DIY Corner Christmas tree
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Yes, you can have a slimmer option with your Christmas tree by not installing all the branches. I call this a corner Christmas tree, but in reality, it is more of a “half tree.” Keep reading; I think it will make more sense when you see why a full-sized tree won’t fit in my home.
I got a new couch and a loveseat! My former set was almost 13 years old and only seated three people. That made things a little uncomfortable when Jamie, Andy, and Lucy visited for Thanksgiving. Now I have room for visitors to have a seat!
This is the side of the living room where I’ve only had a chair for years. The Christmas tree always goes in this corner. Over the weekend, when I was putting up the tree, I knew it would never fit with the new loveseat. Enter plan “b”.
Related Content: Tips for Decorating Your Christmas Tree
Remove Lights From Pre-lit Christmas Tree
This is my tree in 2010. Pre-lit trees are lovely until one strand of lights goes out…
After Christmas, I spent a whole day removing all of the lights. It’s a really nice tree, and it’s still in great shape!
This picture was taken after I removed the pre-lit lights. You can see that a loveseat would not fit in this area with that tree. You can also see what my old furniture looked like. I used some multi-colored LED lights on the tree that year.
How to Make a Corner Christmas Tree for a Tight Space
So, now I have a much smaller space for my tree. I delivered a corner tree to my military family at Ft. Knox, which gave me an idea. Now that I don’t have the pre-lit strands running around my tree, why not leave off the branches in the back? I hauled the TWO BIG boxes that contain my Christmas tree up from the basement, then proceeded to put the tree up, but I didn’t use any branches in the back. I made my own CORNER tree!
The best way to store your new tree
After I set it up, I put all the unused branches into one box. When I take this corner tree down, I’ll put all of these branches in the empty box. Next year, I will only have to haul one box up from the basement. This is the first Christmas in years that I have not decorated my tree with a bazillion sentimental ornaments. They are in many plastic storage totes. I drag them upstairs and sort through them to see which ornaments make the cut. Because of my shoulder injury, I took the easy way out this year.
The clear lights are from an after-Christmas clearance deal from a couple of years ago.
This is how the living room looked the night before I got my new furniture. The old furniture had been removed. There are some thin spots that I may fill in with some of the unused branches next year.
Had I not delivered the corner Christmas tree to the Lake family at Ft. Knox, I never would have thought of this. For years, I have left off the bottom row of branches to allow for the huge stack of presents, but I really love the extra space I have by removing the branches in the back. Have you ever heard of a corner tree? Have you ever reconfigured your Christmas tree to fit your space?
Turn Your Artificial Christmas Tree Into a Corner Tree!
Let’s take one more quick look at how it looks now. It makes me smile!
EDITED TO ADD:
I made a DIY Christmas Stand Box for my tree!!!
gail
The corner Christmas tree idea is one of the most exciting and useful articles I’ve seen in a long time! Thank you! Debra
Debra,
Your comment made my day! Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to leave a kind comment!
gail
I love it, but how do you keep it from falling over? Is the back of it hooked to something? Is there a base for the center pole?
Pat,
The stand still fully supports the corner tree (half tree). It may help that it rests all the way in the corner of the room.
I highly recommend trying this, what do you have to lose?
gail
That is such a smart solution, Gail. I never thought about removing the back branches, very clever. I have a really short fat tree and I put it on top of an old set of speakers that no longer work. This way it looks taller and it fits in the corner next to the soft. Next year I may remove some branches too.
Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy and Healthy New Year!
Every year I say I’m going to buy one of those skinny trees, but I haven’t yet–so I still use the DIY corner tree. I put it in a different corrner this year and it seriously makes me so happy that I don’t have go give up half of my living room to a Christmas tree.
I hope you had a very Merry Christmas, and wishing you all the best for 2017 Mary!
gail
I’ve reconfigured a tree to be an inverted corner tree! I wanted to put up our tree just inside an entryway, with branches wrapping around the door frame. So I took a quarter of the branches out, and it fit snugly ONto (as opposed to INto the “corner”. Basically, instead of a 360* tree, we have a 270* tree! haha!
how fun Jolene! 🙂 thanks for sharing that with us.
Merry Christmas!
gail
Beautiful! Thanks for the creative idea! ????????
