Thursday, October 7, 2010

The Evolution of a Ballard Inspired Ornament Tree

So this was my inspiration.
The beautiful Ballard Ornament Tree. I know, we are still in Halloween mode, but I figured it was about that time to get started on Winter Holidays.
It is available in two sizes. 41" x26" for $199 and 62" x 36" for $349.
This where I started. Please ignore the dowels. After quite a few attempts, I decided they just were not going to work for what I was trying to achieve.
What you see are 4 crimped ductboard collars (the 5th one is not in the picture) purchased at Lowes. The are sized at 4", 6", 8", 10" and 12". The five of them cost just over $30.
After failing with the dowels, I remembered I had this medal garden piece and realized it was perfect!
I literally just slid them over the top in graduated sizes and then the tension in the garden piece held them in place. If you didn't already have something like this, you could also try using a tomato plant stake. There are several varieties that would probably work well for this.
I then spray painted the garden piece and each of the collars black to replicate the Ballard piece. The finished size of my piece is about 46" x 14". I also folded down every other of the collar tab pieces to give a little more design and to hang ornaments on them.
I had been planning to do a kitchen tree this year. At Brimfield in May, I purchased a variety of smaller sized kitchen utensils to use as ornaments. I decided to try these out on my newly made tree.
After much consideration, I decided I was not sure how I felt about the black, so I decided to paint it white (of course, this was at 10:00 at night!). So here it is in white...
I also wanted to try in with some of my vintage ornaments, so I moved it into the living room and hung vintage ornaments on some pieces of white tulle ribbon.
A valuable lesson was learned. The 99 cents clearance spray paint at Michael's is not worth even 9 cents. So I am going to have to do another coat of paint. So, I need your help..
Black or white? Kitchen tree or vintage ornaments? What do you guys think?
I am posting this at the CSI Project, so go check out all the other Ballard inspired projects.

Visit thecsiproject.com

and here...

and here..

11 comments:

Morgane @ Bear,Dolly and Moi said...

I like your ornament tree, it is a neat idea. I prefer it in the kitchen with the forks...and instead of blak or white, how about brown, like oil rubbed bronze?

Unknown said...

White with vintage ornaments is my vote! You're so creative ;)

Unknown said...

I really love it! I THINK I prefer white, although I like the black too. But for Christmas I would probably go with white. And I like vintage ornaments but I would use ribbon not tulle. You could add a little color with some really cute ribbon! Good job!

Finding Home said...

Hey Ladies, I am working on getting bigger pictures on this posting, but I am running into some technical problems with blogger today. So, once I take my daughter to the doctor, cook dinner and clean up some of the disaster I left in the wake of this project, I will adjust the pictures!

(cullenkidsmum) said...

You took on a hard project and I love how you thought out of the box! Great job, I like it black or white! GREAT JOB!

Room to Inspire said...

What a fabulous Ballard inspired project! I have the same garden piece - now I know what to do with it! I really like the black!

Chelsea

VIRG @ WASTE NOT WANT KNOT said...

Great Idea! The only time I've seen these trees are at weddings, but a christmas ornament themed one is perfect.!

PeggMacko said...

Wow, do you have room in your kitchen for a tree? Then I like the black with utensils.

The white is really pretty with the vintage and colorful balls. I vote for both (make another one!).

jzemanek1 said...

GOOD EVENING;
I'VE BEEN READING ABOUT YOUR ADVENTURES AND I FOUND YOUR "TREE'
QUESTION;
FOR THE BLACK TREE: DO YOU PLAN ON LEAVING IT IN THE KITCHEN FOR A WHILE PAST THE HOLIDAYS.
FOR THE WHITE TREE; YOU CAN ONLY USE THE WHITE FOR CHRISTMAS.. SO I THINK IT DEPENDS ON HOW LONG YOU WANT TO DECORATE WITH IT.. BOTH LOOK GREAT, BUT I DO LIKE THE BLACK ONE THE BEST...
THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR GREAT IDEAS.
JEANNE FROM TEXAS

Finding Home said...

Jeanne,

I am not sure what I am going to do with it, maybe I will go red or blue, I will have to see how the mood strikes me!

Thanks for visiting my blog and commenting!

Anonymous said...

How about Red or a bright shade of green would be nice. Its a great idea in the kichen with your utensils. They dont show up great on the black tree though. The white tree with the ornaments is very classy too!!!