Young House Love

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How To Make An Ombre Gradient Christmas Tree

In the esteemed words of Snooki… the party’s here!

Gradient Christmas Tree Title Card

Woop woop, the tree is up. And this year now that Clara’s a big girl who we think can handle real ornaments (well, we got a few shatter-proof ones for the very bottom just to be sure) we went with a gradient from white to hot pink to red. Booyah. Or as I’ve been saying way too often: boom goes the dynamite.

Christmas Tree Decorated With Gradient Ornaments White Silver Pink Purple Red

Oh and we have a bunch of meaningful/special ornaments that we love the most, but we save those for our real mini tree (we got a tabletop one last year and loved it so much that it’ll be a tradition). So we’ll post about that one as soon as we get it (don’t want it to die before Christmas, so maybe next week!).

Anyway, back to our gradient guy. We thought it would be fun to see the color get deeper as it got closer to the floor, and since we already had a bunch of white ornaments from our silver tree in 2007 and a bunch of soft pink ornaments from 2010 and homemade ones from last year’s Pinterest challenge, all we did was grab a few more hot pink and red ornaments (which only ran us about 12 bucks total, thanks to 50% off sales at Michael’s and Hobby Lobby).

Detail Of Red and Purple Ornaments On Gradient Christmas Tree Design

Let the record state that hubster wanted it just to go from white to red with some of those silvery pink ones in the mix since we already had them, but I’m a smooth talker… so that’s how hot pink ended up in the mix.

Then we just loaded each of the four colors onto the tree in bands of color with white at the top which led into light pink, hot pink, and bright red at the bottom. Oh and we added some $2 candy canes to the mix since they fit with the color scheme.

Close UP On Pink And Red Ornaments And Candy Canes On Gradient Christmas Tree

As usual we used our faux-sheepskins-from-Ikea to make a tree skirt. Oh and check out that bicycle ornament we grabbed for cheap at Target.

Red Reindeer Decoration At Bottom Of Gradient Christmas Tree

We also went sans topper. We’ve been waiting to buy one until we see one we totally love and that hasn’t happened yet, so wait we must.

Far View Of Gradient Christmas Tree Sitting Between Hallway And Kitchen

Here she is at night. I’ve named her Glowy Glowerson.

Night Time View Of Gradient Christmas Tree Going White Pink Red

And since I’m a list freak, here’s the rest of the stuff on my holiday wish list. I try not to be all stepford and pressure myself about it, but I can’t explain the endorphin rush that I get from crossing things off of a list. And don’t think I won’t cross things off even if I don’t do them if I run out of time, just for the satisfaction of crossing them off, because I totally roll like that.

  • set up the big tree (gradient, baby!)
  • get a live tabletop tree again (like we did last year – this year we have a new idea for the ornaments though!)
  • decorate the mantel, the built-ins, and the entryway console
  • hang our outside lights & decorate the front porch
  • shoot a Christmas picture of Clara & Burger for our annual holiday card
  • make an advent calendar for Clara? Ahh I’m behind already!
  • shop for slash make all the gifts on our Christmas list (about 50% done already, can’t wait to cross this sucker off!)

And since we’re talking trees. Here’s how we decorated ours back in 2007 & 2008 (with the same white and silver scheme):

Silver Decorated Christmas Tree In First House

Close Up of Silver And White Christmas Ornaments

And in 2009, we went crazy for citrus, and even dried fruit to make ornaments:

Dried Fruit Citrus Christmas Tree Decorations

Close Up Of Dried Orange Citrus Christmas Ornament Decoration

In 2010 we had green, pink, and silver shimma goin’ on:

Pink And Silver And Green Shimmer Christmas Ornament Color Scheme

Close Up Of Pink And Silver Ornaments On Christmas Tree

Here’s our tabletop tree from last year complete with homemade ornaments that I whipped up for a Pinterest Challenge:

