DIY HIGH END CHRISTMAS DECOR ¦ DIY DECORATE FOR CHRISTMAS PART 1

For today's video we are talking all things holiday decorating and we are starting off with arguably the most important parts of decorating which is of course the Christmas tree and the entryway. So without further ado let's go ahead and jump right into it. Starting off with the star of the show which is the Christmas tree and there are a million and one ways to decorate a tree. People are really just going bananas for this Ralph Lauren Christmas theme but last year Kristen Forgione from The Lifestyle Co. shared this image and it has been living rent free in my mind for a solid year so that is exactly the scheme I was going for. When it comes to the tree I actually listed my thrifted Christmas tree on Facebook Marketplace and made a profit and ended up picking this one up. It was 45 minutes away and the lights did not work but I had big plans for this free tree. Oh my god you guys I never want to lead you down an insane path which is exactly what this was. This was absolutely insane. This took me three hours to take off all these lights. Yes the tree was free but if time is not on your side and you can spare the $200 that this tree originally costs just do that because this was so time consuming. So now with all of the lights finally removed I just need to go down the basement and grab the lights that I shared with you guys the last several years. They're from Amazon. I absolutely love them which is partly why I decided to pick a free tree because even though the lights didn't work anyway I had lights at home that I already wanted to use from previous years. So now one thing that I don't know that I've shared with you guys in the past is when you're doing your lights it's actually more helpful if you do your lights the same way that I do. I don't just wrap around the tree over and over again. I take each branch I wrap that branch go back around it and I weave each individual branch just basically like a pre-lit tree is but again another thing that takes more time but if you want it to be really elevated really beautiful those time-consuming projects really pay off in the end. Another thing that I wanted to mention I think this should be obvious and I'm sure most of you know this but just in case you don't just make sure you're testing your lights from last year before you put them on the tree so that way you're not doing unnecessary work if they are burnt out. Thankfully all five of these lights still worked and for reference I used five packages of these lights for a seven and a half foot and I also like to do my lights in sections without everything already being attached. I think it's just easier to work with things and you can see it a lot easier without all the pieces being connected so I first did the bottom section then the middle and then of course the top. I think before you go and buy anything for any season or holiday you really need to take an inventory of what you already have. I had already so many burgundy ornaments from previous years but the only red ornaments that I had were either plaid or had some sort of pattern or design so basically anytime I went to the thrift store if I came across any solid red ornaments in different sizes I grabbed them and over the course of several weeks I was able to find so many of this type of ornament. I also had to go to the Dollar Tree to really fill up this bin here but again super affordable. I believe I spent $18 at Dollar Tree for all the ornaments and then of course everything else you see here is in fact thrifted and again going back to my inspiration image what I loved about this tree was how organic it felt. I've seen cluster trees in the past so that part isn't necessarily new but those trees are almost just too perfectly placed if that makes sense. So to get started on a tree like this one I needed to collect a lot of ornaments in different sizes and I personally chose to use wire. I think a lot of people like to just use string which would be fine again if you're just going for that really perfect look but in order to really shape it exactly as I wanted to I just decided to use some wire here just stringing all of the ornaments along just making sure that the first ornament that is placed I lock that one in place so every subsequent ornament can just stay exactly so. Leaving a small tail on either side just so that way I can then attach it to the tree and I tried to just focus the largest ornaments that I had towards the bottom of the tree then just using smaller ornaments as we get to the top. I also really like this from like a safety perspective if you accidentally like bump your tree you're not going to knock off any glass ornaments because everything is really locked in with that wire. With the clusters completed now it was just time to move into the other components of this tree. So there were so many tapered candles on that inspiration image so initially I had ordered the clip-on candles but then I really just hated the way that looked. I don't like the fake wax coming down as well as it was impossible for me to get these to stay straight so I ended up ordering these instead on Amazon. I will link these in the description box below if you're interested. Each pack comes with six tapered candles so I ended up ordering two boxes just so I could stay under that budget of $100 for the tree. So once the candles were placed it still just felt too sparse so I needed an ornament that was really skinny and long and thankfully last year at the goodwill bins I found this pack of 20 glass icicles that are so beautiful. So to really beef up that area I just decided to place several of the icicles around the candles so again sticking with that clustered theme. The next component that I needed to add were the picks and there is truthfully no better place to find picks than the goodwill bins so if you have a goodwill bins or goodwill outlet store by you I definitely recommend going. Most recently at the goodwill bins I found so many garlands, picks, an insane number of Christmas wreaths. I think I counted and it was maybe nine eight or nine wreaths that were in essentially perfect condition there was nothing wrong with them and after putting everything in my cart and went to go weigh it. So for all of this it was $9.46. What? Like I come here all the time but that just seems like not right. Well that's not really heavy. Well I guess that's true. It's only 2.5 pounds. Wow that's crazy. So for under $10 I was able to walk away with so many beautiful holiday pieces. Just one of those wreaths at Hobby Lobby would cost more than $10. So I ended up putting four of the wreaths back and walking away with five of these wreaths so I could use them for some picks for different decor projects around my house this holiday season. So using a combination of these pine cones that I grabbed from those wreaths as well as just pine cones that I had in my stash and making these pine cone picks. I like to do about five to seven pine cones per pick and then just layering in some of the greenery also from those wreaths. Also to fill in any gaps between the ornament clusters I found this berry garland but I didn't need it as a garland I really just needed it for these small pick pieces and just decided to place them in any openings that I saw that will really just give a nice full look by filling these gaps in. With the tree pretty much complete now it's just time to decide