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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Christmas Trees Around the World

The Christmas tree is recognized throughout the world even though Christmas is not celebrated by everybody. Although trees were first decorated in the seventh century, lit trees became a tradition in seventeenth century Germany when, in order to mimic twinkling stars at night, candles were pinned to the trees with pins or melted wax. While browsing the web I came across some pictures of Christmas trees lit up in different parts of the world. These pictures show us that the lit tree is the most recognized symbol of the season globally.
The Colosseum, Rome, Italy. via
Brazil. Image via

Germany. via

Russia. via

Christmas Trees Around the World
Christmas Tree and Christmas Pyramid, Dresden, Germany. via

Christmas Trees Around the World
Stockholm, Sweden. via

Christmas Trees Around the World
France. via

Christmas Trees Around the World
Sydney, Australia. Tree made of recyled bikes. via

Christmas Trees Around the World
Beijing, China. Fibre-optic tree. via

<b>United States</b><br>
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The national Christmas tree in Washington, D.C., was lighted on Dec. 4.
Washington D.C. across from the White House. via

Christmas Trees Around the World
New York. The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. via

Christmas Trees Around the World
Strasbourg, France. via

Christmas Trees Around the World
Prague, Czech Republic. via

Christmas Trees Around the World
Berlin, Germany. via

<b>Bulgaria</b><br>
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A Christmas tree in the town of Varna, east of the country's capital, Sofia.
Bulgaria. via

<b>Italy</b><br>
<br>
The Christmas tree at Piazza del Duomo in Milan.
Milan, Italy. via

<b>United States</b><br>
<br>
The California state Christmas tree in Sacramento.
Sacramento, California. via

CocaCola lights up the tallest Christmas tree- 3
Nigeria  via


Philippines via
<b>United States</b><br>
<br>
The city of Philadelphia's Christmas tree stands at City Hall.
Philadelphia. via

London, UK. via

Granted, some of these are not your traditional Christmas trees. It must be quite a feat, decorating one. Fortunately or unfortunately, I do not have that perfect tree outside. If I did, I would probably want to decorate it with strings of white lights. I have started to notice some of the beautifully lit trees while driving through neighborhoods. Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, people are on to decorating for the next big holiday season. And we do try to make a trip into NYC to marvel at the Rockefeller Center tree. Do you have a tree in your garden which you decorate for the holidays? I would love to hear about it.

If you require any help with Interior Decorating please click on the tab at the top of my page marked 'Services' or click here for further details.

I would love for you to leave a comment. Thank you for stopping by; please do check back often.
Lisa

Monday, November 21, 2011

Chandelier In Bloom - The Reveal - A Favorite Thing

I finally finished this fixture a few weeks ago.

The chandelier was in our dining room twelve years ago. It was moved to the kitchen eat-in area after construction until I found the right fixture for that space. Finally it was moved into "the blue room" which was my study and which recently became Emily's room once the girls decided they needed their own separate rooms.

It blended in but was not perfect. I knew I wanted a different light fixture in this room but did not want to buy just anything and there was no rush. Also, this had a low priority. But as Emily's room started to come together - one can read about the wall decal here - I started to look at the chandelier differently and decided I was not going to put it on Craig's list or ebay but instead transform it.

Shopping at Michaels for something else one day I came across these green petals in the wedding aisle as well as some pink-lilac ones.

I saw the frosted glass sconces as a base around which to create flowers so I removed them. Starting at the narrower end (lower portion) I proceeded to hot-glue the petals with a slight overlap. I did not measure. I glued on 3 layers, ensuring they overlapped and looked like a flower might and ended at the top.

I tested one in the room and liked the look of it.

Love how the color changes with the lights on..more pink.

At night, with the lights on.

I did the lot.

Then I proceeded to glue the green petals in the same way over the base layer so that they looked like leaves.


So far, so good...next I decided to continue with the "leaves" but in order to soften the look of the branches, make it look more natural, I used some wedding tulle to wrap around the fixture first. This would serve as the base on which I glued the other leaves. This was worked on every so often so here is a picture of a break in the project.

I covered the vertical metal piece and chain links with leaves (over the tulle).


Then came the dilemma with the flower bases...how to change the look..all the metal had to be covered/hidden.

Beautiful but still a work in progress.

I found this DecoArt Americana acrylic paint in Foliage Green at my local True Value.

After taping the petals and leaves with Scotch Blue painter's tape I started to paint the metal. I had to use baggie clips (really, these are so very useful) to keep the tulle away from the metal. During this time it was not easy to work around the circular parts and I got paint in my hair and on my clothes.


I found this pretty butterfly at Michaels and decided it would work with the theme of the room. So I clipped onto the fixture so that it was facing the door. 
In some spots the painter's tape did not cover the leaves properly so I got some of the green paint on them and so I decided to add some dimension and paint the outer base of the leaves a little.

The ceiling has some imperfections from when the last light fixture was removed. It was never repainted and I wanted to cover the circular marks left on the ceiling.

I "grew" the leaves upward and onto the ceiling.

Then came this other pretty floral trim (daisies) which I thought would lighten up the fixture in a different way, being white. This was bought at Joann's.


I decided to string it starting from the top.




And lastly, these Martha Stewart crafts floral stickers, again, from Joann's.



And some final pictures of the completed floral chandelier which ties in to the wall decal and the butterfly canvas art in the background.


 

From this..

..to this!

It is a favorite thing!
To recap the list of supplies: 
Scotch Blue tape,
Petals (pink and green),
Wedding tulle
Butterfly clip, 
DecoArt Americana acrylic paint,
Hot glue gun,
Martha Stewart crafts floral stickers.

So, what do you think? Do you like how it looks? It is one-of-a-kind. We love it!

I am linking this up to:

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If you require any help with Interior Decorating please click on the tab at the top of my page marked 'Services' or click here for further details.

I would love for you to leave a comment. Thank you for stopping by; please do check back often.
Lisa
Please Note: I have not been compensated in any way for this post. The views and opinions expressed in this post are solely mine and are based on my experience with the companies mentioned and on my purchase of products.