Transformers $5 Tree in Disguise

Here is my $5.00 clearance tree all gussied up for a rustic, yet elegant French Nordic inspired Christmas! 

I really wish I had a before photo or even some during, but I was nearly done before the thought crossed my mind!

This was a very sparse, spindly tree, but was too big to fit in the corner I wanted it to--so first things first, I bent in the branches so it was flat on two sides--I could then fit it in the corner! After I did that I fluffed all the branches I bent forward--instantly filling in many of the empty space. After all of the fluffing, I added burlap ribbon from the floral supply section at the crafts store, then added the large silver mercury glass orbs around the tree.

 

Then I started adding dried hydrangea blossoms, a few faux hydrangea blossoms, and some faux ferns to further fill in and decorate the tree.  Once all of that was done, I cut up some flocked pine garland I had and tucked in pieces here and there, then wired faux mushrooms and glass pine cones to the tips of some branches and tucked some Spanish moss in here and there to make it look more natural.

For the base of the tree, I placed it inside a white cast iron urn placed atop a sturdy antique cheese box for height--that look proved too minimalistic for my taste, so I used a burlap tablecloth as a tree skirt to hide the cheese box! I also added more faux (yes, I promise they are faux, they even fool you in person...) ferns to soften the edge of the urn.

  

I decided not to put lights on the tree, as I wanted it to act as an over zealous floral arrangement versus a traditional Christmas Tree. This room gets lots of light in the day time, and with the mercury glass orbs, it reflects the light of the chandelier beautifully at night

I want to further emphasize that I didn't have to buy anything new this season to do this tree with one exception, I did buy the mercury glass orbs at a yard sale over the summer, but they were about a quarter each--I say about, because she was asking 2 for a dollar for them and I asked her what she'd take for ALL of them, and they ended up being less that a quarter each!

Here is one more view of the room--which is no longer complete, because I added a Wisteria Knock-Off wreath I made to the window--I will post on that this week-end or early next week!!!