Not an expert by any means...but my answer is LOTS!!! double 9 ft strands....the circumference and the height..
Is it a fresh tree, or do you know the measurements already?? If so you could use plain string to get a good idea, and then double it...
Old algebra, I take it you are a Math person...care to guess..allowing for the drape..?????

Dream, I hope you bought the beads last yr AFTER Christmas when they were on sale!! :)

Kathleen, unfortunately no I didn't get the garland last year. I was looking for clear irridescent garland and everything I found was in colors. I've found some online that I was thinking of ordering if it won't break my budget to get it. LOL

It's an artificial tree and I believe the diameter at the bottom of the tree is about 5' across and it's 7' tall.

Dreamgoddess -good question! That's my favorite Christmas tree in the album. Been considering doing this myself.

Did you decide to leave your pretty LR alone?! :)

Hmm, I am just guessing based on very loose math using bottom radius you gave and from the looks of the picture the beads drape at least 10-15 inches, hard to tell since it is a picture There are 3 draping sets, 2 are beads and 1 set looks to be tiny tinsel garland, but you only asked about the ball ones so I am only taking that into account this time:

1 layer of strand ball style at 9ft each: buy 9
2nd layer of stand ball style at 9ft each: buy 9
TOTAL: 18 Stands of 9 ft garland for the whole tree.

Now it may be more than you need, but I prefer more than coming up short. Plus if there are left overs you can use them in wreaths, garlands, and cake plate fillers that way you will have "flow" in your Christmas arrangements.

sheesharee, I love that tree also. I think the draped garland just adds the finishing touch.

With my living room, I'm going to try washing the walls before I do anything. Someone on the thread suggested that I try cleaning them with TSP before I start nagging my husband to repaint. I did get some suggestions that I'm going to try in the meantime...just haven't had a chance yet this week.

Judith, thank you for figuring out how much garland I would need. I was totally clueless! I found a seller that has the garland for $2.08/strand, but I'm going to see if I can google some cheaper than this.

Glad to help, I love that bead garland, I must have about 30 ropes of it, because it can be used in so many places. I know our Dollar Stores (in my area) carry the beaded ropes for a buck. I have seen the gold, silver, oppulesent, and pearl in our stores, but you have to buy quickly here because it goes quick. Garden Ridge has loads of syles and colors too, but not as cheap as the Dollar stores.

Dream,
I bought a long rope of pearl garland at Ikea a couple of years ago - I dont remember how big it was but it was $1.

Mo

I can never get enough of the beaded garland - I get it in both the peal bead style and the wooden country bead style whenever I can on clearance. They can be used in so many ways all years round. I don't pack them away with my Christmas stuff - I keep them readily available.

I love that tree with the multiple stands draped the way it is but have no clue how to judge amounts needed tho - thats why I tend to overbuy on that stuff.....

Lynne

I found an online store that has the iridescent beaded garland for $6.99 for a...(get this!) 36' strand!!! I think that's a fantastic price for that much garland.

By the way Judith, I didn't even notice the middle strand of tinsel until you mentioned it. I was just seeing the beaded garland, but after you said something about the tinsel, it's just so obvious that there are three layers to the drapes.

LOL, dreamgoddess, that's just one of the things that I will stress learning, in our little class.....really learning to see, most likely you saw it subconsciously,but it did not register, then when one would decorate with just the 2 sets of beads they would often shake their heads saying, something is missing.... LOL Been there and done that!

I rescanned the image - hope it's better and I blew it up for more detail.

Jim

Here's the description:

A balsam fir wears a variety of decorations, linked by a metallic color scheme,
Glass globes pair w/gilded faux leaves, silky upholstery tassels, and lametta tinsel stars.
Tufts of coppery and bronze angel hair and minature chartrause lights add a warm glow.
Swaggered double strings of faux pearls, interspersed w/garlands of lametta tinsel, provide an uncomventional finishing touch.

A

Judith, I definitely need to learn to "see". I would have sworn there was just the two strands of pearls.

Jim, thank you for the larger photo! That really helps alot.

One question...anyone know what "lametta" tinsel is or where to find it?

Here's a source:

Lametta Tinsel at Blumchen

BTW - Blumchen is a wonderful site to browsw.