Small Homemade Ornaments On Colorful Tabletop Christmas Tree

Detail of Hand Painted Christmas Ornaments On Table Top Tree

And here’s last year’s big tree with homemade paint chip ornaments and colorful ribbons (nothing that could shatter since Clara was 19 months old):

Christmas Tree Decorated With Paint Chip Ornaments

Detail Of Paint Chip Holiday Cut Out Christmas Ornaments

Feels kinda festive, eh? What are you guys doing to get into the holiday spirit? Or are you screaming “not ready!” and boycotting Christmas Carols until a certain magical “now it can be Christmastime” date? Are you making a list just for the satisfaction of crossing things off? Are you making anything homemade (gifts, food, advent calendars, etc)? Do tell.

Psst- Still in the mood for more holiday projects and pics? Click here for a gallery with over 25 holiday projects and ideas. 

Update: You can check out all of our favorite holiday decor finds here – many of which are under $15! 

Comments

  1. Debbie says

    We use one of the big red ribbon bows for a tree topper. It was a temporary solution and 3 years of using it later, we’ve decided we love it and it is here to stay.

    Reply

  3. Krystal says

    Christmas trees are probably (definitely) my favorite thing in the whole world and I wasted no time in putting mine up.

    http://www.krystalwithak.com/2012/11/more-fabulous-than-kardashian.html

    Funny story, there are a lot of my mom’s friend (and my mom) that hate putting up Christmas decorations, and they used to pay me to decorate their trees and houses and such. Best job ever! And it’s still a great way to get some extra shopping money when I’m home on break.

    Reply

  4. Julia @ Chris Loves Julia says

    Oooooo Aaaaaaaa. I’m loving the gradient. Loving it. We went anti-red on our tree this year and stocked with navy, light blue and gold and Greta is NOT ready for not shatterproof ornaments yet which made my trip to the dollar store to get some really big plastic bulbs and snowflakes they had more for her…not me….right? Three cheers for Christmas shopping at the dollar store!

    Here’s how our tree looks this year:
    http://www.chrislovesjulia.com/2012/12/blue-christmas-and-big-snowflakes.html

    But seriously, I am keeping this gradient idea tucked away for next year. <3

    Reply

  6. robin @ our semi organic life says

    We put up our tree as well! We’re sticking to the same theme as always – ‘no theme’ since we’re too cheap to buy new ornaments. Plus it was easier to put up what we’ve got! Maybe I’ll buy some ribbon… or make popcorn strands! Do people still do that?

    Reply

  7. Karen F says

    so pretty! love the gradient! and I’ve always loved the faux-sheepskin tree skirt. This year, my daughters helped decorate the tree, so all the ornaments are on the bottom 90% of the tree. My husband asked if I was going to rearrange the ornaments after they went to bed, and I thought about it but decided against it. Now that it’s been up for a week, I swear my kids have memorized the location of every ornament, and they tell me when their sister moved one of “their” ornaments!

    Thanksgiving and Christmas totally snuck up on me this year due to the hurricane – I feel like I lost 2 weeks. So I’m trying to get into the spirit but I already feel like I’m behind!

    Reply

  8. Jessica says

    I LOVE IT!!! SO FUN!

    I’m curious, and I am sure you have answered this before, but why not put the tree in the living room against the fireplace? We love to look at our tree while we are watching Christmas movies. Seems sad to not be able to relax next to it.

    But, again, it looks great!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We had it in the living room the first Christmas we were here but we hated that it was the back of the house so you couldn’t see it outside! Putting it on that wall means you see it from the office, the kitchen, the dining room, and even the hallway to Clara’s nursery and our bedroom, so we see it lots. Can’t see it from the couch though, which I agree is awesome! Maybe we’ll alternate where we put it back and forth?!

      xo
      s

  11. Janelle says

    I really like the shaded ombre thing. Your tree has got style! Haha. I posted a sneak peek of my plans for our decorating our tiny apt on my blog. Feel free to go check it out! It involves teal, gold, natural wood touches & lots of glitter. Doing it on the cheap this year!

