A couple of months ago, I joined a group of stylish bloggers for a fun blog hop called My Home Style, where we each described our unique home styles. Today we’re back together again, this time showing you how those styles translate to our Christmas trees!
Special thanks to Stephanie of Casa Watkins for coordinating My Home Style: Christmas Tree Edition! If you’ve just stopped by from Flourish & Knot, WELCOME! Let me start by showing your our tree…
For the original My Home Style blog hop, we were each challenged to describe our personal style in just three words, and I labeled my style: MODERN. GRAPHIC. FAMILY. And as I thought about our Christmas tree, I realized that those same three words apply perfectly! {Imagine that!}
Ok, so let me pause to address what you’re probably thinking. How is “FAMILY” a style?! But let me explain… As the mom of two young boys, the reality is that everything design decision I make is with the kids in mind – including the Christmas tree! But like the rest of our house, rather than letting the “kid friendly” requirement hindering our design style – it actually allows us to be even more creative and bold!
For our oldest son’s first Christmas {three years ago}, I gave a lot of thought to how to decorate a baby-friendly tree. I knew it wouldn’t look anything like our former tree, which was covered in fancy glass ornaments.
I read recommendations online that suggested hanging the breakable ornaments only on the top half of the tree out of reach of little hands, but besides not being the look I wanted, it also didn’t make a lot of sense to me. That first Christmas, Beckett was almost one and was walking, but didn’t yet have perfect balance. This meant that he often reach out and grabbed on to anything he could to steady himself, and I had visions of him grabbing a lower branch of the tree, giving it a good tug, and knocking glass ornaments off of higher branches.
Instead, I wanted to find a way to create a tree that was totally kid-friendly, but also beautiful from top to bottom! We shopped primarily for felt and knit ornaments, and added some safe shimmer and shine. The result is a tree that is modern, graphic, and totally hands-on for our boys {who are now almost 4 and 2.5}. I love our kid-friendly tree so much that I really can’t imagine wanting to change a thing for many years, even as the boys outgrow the age where it’s necessary!
If you are interested, you can read all of my Christmas baby and kid-proofing tips, but for now, I want to focus more on the style! Christmas trees are all about layers – and ours includes ribbon, felt garland, knit balls, snowflakes, iridescent stars, and bells. This year we took a video as we decorated the tree, and we sped it way up so you can see the entire thing is just one minute…
That video makes me smile no matter how many times the boys want to watch it over and over and over again. But now let’s take a little slower approach and I’ll give you a closer look at each layer of the tree.
Pre-Lit Tree. Our tree is a pre-lit Virginia Pine from Target {affiliate link}, and I really love the texture of it – and not having to add lights each year is a definite bonus!
RIBBON. The first layer we add to the tree is a shimmery, silver ribbon that we twist around the tree.
After initially wrapping the tree in ribbon, we tuck it back a bit further on the branches where it helps to bounce around the light and make the tree feel even brighter.
FELT GARLAND. Next up, we wrap the tree in a white felt ball garland.
I love the chunky look of this garland! It looks so cozy and wintery, in addition to being soft for little hands.
Oversized Knit Balls. A large part of what makes this tree work is the scale. The oversized knit balls really help to give the tree an interesting shape because they sit out, breaking up the basic conical shape of the artificial tree.
These knit balls weight virtually nothing, so I think they are styrophoam in the center. They are perfect for adding size but not weight to the tree, keeping it kid-friendly!
White Yarn Snowball Ornaments. While I love the large size of the knit ornaments, they tree can only handle so many. To balance the large spheres, I picked up some white yarn snowball ornaments.
White Felt Snowflakes. Since we were starting from scratch with all new ornaments to decorate our kid-friendly tree, I didn’t want to buy too many because $$$$. That’s why I was so thrilled when I found the extra large white felt snowflakes.
These snowflakes add the graphic element that I love, and they really make a statement on the tree!
Orange Felt Snowflakes. Orange is certainly not a traditional Christmas color, but since our basement is decorated in gray, white, and orange throughout the year, the tree needed to coordinate. I originally envisioned an all white and silver tree, but when I found some orange felt snowflake ornaments, I just couldn’t pass them up.
I as a little skeptical about adding orange to the tree that first year, but now it’s my favorite part! And we’ve really played up the orange as part of our Christmas decor throughout the rest of the basement as well {as you can see in my full Christmas Home Tour}.
White Felt Snowmen. We almost didn’t add the snowmen the first year, because they were a little cutesy for my taste, but the tree felt like it needed something more, and the white felt fit the bill.