I’ll be doing the same thing this year. My living room is too tiny! 🙂
Thank you! I love having my rocking chair where my tree usually goes. By taking off the back limbs I am able to have my beautiful tree set up in the dining room where it is visible from the entry and kitchen and dining room.
I actually look forward to putting up my tree this year! 🙂 I use to dread it because of all of the furniture rearranging. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment!
gail
Well, now. I thought you meant you bought a special tree for this. But no…you just used the one you have MINUS some back branches! It doesn’t topple?
I find this amazing. Nope. never heard of a corner tree before reading your two post on them. I have reconfigured a tree…to cover the fact that some branches were missing. Why? …uh, because I got it off the curb, the day after Christmas. Some one threw it in the trash, decorations and all! Yes.They.Did. (all but a few branches) 🙂
My daughter uses that tree now… and you just can’t tell it’s missing any limbs.
Love your new furniture and your beautiful tree! Looks, wonderful and homey for Christmas!
Patricia
I’m a huge fan of clear lights, so I really like the 2012 tree. Your new furniture is looking great too! We have a corner sofa now, but I might opt for two single sofas next time again.
Love the furniture and your tree is so nicely decorated. I like the one color, I have it on my tree too. Merry Christmas.
Wow! Such a great idea, you would never know there are no branches in the back! The tree looks beautiful, and I love the new couch! Great job!
Such a great idea Gail. Your tree looks beautiful and I LOVE your new loveseat : )
~ Deanna
Gail, love the new look. Love your new furniture also. What a great save with the lights and the amputation.
I am running on the KISS theory this year also. I am enjoying the season for a change and not stressing about work it involves. Being a Granny does that to you…lol.
Take care my friend…
Hugs,
Deb
Clever, clever girl! You are a great problem solver! Love your tree and what a pretty classic sofa! And oh those pillows – awesome!
Hey Gail .. Your tree is beautiful! I left all the back branches off one year and slid the tree against the wall and noone was the wiser unless they really looked closely.
Looks lovely. I used to do that every year because I live in a small condo with limited space for both people and tree! Last year I broke down and bought a table top tree and donated the big one.
Brilliant, Gail!! I love that you made the space work for you. The tree looks gorgeous! And I love the new love seat, and I’m dying a little over those adorable pillows!! 🙂
Really nice, Gail! Great idea too. This year I put my tree out on my front porch in a corner and also left off some of the branches at the back. Works good, saves some space on my small porch.
Pretty tree and I love the fabric on that love seat!!! Smile away!! xox
the tree looks great and i love the loveseat and your pillows! 🙂
Love the new furniture and your tree is wonderful. I hadn’t heard of a corner tree before but I have left off branches to make things fit. My current tree has the branches all attached, so I can leave any off, but I have left them standing up instead of folding them up and then shoved the whole thing into the corner thus reducing how far it sticks out.
So glad you made things work and didn’t drag everything upstairs with your bad shoulder.
Have a great day!
Holly
This is such a good idea. I loved the slim-line trees that were in Ikea, but I couldn’t justify a new tree at the time. I bent all the branches in to make a narrow tree. Not only was it slim, but much fuller! I finally retired the tree last year after 19 years. Seems we can always find room for a Christmas tree! Cheers.
Your tree is fabulous!!! How clever of you!!! Love your new love seat…it is so very pretty!!! Having to choose which ornaments to ‘cut’ from the tree would be very hard to do…congrats on getting that job done. lol
Your tree is very versatile since you can remove some of the branches. It looks lovely especially by your beautiful new sofa. One of my trees that I’ve had for a number of years is what’s called a half tree. It is made to put against a wall and only has one side. We have more space now for a larger tree but I love the half tree and don’t want to part with it.
It looks great Gail, sometimes you have to tweak and adjust until everything is just right – and you made it all work!
Your tree is beautiful Gail and so is your couch! 🙂
Susan
This is such a clever idea, Gail–I love how you made the tree work in your living space, and you’ve decorated it so beautifully. I kind of did a similar thing this year too, and made up a “tree” from scratch to fit on top of our new living room bookcase–in a very small space. Your loveseat is lovely, and your home looks very festive for Christmas!