I may or may not have literally set my hair on fire decorating for Christmas this year. (Spoiler Alert: I did set my hair on fire but it happened when I was trying to take pictures of my decorations. Thankfully, I smelled my burning hair and quickly extinguished my smouldering head. It’s a good thing my stylist added in layers last time…) After taking my customary Facebook poll of my 1800+ friends about the color scheme, I set to work on creating a blush Christmas at #ThisMontyHouse. 

Background

The first two years we were married, I went with traditional Christmas colors. The third year of our marriage, we closed on our fixer upper in December which meant everything was in boxes so I didn’t decorate. (It hurt my soul.) Last year, I decided to go with a French blue theme for Christmas. The colors worked well with our Sherwin Williams Lazy Gray walls and all of the metallic colored ornaments I’d collected over the years. My inspiration came from a set of vintage Wedgewood Christmas plates I’d found at a yard sale. It turned out pretty well.

 This year, Facebook chose blush over cranberry. I secretly wanted everyone to choose blush anyway. My husband is perplexed as to why the color needs to change every year but he is a good sport about it all. 

The Budget Tree

The tree was a little bare in some spots which I disguised by adding fresh magnolia bunches from the tree in our front yard. I also used some faux gold glitter poinsettias that I had in storage to help fill it out. As they say “necessity is the mother of invention.” 

 I already had a good deal of silver and clear ornaments from the past. Every year, I buy a few new ornaments from Hobby Lobby so I had some blush ornaments to add to the tree. After two or three hours, things were coming along quite nicely but it still needed more. One last* trip to Hobby Lobby for some gold glittery feather picks and another trip to At Home for more blush / pink ornaments and we were in business. I usually try to incorporate a few of our traditional ornaments = my keepsake ornaments from Chris as long as they match my theme. 

After trying four different fresh Christmas tree spots, we finally found a tree that would work at a budget tree lot. After seeing 6 foot trees on sale for $115, $60 didn’t seem so bad. The worker who sold it to us was the same person we bought from last year which was ironic. After lugging the tree home, Chris got it set up and I went right to work on decorating.

DIY Projects

 For some reason, I couldn’t quite get this year’s tree right on the first try. Over about a week, I moved and rearranged things until I got it like I wanted it. I like to try to do a few DIY projects every year. This year, I had some leftover plastic clear ornaments from another tree that I decorated at work. For few of those I decided to go with a frosted look. With a bit of Elmer’s clear glue and some fake snow, those were done in less than a minute a piece. It helped add a little dimension to the tree. 

The other project I wanted to try was to make some mercury glass inspired ornaments. I’ve always been partial to mercury glass. I read a few tutorials from Pinterest and attempted to make my own. Needless to say, it took a little trial and error to get the look I wanted. Other makers suggested spraying the inside of the ornaments with water before spraying the Krylon Looking Glass spray inside. That did not work for me. I ended up spraying the inside with the Looking Glass spray and then added a few squirts of acrylic paint in the desired colors. A little shaking (Be aware that there may be a slight chemical reaction.) I sprayed a few more coats after the first coat dried to get the desired look. Both of the ornaments took very little effort to make and added a little depth and color to the tree.

The magnolia leaves that I incorporated added fullness but also obscured some of the lights and made the tree look dark in spots. To counteract that effect, I coated a few leaves on each sprig in clear Elmer’s glue and dusted them with iridescent glitter. That helped reflect the light and give it the leaves sheen while giving the tree a better shape.

I’ve never been a great maker of bows but I jerry-rigged some ribbon and pipe cleaners to fashion a bow topper for the tree. On Saturday, I went back to Hobby Lobby for a few more gold glitter feather picks and finally finished my tree. Basically, I keep tweaking it until I am at peace. That may sound weird to some but it’s my process.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoy decorating my home! This year it took a little more work than in the past but it all came together well in the end. Check out these photos of our faux fireplace and the matching tablescape. Are there any projects you looking to try this Christmas? Sound off in the comments. I would love to hear your ideas!