Stars & Bells. The final two additions to the tree are some plastic iridescent stars and some silver bells. These are smaller, so it’s hard to pick them out in the full tree picture, but up close they do add a lot to the tree.
Since much of the tree ornaments are felt, knit and yarn, I wanted to add a couple more elements that would catch the light and add a little more shimmer and shine to the tree. We picked some clear, iridescent stars because the thick plastic is very durable, and because of the rounded tips rather than sharp points. These stars bounce the light around very nicely!
The silver bells also have a great reflective quality, but more importantly, they make noise – and that means the boys love them. We hang most of the bells lower on the tree where the kids can reach them, and they often take them off to shake them a bit, and then put them back in a new spot.
And there you have it, our MODERN GRAPHIC FAMILY Christmas tree! Ain’t she pretty?!
Especially because the tree is located in our basement between our family room area and the boys play area, it gives me a piece of mind to know that the boys can safely play around the tree and that I don’t have to constantly remind them to keep their hands off of it.
GET THE LOOK. What do you think? Are you ready to create a modern and graphic, baby and kid friendly Christmas tree of your own?! Most of the ornaments on our tree are no longer available, but I’ve found some really similar options and put together a list!
This post contains some affiliate links, denoted by an asterisk(*). If you buy something that I recommend, you pay the same price, but I may receive a small commission.
-1- Felt Garland*
-3- Colored Snowflakes*
-4- Silver Wired Ribbon*
-6- Knit Ball Ornament*
-7- Furry Ball Ornament*
-8- Knit Ball Ornaments*
-9- Fur Ornaments*
Other Similar Options {not pictured}:
OUR OTHER CHRISTMAS TREE… Upstairs in our living room, I put up a skinny, lodgepole pine Christmas tree in the corner for the first time this year. We’d been storing the tree since our days of living in a condo downtown, and I think the tree looks great in this spot. To keep it simple and kid friendly, I simply wrapped it in black and white striped ribbon to coordinate with the black and white stripes throughout the rest of the main floor Christmas decor.
And those pretty glass ornaments that just aren’t safe for little hands – some of them still get displayed each Christmas – hung in our high living room windows where they shimmer in the light safely out of reach!
TAKE THE FULL TOUR! If you like my MODERN. GRAPHIC. FAMILY. style, you’ll want to check out the rest of my Colorful & Modern Christmas Home Tour, which is filled with lots of easy DIY projects!
EAGER FOR MORE CHRISTMAS TREE STYLES? Next up on the blog hop is Graceful Order. You’re definitely going to want to see her tree {trust me}, and be sure to tell her I sent you! Then, you can continue to follow the tour from her site, or you can use the links below to jump around from one amazing blog to the next!
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Blue i Style {you are here}
Thursday
Friday
Let’s get social!
Sarah | Flourish & Knot says
I LOVE LOVE LOVE that felt garland!!! I see that it's no longer available, but I saw some needle-felted balls on Etsy… I think I hear a project calling my name. Awesome tree, awesome decor.
blueistyle says
Well shoot! It was in stock just a few days ago. They still have one with red and white balls in stock. And Land of Nod has a super fun one with white mixed with lots of bright colors.
bon bon says
Love the tree…..with Children it is fun to not have to be after them about the tree.
Susan @ This Makes That says
Your tree decorating tutorial is awesome! Love the felt garland too!
Susan @ This Makes That says
Your tree decorating tutorial is awesome. I love the felt garland too. I have never seen anything like that before.
Maria Gonzalez says
I love your entire tree but the knit ball ornaments are my favorite!
Karen @ a house full of sunshine says
I just adore all the cosy textures on your tree!
Sara Kaufer says
Your home and tree just scream "FUN" to me! I love it. I mean orange felt ornaments, who would have thought? They are the PERECT touch!!! Happy Holidays!
Elizabeth Joan Designs says
I love, love your tree and all of the modern/graphic elements!
Krista thehappyhousie says
I love your tree style Angela- modern, graphic, and family! And the video is fab!!! Great job:)
Stephanie -Casa Watkins says
Angela!! Love the video. Your tree is definitely your modern graphic tree style. I love the orange ornaments. The color scheme is perfect for your home. Pinned and shared
Carrie @ lovely etc. says
Love your tree! It is so fun and graphic and I love that it is all interactive for your little guys. I don't know if I'm ready to commit to a 100% kid friendly tree next year but it is giving me something to think about. And I know I definitely need to get some of those bells either way!
Kathy Baugher says
Love your modern style Angela!!