    Reply

  12. audra says

    Yay for Christmas Trees! We put ours up last Monday. I decided that I didn’t like my old tree skirt so I made a new one over the weekend. Totally “Pinterested” one with canvas drop cloths and a hot glue gun. It looks amazing! It was so good seeing you yesterday at the book signing. You guys are so sweet. Peres was bragging all night that she got to meet you (again).

    Reply

  13. Tracie@MiddleClassMod says

    Clara killed me with her “this is cool, but I just woke up from my nap…oh, wait? CANDY CANES!” demeanor. Heh.

    I love how calm the tree putting up is at your house. I somehow always manage to forget how it goes together. #shouldaboughtasimplertree

    Reply

  15. candace says

    I love your gradient tree, you got me in the Christmas spirit! We are moving Dec. 20th and so we decided we shouldn’t even bother setting ours up this year, since it’ll be so much work to take it down. But, this post convinced me otherwise! I’m doing it because I love seeing the tree all aglow. It was fun to take a look back on all of other creative trees – so inspiring! Also, I never commented (I meant to!) but I’ve been adoring John’s basement organization posts – the pegboard and Instagram pics are so awesome. Cleaning/organizing/pretty-ing up a space gets me giddy!

    Reply

  16. Cara says

    Got my tree up this weekend. I didn’t put anything around the bottom since my baby is one but suprisingly she has not paid attention to it at all. All the ornaments are shatterproof anyway though. I also decorated one tree outside with huge ornaments and garland. I still need to get the stockings hung and the outdoor wreaths up.

    Reply

  18. Trisha D. says

    What a lovely tree! We’re looking to buy a real one (chopped down one, sad face as I’m killing a plant) this year as our fake ones are a bit too big. Here’s to hoping we finish our closet/storage in time to make room for the tree.

    I was reading that real Christmas trees shouldn’t be stored indoors for more than a week. Which leads to my question- how has your live tree fared? Did you plant it? Do you have it stored in the sunroom year round?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We just did a little tabletop one last year (real) and we loved it! We couldn’t find one with a root ball we could plant (they were all cut little ones) so it lasted a few weeks inside and then died and dropped all the needles and we took it out back to the compost/nature pile!

      xo
      s

  20. Crystal @ 29 Rue House says

    Well….since you asked :)…I semi-finished the advent calendar (still need to finish the list of advent activities) which I used the scarf hanger from ikea to do and I have a stick tree in the works for the wall, we have a faux mini tree up and eventually we’ll do a big tree (we’ll wait a little longer since our little one would love to pull it down) and some more random decorations.

    Besides Christmas, we’re also busy getting ready for Ruby’s 3rd birthday party this coming weekend making her a cabinet kitchen and DIYing the decorations!

    Reply

  21. Jeri says

    You have got to be kidding me – the ombre white down to red is exactly how I decorated my tree this year! I feel so cool right about now!

    Reply

  22. Kristie says

    OK. Did you intend to type “just for the satisfacation of crossing them off” or was it an oopsie? Because I gotta say, I’m totally feeling “satisfacation” as a word. It’s like satisfaction on steroids and I love it. As much as I love your ombre tree. Happy Hollydaze from NJ!

    Reply

  23. Maureen says

    Looks so nice! I am wondering though, do you think that once Clara starts bringing home ornaments from school that she makes that your tree will start to be less “themed”? My Christmas tree is FULL of sentimental ornaments that my husband and I made and that our son made, plus ornaments that belonged to my grandmother. I love taking these things out every year and decorating the tree with them just like I have since I was little! Also, we love snatching up ornaments from our vacations. Also, this year, I will be putting up a small “themed” one in my dining room. I love how different people are when it comes to decorating their trees, so I was just wondering!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh and we have a bunch of meaningful/special ornaments that we love the most, but we save those for our real mini tree (we got a tabletop one last year and loved it so much that it’ll be a tradition). We’ll post about that one as soon as we get it (don’t want it to die before Christmas, so maybe next week!).

      xo
      s

  24. Stefanie says

    This year’s theme is “handmade holiday!”