Jim

You have to figure circumference not radius.
radius is from the center to the edge of the circle, in this case branch, LOL.
ANS. Buy a lot, save the slip and bring back what you don't need. :)

After looking at the pic again I probably won't be able to drape like that. I can see my furbabies having it on the floor. Gotta love em!

Just love this tree..it is Amazing to look at. I love the double strands..which is a really different look. This picture definitely inspires me to try that this year. I've been using strands of faux pearls for years now. I just love the look. My trees (fresh) were usually around 10'..now I have a 9' that I had purchased a couple of years ago from Michael's. I'm not sure how many strands I use. I think at first I bought 2 - 9' strands..which wasn't nearly enough, and so I did buy more.- Don't remember how many. I've managed to connect them together to have a continuous draping look. I have to laugh b/c when my DSIL first saw my tree with them, he joked and said it looked like a 'Mardi Gras' tree...It didn't stop me though...I love it. I'll have to see if I've got good pics of it to post.
TFS
jane

I found the iridescent garland at Hobby Lobby this weekend. They had two sizes of the garland - 8mm x 66' and 12mm x 33'. I bought two containers of each but may go back and get some more.

Good, Dream,.
Be sure to measure how much you used so we know the right answer! LOL
Don't forget to post a pic when you do it..

Saw some of that silver tinsel garland at wal mart over the weekend. Bought two containers of 25' each. Is this enough to achieve the middle layer?

Sheesharee, how tall is your tree? My tree is probably going up the first or second weekend in November. I know that's a little early, but from mid-November to the end of the month, I'll be decorating my mother's home as well as my aunt's. I'll let you know how much garland I use on my 7ft tree.

I went back to HL yesterday and bought several more containers of garland. I'm using the clear iridescent garland on my tree. I love the pearl in the photo, but I haven't even seen any of it yet in the stores. Plus, I think the iridescent will look better on my tree since I have lots of crystal on it.

Dreamgoddess - Mine is 7'5" not sure why I had to buy that huge of a tree. Bought my furniture too big, entertainment stand too big, why not the Christmas tree too! :)

You're using iridescent garland on your tree? Are you going to use pearl beads? I'm still debating on whether I want to use pearl or silver beads. I didn't care of the other tinsel garland I saw.

Got out all my decorations a little bit ago and had them scattered all over the floor taking pics. I really need to find some nice looking blue ornaments if I'm going with silver/white/blue theme. I currently only have 6 crackle glass blue ornys. My tree skirt is also a blue velvet.

I bought some thick silver and white garland at the end of last year and was going to use that on the tree but think I'm going to at least attempt to do the draping like above. If it looks that bad we might go with the big garland!

Getting back on track, that would be great if you could let me know how much you used. I'll be putting mine up the day after Thanksgiving at the latest. I'm just so excited.

Dreamgoddess - Did you get your tree up yet or are you doing it next week?

I've started decorating, but haven't made it to the tree just yet. I'm hoping to be able to have it up and at least get the lights and garland on by Friday night. That will give me all weekend to work on decorating it. Are you still going to put the garland on too?

Oooo.. exciting! I'd like to drape the garland. I can't find white pearls anywhere in the stores. I found some on ebay I'm going to bid on.

I'll probably have to putting my main tree up twice this year. Sometime in Dec. we're having someone come and fix the carpet throughout our house. Had lots of problems with the install and it looks like crap. Finally got tired of fighting about it (with the builder) and are paying to have it fixed ourselves. Anyhow.. I'm going to have to move that big tree and I don't know how I'm going to do that without taking everything off. Ah well..

Make sure you take lots of pics! Seeing the tree in stages will be fun too.

Sheesharee, when I had carpeting, I laid a thick piece of flattend cardboard box under the tree "legs"/stand, so if I had to pull it way to get to the decorations, I just kneeled on the bottom of the floor and took the edges of the card board and pulled/glided it over the carpet in the direction I needed. It worked perfectly. Just cover up the cardboard with your tree skirt and/or lots of material, I use yards and yards of gold lame material bunched up to hide it. So maybe you can "glide"it to another part of the house from where the repairs are happening...