Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Preston Bailey fo cheap!

Happy Holiday everyone!

as a kid, my refugee family never had a real christmas tree during the season. we only had a dinky fake one, and i always dreamed of having a lavish beautiful real tree in my home with ornaments and lights and the wonderful fresh scent all through the house.

but the grinch named G never had a real tree either, and he STILL doesn't want one! he says he doesn't agree with killing a living thing for decoration. last year i disagreed, but this year, i just used it as an opportunity to be creative!

now you all know i like to window shop, but even more i like to sidewalk shop! that means i walk around the neighborhood for old furniture people have thrown away, and that i can freshen up and use again. this time, me and the Grinch walked around the trees in back of our building and picked up a bunch of fallen branches and brought them home.

we spray painted them white, cut them in the appropriate places, and then put them in a tall vase that we used as decoration at our wedding. i cut up some wack garland and turned them into cute little ornaments - AND i put a bird in her nest on one of the branches, because birds have been the theme this year!

i was going after a whimsical look like Preston Bailey - and the result is our own "found" holiday tree that cost us the price of just one spray paint can. AND grinchy G didn't complain about killing a living thing. i'm happy we went through this trouble, because it makes it more special than if we just bought a tree from home depot. we get to have the holiday spirit, but with our own flava!



5 comments:

Tanya said...

Yeah, that's a waaaaaaaaaaaay better holiday tree!!!! We always had a fake one and got a real one once...I'll be honest, I loved our fake one better. You & the Grinch did good!! I'm glad you FINALLY updated this bad boy!!! Miss ya! *hugs*

Eugene said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Eugene said...

Well, D and I broke away from our tree hugging ways for the holidays and got one of them real trees.

My parents had a fake tree when I was a kid. I thought it was kind of cheesy, but thinking back, it was the more environmental choice.

Your tree is lovely. I wish I had more time to be doing more arts and crafts and making my own tree.

Anonymous said...

I love this idea! I always loved old tree branches. When I was in highschool, I did something similar to decorate my boring room. I tied a bunch of branches together, sprayed them black and tied them to the top of my window blinds for a decoration. During the holidays I used to put lights on them, instant holiday cheer!

The home engineer rocks!

questinfinite said...

so pretty!!!! it's nice that the tree/branchs you used at the wedding keeps adding layers of meaning and purpose!

(ps. the grinch... LoL!)