SOCIAL MEDIA

December 9, 2015

A Book Lover's Christmas Tree

First and foremost, thank you all so much for all the love on our Holiday Home Tour.  I took so very many pictures, many more than could fit in that one post, so I will be sharing a bit more in the coming days.  In our home tour last week, I referred to the flocked tree in our living room as a "tree of my own". Christmas has always been about our kids, as I think it should be.  But, this year, in addition to the tree in the family room with all of our collected ornaments, I decorated the tree in our living room with some of my favorite things.  I try not to follow too many trends in home decor.  Rather, I like think about things to add to our home that reflect who we are.  So, with that in mind, I thought about one of my favorite things, books.
Flocked Christmas tree decorated with small books, black and white accents and mercury glass ornaments - www.goldenboysandme.com


Last year, we had a real tree in this room and I loved it.  But because I need to get my trees up early, it was dry & brittle by Christmas Eve.  So this year I decided to go back to an artificial tree.   I never had a flocked tree before so I also thought it would be fun to try something new.
Flocked Christmas tree decorated with small books, black and white accents and mercury glass ornaments - www.goldenboysandme.com
Our new flocked tree is called the Snowy Everland Tree.  We purchased ours at Amazon, but it is no longer available there.  Right out of the box, I loved the natural look of the tree, without ornaments, and I contemplated leaving it undecorated.  On the negative side, the flocking gets all over everything. It is a real pain.  Plus, I kept moving it around the room trying to figure out where I liked it best.  It was a flocking mess.  But now that everything is situated, it has been good.
Flocked Christmas tree decorated with small books, black and white accents and mercury glass ornaments - www.goldenboysandme.com
I needed some ornaments for this book tree.  And what would be better to use than actual books?  I had a stack of small scale books on display in my family room, so I borrowed them to use.  I simply wrapped them with some ribbon from the Target Dollar Spot.  Therefore, after Christmas, they haven't been damaged at all.  I also found chalkboard ribbon at AC Moore and cut pieces of it into banner shapes and added some meaningful words with a chalk pen.   
Small book made into a holiday ornament with striped Target dollar spot ribbon - www.goldenboysandme.com
I added lots of black and white touches to this room to carry the book theme over.  Other ornaments on the tree include DIY balls decoupaged with book pages, lots of letters, shiny mercury glass, and a camera ornament.  I had a black and white cardboard print made at Walgreen's of my boys walking in the snowy woods.  I ordered it online and was picking it up in less than an hour.  Total cost was about $13.  Not a sponsored post, just thought it was great how quickly I was able to get that made.  I added a piece of twine to hang it from.
Black and white board poster on planked wall - www.goldenboysandme.com
I carried the book theme throughout the room.  In a basket behind the table, I collected a book of Robert Frost poems with some fresh clippings, pinecones and antlers.
Basket with fresh evergreen clippings, book, antlers - www.goldenboysandme.com
The flocking makes the tree so bright & cheery during the day.
Lantern light with plank wall and flocked Christmas tree - www.goldenboysandme.com
And it appears to glow at night.
Flocked tree at night - www.goldenboysandme.com
Flocked tree at night - www.goldenboysandme.com
My favorite time of day at this time of year is at dusk when all of the Christmas lights turn on.  Happy Holidays!!

9 comments :

  1. I'm still giggling about the flocking mess! But it did turn out really awesome. I bet it is very pretty lit at night.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is so lovely, Courtney...I love the look of the lighting at night. We always have to shake our tree off after putting it up, and then vacuum up...at least the dogs don't seem to have any interest in eating the flocking lol.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Courtney,
    How pretty this tree is even with the "flocking mess" lol! What a sweet little corner to curl up with a good book with the lights of the tree. Just so cozy and comfy.
    Kris

    ReplyDelete
  4. Courtney, that is some beautiful tree. I especially love it at night with the lights on and the books are such a great addition. I'm glad that flocking mess was beautiful when all was said and done!..Merry Christmas..Judy

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your tree is gorgeous, Courtney! I've always wanted a flocked tree but I'd have to have it somewhere other than where our traditional one goes--my kids would die!! I didn't know you were a book lover, I swear, we are twins! And this is a wonderful idea for your tree. I love the ribbon. I've actually started to add more black to my neutral home, I think it makes everything stand out more.

    Looking forward to seeing more of your holiday home!

    Jane x

    ReplyDelete
  6. OMG - those night pictures are stunning! Love the tree and the whole book theme! I planned on doing a 'tree for me' this year because we have an artificial one sitting in the basement. I haven't gotten to it yet though! Today we will pick up our family tree...the warmer weather makes it feel strange though. Usually we are dressed in coats and scarves! Enjoy your weekend!
    Shelley

    ReplyDelete
  7. I absolutely love the idea of a book lover's tree. My son was married in the summer and the two English majors from Berkeley chose a library theme for the wedding (long, fun story about how that came about). Instead of numbered tables, they used each of their favorite books. Our family sat at THE BFG because that was my son's favorite childhood book. The brides family sat at Anne of Green Gables.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I absolutely live your blog and your home . Your humor shines through on your posts ;) and I LOVE this book tree ! And the flocking tree 🎄

    ReplyDelete