G'day lovelies, do hope you are surviving Silly Season?
Yep, that certainly is a green tree you see up there, yee haw. If you look back at last year you can see that we had a white Christmas tree, very silly indeed. Bought very much in haste when we had been in Australia approximately 2 weeks. We tried to convince ourselves it was fabulous, but really in the back of my mind, too non-traditional for me.
And this year when we got that white tree out, we noticed it had a new look. A suntan. Discoloured and yellowed and so in my usual fashion, I whined. Wanting a green one, and spurred on by Miss Beach Cottage, stating too, how much we needed Spruce.
What I really wanted was a real tree, the pine fragrance, the dropping needles, a few sparse baubles, but after much deliberation decided that I couldn't deal with it wilting and looking awful should it get too hot, which it's feeling like it probably will.
I looked at artificial ones, and guess what? The only one I liked was the most expensive one and $400 was so not in the budget this year for a tree.
Back to the drawing board and I had to swallow it and settle with the Suntanned Tree (you can see what it looks like all yellowed, here). That in fact is not white at all but now kinda creamy/yellowy. The look you may get if you leave a white tree in a smoky pub for a year. Not the best look for one's Christmas decor in their Beach Cottage 
Resigned to this Smokers Tree I was shooting round the supermarket minding my own business, not thinking about Christmas trees at all, when I saw this.
A 182cm pretty nasty artificial Christmas Tree for a ridiculous price. I phoned Mr BC, who had already suffered 2 Christmas Tree related phone calls that week (one whining for the beautiful $400 one and one deliberating over a real one).
I told him the price and he said, errrm adding a blue word or two. Buy the thing.
Me: But what if it looks too cheap
Him: Well it is cheap, it will look a bit cheap. (voice implying Do I really care?)
Me: Well I won't like it then will I if it looks all spindly and plastic.
Him: You can make it look good.
Me: I don't think so.
Him: You are the Queen of makeovers. (inject sarcasm re: blog)
Me: I can't paint this.
Him: Hun it's the price of a coupla cups of coffee. JUST GET IT. (wishing he'd married Kylie)
Me: But what if we get it, put it up, it looks hideous?
Him: We'll take it to Vinnies.
Too Easy.
So I slung it in my trolley and walked out with the cheapest tree in the Universe and on Tree Trimming Decoration Madness Day at the weekend, we slipped it in with all the other boxes of Christmas supplies for Miss BC.
in all it's glory…
the boys did the techno bit
Mr BC untangled, changed bulbs and tested
it seems someone in this family may have an addiction for buying Christmas lights
the girls got the best job…sorting out the baubles
I really liked it just like this, but there were peals of protest!
they piled them on
I sneaked by later in the dead of night and added some starfish decorations & the Beach Cottage Magic Makeover Wand…
if you look closely you can see the hand-made shell ones I made
and the Christmas version of the sphere shell ball you've come to know and love
Not bad for a $12 special?
Was Mr BC right & it looks good?
All I can say is that when we've turned the lights on outside, everything's twinkling around the cottage, our little memory-making homemade decs from the sea peak out and we're watching Christmas movies, it doesn't really matter what colour the tree is…
But, oh, it's definitely better than two cups of coffee.
See ya
p.s. if you want to see some more Behind The Scenes Shots, go here
and find more of the sphere balls, here, here and here
just to let you know, the Suntanned Smoker's Tree is up to…more to come soon!
blogged for Thrifty Thursday, Rhoda's Holiday Special, thanks
Lovely….it’s a million dollar tree!
It’s the ornaments and lights that makes a tree beautiful. Great job!
You made that little tree look very pretty. I’d love to have a real one, but I have a daughter who’s allergies really act up with one, so we’ve got a fake one too. I miss the pine smell, but not the needles!
Blessings,
Marcia
Pretty, sarah! Of course you can make a cheap tree look beautiful, I had faith in you all along.
Love all the white on your beachy tree. Merry Christmas, my friend!! Thanks for joining the par-tay.
i think its simply wonderful!!!
i love the fact that you didnt get crazy and buy an expensive tree. with a little magic and creativeness it loks like one from a magazine. we bought our tree last year at an after christmas sale for $20.00. i love it!!
Sarah you would never know that was a $12 tree under all those wonderful lights and decorations.
Fabulous
Alison
Wow is all I can say! You are amazing as usual. Just stunning what you did with a 12 dollar tree!!!
I actually like the smoker tree color. Whites and creams would look really pretty don’t you think? Can’t wait to see it finished. I’m doing one of my trees later today. Hopefully the lights will cooperate. I’m so not in the mood to go buy new ones. Happy Weekend!!
I love the green tree but I have to tell you, I am partial to the smoky white tree. I have a white tree that has turned a creamy color over the years. It has sat in a shed for most of it’s 20 years so I guess that did the trick of turning it to the gorgeous old patina. I like it!
(confession…..I have a green tree too) xo
BEAUTIFUL!!
mY tOUR iS nOW sHARED….come by if you can to visit. Happy Holidays!
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beautiful tree. love the white!
Kathleen
So white and lovely!
Pretty, pretty, pretty. All those decorations are fantastic! I love the fluffy snowball ones.
Merry Christmas to you!
What a fantastic job on the tree. It looks brilliant, as does the rest of the house. And how refreshing to read another Australian blog, with all our Summer Christmas issues! Saeson’s Greetings.
Why, I think it’s lovely! Very pretty. And for the price of two cups of joe. . . well, you couldn’t go wrong, could you? But really, it’s quite nice. And it won’t droop and fade in the heat, so you made a good decision!
A Beautiful Tree. Merry Christmas.
WOW! That is incredible! LOVE it!
That’s exactly the same tree I bought this year! I thought mine was a bargain reduced from $40 to $20 but yours is even better!! Yours is decorated beautifully.