    Well, actually, we put up one 7 foot tree with all of our colorful store-bought ornaments first. Then we have a second 7 foot tree that’s going to be all handmade ornaments.

    I handmade an advent calendar out of muslin bags and branches, and I’m baking one handmade pie each week from Thanksgiving to Christmas, I’m making at least one gift per person, and I’m hosting a special “handmade” gift exchange party with a few friends. I’m thrilled.

    Oh, and I should mention that we have 8 Christmas trees this year, 3 miniatures outside, one each for our kids, one miniature tree, and two large trees.

    I just owned Christmas.

    Reply

  26. Jennifer says

    Very cute! We have an 11mo old so the tree is lightly decorated with non breakables on the bottom and since the 5 & 3yo decorated it’s a little heavy on some branches and one side while some sides and branches are completely bare! Oh well!
    I’ve been making ornaments. I can’t wait to share….but some will have to wait until after Christmas…they are gifts too! Whoop!

    Reply

  27. Britt F. says

    Major tree envy going on over here!! It’s so pretty! Do you just sit and look at it with pride (when you’re not touring the world at record speed, of course?!)? I would! Heck, I do that with mine, and it’s not nearly as cool as yours. #lovethingsthatsparkleandshine #whoneedstvwhenyouhaveachristmastree

    Reply

  28. LeCheech says

    So pretty! I live in a small place, so I’m just making a ‘light’ tree. I’m stringing lights in the shape of a tree onto my wall. LOL. I’m also making an advent calender, but I think you might benefit from what I’m doing:

    Do the 12 days of Christmas.

    That’ll give you time to do it and not feel ‘behind’, as well as give you more time to actually figure out what to put in there. Plus it’s more meaningful in my opinion. Instead of one every day of the month [where they come to -expect- it…] you’ve got 12, they’re more rare and coveted. Well… I think so anyway!

    Love, love, love this years tree btw. Well done!

    Reply

  29. Leslie [MsMagpieWrites] says

    Your tree looks cool but I could never do one like this – I’m too attached to our sentimental and handmade ornaments. We buy ornaments as souvenirs and to commemorate special occasions, so our tree is covered with hundreds of different things.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh yes we have those too and we use them for our mini real tree! We’ll post about that one as soon as we get it (don’t want it to die before Christmas, so maybe next week!).

      xo
      s

  32. Wendy - Old Town Home says

    Love the gradient idea — really clever! We went all out this year decorating for the holidays since we were lucky enough to be one of the homes featured in our town’s “Christmas Tour of Homes” this past Saturday. (Sorry you couldn’t make it!) It was a ton of work, but now we can sit back and enjoy the decorations for the rest of the month. :-) http://www.oldtownhome.com/2012/12/3/Its-Christmastime-in-the-City-Designer-Home-Tour-Behind-the-Scenes/index.aspx

    Reply

  34. Kathryn says

    I like the creative idea! And the only thing that counts is that it’s what you wanted in your home at this fun time of the year and that it brings you joy (certainly seems magical to Clara!). But I have to say, I’ve just never felt that my Christmas tree is ‘decor’.

