Welcome welcome, everyone! Christmas is just about my favorite thing EVER, so I’m always so psyched to get to share my winter wonderland with you all — and Christmas trees are my absolute favorite aspect of my favorite thing. I’m so happy to be participating in another awesome year of the My Home Style Blog Hope Christmas Tree Edition, hosted by Stephanie from Casa Watkins Living.
If you’re stopping by from my friend Jewel’s home (or another awesome stop on today’s blog hop), welcome to The Gathered Home — the little corner of the internet that’s all mine and devoted to all things vintage, thrifted, and eclectic. Like a magpie, I’m always bringing shiny things home to my nest! You can find out a little more about me right here and I’d love for you to introduce yourself in the comments if you’re new around here. It’s always so lovely to hear from “kindred spirits,” as I like to call you!
This is me and my goofy mug, enjoying a sparkly Christmas moment.
If you enjoy today’s post, I hope you’ll also check out my recent Holiday Glam Home Tour, too!
*Today’s post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through an affiliate link, I may receive a small commission. You can read my full disclosure here. I hope you all know by now that I do only share things I really truly love!
I’ve always taken decorating the Christmas tree very seriously. My family will corroborate me. It may or may not have led to several battles of the wills with my siblings over the years over how to best randomize ornament placement and which ornaments were approved for that year’s theme… up to and including following them around the tree to tweak ornament distribution and covertly remove any misfits.
Not much has changed over the years, except now I have complete creative control over my own Christmas tree and I just do some consulting for my family on the side. 😉
This year, I was determined to find space in our home for TWO Christmas trees — a white one decked with colorful ornaments at the front of the house (shared here) and a more-classic green version here in my neutral living room that would perfectly reflect my eclectic, gathered glam style!
I always go a little wild with color with the white Christmas tree, because everything pops on such a bright background, but for the living room Christmas tree I wanted to keep things a little more carefully composed and edited so the beautiful green color could really be the star of the show.
Classic Pine Christmas Tree:
Let’s start with the tree! This year, I decided to splurge on a 9′ tall Alexander pine tree from the Martha Stewart Line at Home Depot. I knew the nine foot height would be perfect for our tall ceilings and I plan to get years of use out of it (and I’m so thankful for its long-lasting LED lights!), so this thrifty girl managed to justify paying retail for something — which is wildly out of character for me, if you know me at all.
The box proudly proclaimed this tree’s “Quick Setup” promising just a few minutes from pulling it out of the box to decorating…
Friends, don’t believe them. Please don’t EVER just take an artificial Christmas tree out of the box and think that’s how it’s supposed to look! Taking it out of the box, plopping it in the stand and letting the branches fall as they may is utter nonsense. Really, I’d think Martha Stewart would know better than to have her name attached to such a silly claim! I bet she keeps a paid Christmas tree fluffer on staff year round, you guys.
My family always went and cut down a real Christmas tree for the holidays, so my first Christmas with an artificial tree, I had no idea that you needed to spend quite a bit of time fussing with the branches to make it look as full and lifelike as possible! Thankfully, I quickly learned from my mother in law that fluffing the branches is by far the most essential step to decorating an artificial Christmas tree.
It always takes me at least an hour, going branch by branch to make sure each bristled wire gets carefully pulled apart, but the end result is always worth the extra work! The goal is to hide the branch supports as much as possible and make the branches look nice and full and at-least-somewhat natural.
I do love the varying textures in this tree, although it does crack me up that you wouldn’t really find such a wide assortment of needles on a pine tree in the wild. Oh well, some artistic license is fine in my book!
The Color Palette:
For this tree, I restricted myself to a palette of mainly metallics with some reds tucked in as well. I really wanted the beautiful green to be the star of the show, mirroring my green velvet sofa on the other side of the room.
I was able to pull together this look using ornaments that were by and large thrifted or DIYed. I purchased gold and metallic glass ball ornaments whenever I came across them at thrift stores, but a very generous estimate of what I spent total to decorate this tree this year is about $30.
Don’t be afraid to mix all different types of metals! Here, matte bronze meets mirror gold and silver, champagne gold, and mercury glass.
Top With Something *Sparkly*:
I’ve never had a real Christmas tree topper before this year! It was just perfect luck that I stumbled across this beautiful gold beaded snowflake (or is it a star?) topper at a thrift store right before I was ready to snap these final photos.
Thank you, whoever decided to donate this — it was absolutely meant for this tree! I couldn’t find an exact duplicate online, but I do also love this delicate metal and acrylic snowflake tree topper.
Incorporate Gathered Treasures:
I’ve already shared that the most of my ornaments were gathered over time from various thrift stores. It’s let me pull together a beautiful collection of glass ornaments that I probably couldn’t have afforded in any other way!
The vintage granny square afghan I used as a tree skirt is another thrift store find! I layered it on top of another blanket to give it a little more body and then just wrapped it around the base of the tree.
