love Christmas is an understatement. Decorating is one of my favorite things to do, especially for Christmas. I literally jumped out of bed yesterday because it was finally the day I was going to put my tree up. Below I am going to give all the details I possibly can about where I got all of my decor and how I decorated the tree. There’s definitely people out there with better tree skills than me, but I am going to break down how I do it. It’s actually pretty simple and you don’t have to be an expert decorator to copy how I did it. This post is strictly just about my black and white and pink themed tree. I am doing another post on my pencil tree in the kitchen and other decor in the house.
First things first, the tree. Although with LOTS of ribbon and ornaments you can make a cheap tree look better, the quality of your tree does matter in order to really make it look nice. That being said, I also didn’t want to spend $1,000 on a tree. I researched online but I walked in Belk last November and saw the winner. It was flocked and very full looking with a great price tag. At this moment it’s out of stock online but I did see it in store when I was Black Friday shopping this year. In case it does come back in stock here was the link to it, and in case it doesn’t come back in stock online and you’re in store, it is a Home Accents brand 7.5 ft. pre lit frosted New England Spruce Tree. When they have it on sale it’s under $200 and definitely worth it. Yes the flocking does come off a little each year, but mine is still looking great. The best storage for your tree instead of stuffing it back in the box is here. I got that exact bag from Bed Bath and Beyond but if you love your Amazon here’s a similar one.
Step 1. Fluff the tree – this step is important because you want your tree to look as real as possible which means you need to go over the entire tree adjusting the branches so that they aren’t all smushed together. Storing my tree in the bag instead of cramming it back in the box did cut down on my fluffing time!
Step 2. Go around the tree with your mesh. This year I cut my hot pink mesh into lengths of about 2 feet so I could place my “mesh poufs” where I wanted instead of going around with the roll of mesh. To get a better idea of what I mean, below is the video of me placing the poufs around the tree.
Step 3. This is when I add the topper. I just use a bunch of picks from Hobby Lobby that I stick into the top.
Step 4. Add ribbon. Okay I have a lot to say here. To break it down, first is a picture below of the assortment of ribbon I used. I used one roll of the big hot pink mesh (first video above) then 6 rolls combined of the fur (4.5 in wide.), striped (2.5 in. wide), diamond (3 in. wide), and satin hot pink (2.5 in. wide). I just used a little of the thin pink ribbon (1.5 in. wide) you see below in the second picture.
Further break down of the ribbon:
Hot pink mesh – 21 in. wide – 10 ft. roll (I think). 10in. wide is probably more common in stores and honestly that width might be easier to handle. – Used 1 roll
Black and white striped – 2.5 in. wide – 3 yd. roll – Used 4 rolls
White fur – 4.5 in. wide – 6.54 ft. roll – Used 1 roll
Diamond/jester – 3 in. wide – 30 ft. roll – Used 1 roll
Satin hot pink – 2.5 in. wide – 10 yd. roll – Used just a few feet
Thin pink ribbon – 1.5 in. wide – No idea what size roll it came on and I only used a few feet
Step 4 cont. So here I broke down the assortment of ribbon I put on the tree. Most of the pieces you can see that I cut the ends into a triangle to make it look nicer since you would be able to see the ends. I didn’t cut the black and white striped pieces at the end because I just wrapped those around the hot pink pieces of mesh already in the tree. In the pictures below you can see how I placed the ribbon. There’s no particular way or order I added the ribbon, just go around placing it on the tree where you think it needs it.
Step 5. Add ornaments! Aren’t those little elf feet sticking out the cutest!
Step 6. Add your tree skirt – or in my case I put it down before I put on the ornaments on to catch the fall of my breakable ornaments that I ALWAYS drop.
Step 7. Add a few Scentsicles. If you have a fake tree these little skinny “ornaments” make it smell like Christmas. The scent I used is Spiced Pine Cones and it’s amazing!!
Step 8. Enjoy!
Where I got everything:
- My exact Christmas tree is here. Hopefully it will come back in stock or go on sale again.
- Tree bag from Bed, Bath and Beyond. Similar on Amazon. Just make sure you get one big enough for you tree. My tree is only 7.5ft but my bag can fit a 9ft. tree.
- All of my ribbon came from Hobby Lobby except for the black and white striped and it came from Michael’s (2.5in). The striped ribbon is the only one not wired but now Michael’s has this striped wired ribbon and a smaller striped option (Wired is just easier to work with because it holds its shape)
- Hot pink mesh is from Hobby Lobby
- Tree skirt and stockings from Hobby Lobby.
- Simple gold stocking holders aka “Mantle Clips”
- Elf feet picks from Hobby Lobby. Also a lot of options on Amazon (these make cute Christmas gifts!)
- I think all of my ornaments came from Hobby Lobby
- Picks for the top of the tree came from Hobby Lobby
- Scentsicles can be purchased almost everywhere. I have seen them at Hobby Lobby, Michael’s, and At Home, and Amazon.
- Black and white striped wrapping paper is from Hobby Lobby in the regular gift wrapping section – not the Christmas paper section.
The time lapse video is on my Pinterest and my IGTV. My updated step by step video is now on YouTube! I am not an expert by any means, just sharing what’s worked for me. Thanks Y’all!