    The ornaments are dated and scruffy, the sizes and colours don’t jibe, there might a couple of new homemade ornaments per season. But when I unpack them, those ornaments that’ve stayed with me for over thirty years now, that I can see in perfect detail with my eyes shut in the middle of July, that have stayed with me thorough moves, relationships, departures of dear family; they greet me like old friends, a cherished memory in each and every one. When it comes to Christmas tree, I’m more Charlie Brown than House Beautiful. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh I totally know what you mean! We have a bunch of meaningful/special ornaments that we love the most, but we save those for our real mini tree (we got a tabletop one last year and loved it so much that it’ll be a tradition). We’ll post about that one as soon as we get it (we don’t want it to die before Christmas, so maybe next week!).

      xo
      s

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Love all of your festive trees! So much fun! As for how we store it, we’ll have to do a post. We have tupperware bins that are green (halloween is clear, christmas stuff is green) and we basically group stuff together (ornaments in two of them, lights for outside in one of them, etc). We’ll have to share pics after the season’s over!

      xo
      s

  37. amy says

    Two things:
    1. I walked into a bar in DC Saturday night and there was a girl reading your book at the bar. So I made a new friend!

    b. Did you see that used/like new copies of your book are selling for $900 on Amazon? Crazy!

    4. It was wonderful meeting you guys at the FLOR event!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Um, that is crazy! $900? Are they really selling? Methinks they’re not. Hahah! And as for the girl at the bar- amazing! I LOVE IT! And it was amazing to meet you at Flor Amy! So much fun!

      xo
      s

  40. Erin {Home Everyday} says

    This is by far the cleverest (is that a word?) idea for a Christmas tree. I also love how you guys use what you have on hand without having to buy a whole slew of new ornaments every single year. Nice work! I am so proud of myself and had to share. I was actually on the ball this year, and we started our Advent calendar on Dec 1 this year (25 Christmas books to read every night, wrapped and under the tree, they are from when I was a kid, when Brian was a kid, my nieces and nephews and a few from last year’s after Christmas sales thrown in Cheapest idea ever!)

    Reply

  42. Jennifer I. says

    Every year I love your tree, but this year it takes the cake! Love the ombre and you one up yourself every year. What will you think of next year?! Color me impressed (no pun intended).

    Reply

  44. Christine says

    Yay for local businesses like Mongrel! I confess when I first saw the store name, I thought it was a pet store. Me = Duh.

    Reply

  45. cassie {hi sugarplum} says

    Love it! The ombre effect is so fun, and I’m crazy for those bright red and hot pink! We’re going with jewel tones this year…any excuse to make new ornaments. I make an Advent Calendar every year, and this year’s is my fave and simplest yet…you could pull it off in a nano second
    http://hisugarplum.blogspot.com/2012/11/christmas-advent-calendar.html

    It may have been 83 degrees in Big D this weekend, but cranked up the air and pretended we were up North.

    Reply

  47. Kate says

    Wow, I’m a lurker, not a regular commenter… but I have to chime in to say that I LOVE this tree. It’s so pretty!!!

    Reply

  48. Nora Rose says

    We had grand hopes for our tree this year, but the cats are climbing it like no other so no ornaments for us this year. Hopefully they can learn to ignore it by the end of December…

    Reply

  49. Wendy says

    Thanks for sharing the evolution of your trees. While we didn’t decorate yet (first priority is welcoming our little girl in today or tomorrow), we did get our shopping groove on at the thrift store and found some great stuff for 50 cents a piece for future projects!

    We also went for a hike and trial run yesterday. When it’s mid 50s in December, what else is there to do? Especially when the trail heads are under 10 min away!

    Barren but beautiful Utah photos here- http://wasatchwendy.blogspot.com/2012/12/41-week-hikerun.html

    Oh, and since our place is smaller this year, we’re thinking of doing a Christmas Drawer- in the daybed. It’ll eliminate the need for presents on a counter and make for safer walking with a newborn.

    Reply

  50. Anne @ Planting Sequoias says

    Wow, I LOVE the gradient! I was at the mall this weekend and they had one tree decorated similarly (but in a rainbow of colors) and it was stunning…almost as nice as yours!

    At this point (our first Christmas as Mr. and Mrs.!), new ornaments are not in the budget, so we’re using a ton of old and sentimental ones that don’t really match or fit with a theme but we love anyway. :)

    Reply

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