I’ve always adored granny square blankets, especially the ones with a black background and multicolored squares!
While the rest of the tree is very sparkly and glam, I think the handmade nature of this blanket helps ground it and make it feel a little whimsical, which I always love in my decor.
Think Vintage Inspired and Handcrafted:
Whenever I’m picking up ornaments at thrift stores, I’m looking for two things: plain “base” ornaments to tuck into the branches and provide background color and gleam and then the vintage (or vintage-inspired) “starring” ornaments, with details that steal the show just a little bit!
Like this set of beautiful blown glass bird ornaments with glittered details and feathered tails! I found a basket of ornaments at the Salvation Army last year, shortly after Christmas, with about 30 of these treasures inside. I’d say they’re definitely not actually vintage ornaments, but they reminded me strongly of the beautiful blown glass bird ornaments in my grandparents’ basement and I would have bought them for that reason alone!
There’s an assortment of different colors and I just can’t choose a favorite! But if I had to, this little champagne gold fellow might be it:
These gold mercury glass ornaments are definitely not vintage — I got them from Ace Hardware when I worked with them on a Christmas decorating post back in 2015 — but they definitely fit the vintage-inspired mold. I have a set of 12 and I like to put these on towards the end of decorating the tree to make sure they’re in highly viewable locations!
And this one is always a favorite! This glass glittered Santa Claus ornament came from my parents and I have fond memories of pulling him out of the mass of paper towels (tip: paper towels are a great packing material for Christmas ornaments) every year growing up. Now he makes it on the tree every year at my house!
For this tree, the handcrafted element comes from these DIY Mini Sunburst Mirror Ornaments, a favorite crafting project from several years ago! Even though they are easily made from gold spray-painted toothpicks and miniature mirrors from the craft store, I don’t think they look like an obvious DIY.
I love the way their spiky spokes break up all the smooth textures happening on the tree and the way the tiny mirrors catch the warm lights from the tree.
An Eclectic, Gathered, Glam Christmas Tree:
And there you have it — all my secrets and tips for pulling together a warm and bright eclectic, gathered, glam Christmas tree!
So much of my home style depends on serendipity; stopping by the right thrift store at the right time and finding the right piece that speaks to my heart. It can make it really hard for me to share how you can “get the look” for your own home, so my absolute best advice is for you to frequent secondhand shops and start with whatever the universe sends your way. I realize that can sound like the most hippy-dippy advice ever!
But as I’ve been slowly gathering for my home over the last eight years or so, I’ve learned that I can set out with the best of intentions, but my absolute favorite finds and decorating projects are the result of pure, dumb luck and openness to working with what I have and can scavenge from the world round me.
Thank you SO MUCH for stopping by here today, friends! I truly wish you could all come sit with me by my Christmas tree and enjoy a cup of coffee while we chat about our favorite thrift stores and tales of gathered glory! Until then, the comment section (and my favorite social media account, Instagram) will have to suffice 🙂
I also hope you’ll scroll down and visit the other talented bloggers participating in this Christmas tree style hop this week! Twelve on Main’s neutral farmhouse-style Christmas tree is wrapping up today’s round-robin!
Ready for more Christmas tree style inspiration?
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
The Gathered Home (You are here!)
It’s so pretty! Thanks for the closeups!
love your tree and especially love the afghan tree skirt!!!! it’s so fabulous!!!!
you are darling Brynne! Your tree and room look fabulous.
Hi Brynne! Your tree is so gorgeous. I absolutely love the afghan idea. The birds…the vintage style ornaments…all of it reminds me of our tree when I was kid in the 70’s. You have amazing style. Merry Christmas! ~ Julie
It’s beautiful and I ADORE that tree skirt. It’s the perfect “gathered” touch 🙂
Haha, a Christmas tree control freak…I can relate! Love your tree, and using the granny squares blanket was genius!
Love the afghan as tree skirt too! So unique and so you! The tree is beautiful and so is the photo of you
What a pretty tree that demonstrates your style perfectly. Nicely done! I think the starburst are my favorite!
So pretty! I love the afghan as a tree skirt and it looks so great with the beautiful metallic and mercury glass ornaments. The pops of red are perfect! Such a nice balance and it does compliment your sofa nicely! You look adorable and festive. 🙂 Merry Christmas!
Brynne I love all the special vintage and eclectic pieces you placed on your tree! I love the Christmas tree skirt especially! Beautiful gathered look as always.
First of all, so nice to see your shining face in this post! I feel like you’ve fallen out my life and I need to fix that! I was also totally expecting to see a white tree, but it looks like you’ve saved that one for another day.
The green is a nice touch for your living room, and your MIL is right – you gotta fluff those branches!
The tree looks fantastic though – happy holidays friend!
Such a pretty tree! Those little birds are just perfect–love them! And it cracks me up seeing all the different kinds of textures on the branches in our fake tree, too 🙂