on a tree skirt or a collar for its base and my toxic trait is not allowing myself to buy something because I think I can make something similar. So when I found a good amount of this crushed red velvet fabric from the Heartfilter shop for just three dollars I couldn't justify the price of the one from Lulu in Georgia. So bringing the fabric in of course washing and drying it and now it's just time to start assembling our tree skirt. Taking some quick measurements I just needed to cut off about nine inches from the longest side possible so then that way I could fold it in half and that can be our ruffled edge of the tree skirt. After looking at the dimensions on the Lulu in Georgia website that tree skirt is 52 inches in diameter taped down a piece of string to what I determined to be the middle and then taking a marker traced around to get that circle shape so that way everything is nice and even all the way around. For the base I ended up finding this tablecloth at the Goodwill bins so I just decided that is the part that is going to be the bottom of the tree skirt. So placing what I had just cut out from the velvet fabric I'm just going to tape it down to the other fabric and cut that out as well. It still really was just feeling a little bit too flimsy and lightweight so I did decide to add a blanket that I was getting ready to donate to the inside cutting it out the exact same way so that way it just gave it a little bit more fullness. Took it over to my sewing machine I followed this tutorial that I will link in the description box below and that completes the final component for my tree this year. So with the free tree lights from last year so many thrifted and dollar store ornaments incorporating so many thrifted picks the only new purchase was the candles from Amazon and I think this is my favorite tree I have ever done. It is so beautiful it feels so luxe so grand but it was done so on a shoestring budget. With our tree complete now it's just time to work on our entryway so one thing that I really wanted to have this year is a nice full lush garland to adorn my staircase. Some of you may remember last year I found these garlands from mac.bid mac.bid is basically a bidding website where you can find it's usually Amazon products but there's some other stores in there as well and you can get really great prices on things that are basically brand new for a much more affordable price point. So I found three of these last year and I also found two cedar garlands this year and just like her mom refuses to let anybody help her ever but it is a really great resource if you're not really into the whole thrifting thing I would definitely recommend checking a website like this nearby you and see what you can find. Also at the thrift store I came across these garlands here now not really the best quality but they were the exact dimensions I needed which was nine feet. Little trick for garland that just looks like really cheap and really cheesy is to of course fluff it that makes a huge difference and then just going over that once it's fluffed with a dusting of this camouflage spray paint in the color deep forest green it just gives a more natural look in the end. So what we're going to do is combine all three of these garlands together with some floral wire so I personally like to start with two at one time just to make sure those are blended well before adding that third one in. Because of how lush and full these garlands are I did have to use some heavy duty zip ties so I just need to paint the zip tie that is black brown so it just is a little bit more concealed on my stair rail. Finishing it off with some velvet ribbon that you guys might remember from last year just because it had been in the box it was somewhat wrinkled so I just pressed it on a low setting with my iron and it was good as new. With the stairs complete now it's just time to style this table here. Some of you may remember I flipped this last year and now it's just time to style it for the holiday season. So recently at the Goodwill retail side I found this very interesting wall decor piece. I only wanted the bells so unfortunately I had to buy the whole thing and ended up just donating that black cube shelf piece. So it came with a set of three bells but I really wanted one of the bells to be a candle so I just took my hacksaw removed that top layer which will basically act as like the cap to our candle. For paint I just mixed up a little bit of antiquing wax and this bronze paint that I will link in the description box below. Grabbed some jute rope from the Dollar Tree and just tied that to the top of those hanger pieces. Just very carefully take a lighter and just burn those loose fibers to just give a nice finished look. The next thing I wanted to add was some sort of seasonal artwork. This could be of your family or of something else that you find on Etsy. So grabbing a canvas from the Dollar Tree just going to load that in my printer and then that is going to give it a more sketch like look versus just printing it on like computer paper. You could also do this with landscapes and even paint over it with some gloss mod podge to give it a more oil like finish and then the last thing I did was just tie again velvet ribbon that I had from last year pressed it with an iron and I think it's fun and festive for the upcoming holiday season. The last thing I like to add is some sort of floral arrangement that really speaks to the season. So taking a vase some of you may remember this is an old DIY project just take any vase from the goodwill that you like the shape of paint it with some plaster of paris and white acrylic paint and then just distress it with some antiquing wax. As for the picks and stems like I mentioned earlier in this video you can find really great picks and stems if you just do a little bit of digging. So I combined several of these picks together but one thing I do like to add is something real especially on an entryway table or on a kitchen island because that kind of tricks your mind into thinking that the whole arrangement is real. Some of you may remember this basket as well it was three dollars at the heartfelt thrift shop as well as these birch logs I also found from the heartfelt thrift shop which were three dollars a piece. Most recently I found this almost like tartan blankets and we are just going to add this inside of the basket as well. Next to the door I like to add some form of wall art and because you see our family gallery wall from the entry I didn't want it to be more family pictures or just another frame in general so I remembered I had DIY'd this bell curtain wall art inspired by something I had seen on pottery barn's website and just decided to place this on this wall here. Now just taking a final look at the entryway I'm so happy with how all of these projects came out because I make a lot of these things myself and a lot of times you guys ask me what do you do with all this stuff you make and I honestly I hope to use it so it's always nice when all of the pieces that you curated and made kind of come together harmoniously and everything just still looks really elevated even when you're on a tight budget. With all that being said that really wraps it up for today thank you guys so much for watching let me know down in the comments if you found something helpful or if you've learned something new today and I will see you guys back here next Sunday. Bye for now!