Good (and timely) question. We have an artificial tree because we have forced-air heat and it dries everything out way too quickly. When we purchased it, it was a 6 footer. We used to struggle with where to fit it and last year, I decided that I would remove the bottom third of it since it came in 3 sections. We now have a tree that is about 5' in height and it works great. So this year we're doing the same thing. We put ours next to the TV armoire in our living room. There's about five feet between the armoire and the entrance to the kitchen.

When DH and I furnished our dining room last year, we realized that we no longer had room for a Christmas Tree. Now we just drape garlands over the entertainment center (we don't have a fireplace),put up a manger scene behind the glass in the same entertainment center, and decorate in other ways. Perhaps this year we'll hang some of our many ornaments from the garlands!

When we moved to this smaller house I realized I couldn't use a standard tree or fake tree because I didn't have a space wide enough. So I purchased a tall skinny tree. We put it in the corner of the DR but this year the DR is full of office stuff until the office gets done so I'm not sure where I'm going to put it.

Have you seen the sheer lace curtain panels with a lace Christmas Tree on them that light up?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120054575420&ssPageName=MERCOSI_VI_ROSI_PR4_PCN_BIX_Stores&refitem=120053891298&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&refwidgettype=osi_widget

Those curtains certainly are a space-saver. LOL! I never would have thought anything like that existed.

We have a tiny tree on the mantel--it's both a space saver and (we think) cat proof! What I love about it is that I really SEE each and every ornament, which is nice, because they are all vintage or vintage reproduction.

I've seen half trees that you can put up against a wall. They are a good option. Other than that, you would have to replace a piece of furniture, either a table or a chair or something, and put the furniture elsewhere for the season.

I shuffle furniture around and stuff gets really crammed together, but I really want a tree up over the holidays. Unfortunately, DH insisted on buying a HUGE tree that looks ridiculous in our small living room, but I figure it's for two weeks, I can tolerate it.

A friend of mine who had no room for a tree put up a large quilted wallhanging with a tree applique on it. I am not sure if she put up lights, but you could attach lights to the quilt, as if they were on the tree. You could even pin some small ornaments on the tree.

We have a small artificial "alpine" tree. The footprint is only about 2 s.f. and I have it in the corner of our living room. It stands 6' high. I bought it for 40% off at Hobby Lobby. At first DH didn't really care for it. I think it's grown on him now, but he still says it's my Charlie Brown tree. ;)

I'm including a link to one that's *like* mine, so you can get an idea of what it looks like

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

I *love* that alpine tree. Adorable. I bought a tree at Target a few years ago at major reduction (maybe 75% off?). I realize now it's a bit too wide but we're still using it. We have to do some re-arranging.

However, I'd like to move to a tiny mantel tree or something like the alpine. Couple that with other decorations and it still feels like Xmas as cecilia indicated, too.

I did a quick google for alpine xmas trees and came up with a lot of other options. (I'd probably never pay this much, but you can see one of the links below.)

http://www.christmastreesgalore.com/christmas-trees/clear-lights/products.cfm?action=view&key=STF009

okieladybug,

I have that too, actually last year I used 3 in different sizes, grouped together. One can fit quite well into a corner....and as your DH says, it does look CB. My thinking is if you can't get real or an expensive fake...might as well go off the grid and do something different.

Really different would be hanging one upside down. They were still showing this last year. Not sure if I'd go that far, but they did look great decorated and definitely saves space.

Curious me...had to google "upside down tree". They are all over the place, so must be a good sell and tells us people are using them.

Link below is sold out, but shows one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Upside down

After moving furniture out of the livingroom every year to make room for a tree I finally gave up last year and got a fiber optic tabletop tree that I put on a small curio cabinet by the front door. I still use my favorite tree skirt that I drape over the curio. It works out nice for us since our youngest two kids are both in high school and aren't into the "christmas magic" like when they were young. The fiber optic tree is nice since you don't have to mess with lights and we don't even bother with ornaments anymore either.

This is a good question. We live in a cottage with less than 700 sq.ft. We've had larger trees before, when we had less stuff, but as we've added pieces of furniture and more bookcases, we've run out of space. For the past few years, I've used a small tree set up on a table but I've missed a larger tree. A couple of years ago, someone threw out a perfectly good artificial tree 6' tall still together. Of course I grabbed it, took it apart and put it away. Then hurricane Wilma happened and a pine tree came down in out storage shed, and things were a mess in there for awhile until we did repairs, so last year, we used the small tree again. This year DH suggested using the larger tree, but leave off some of the back branches and put it up against a section of wall that is between two arches. We put some small steel weights in the stand to hold it upright and it looks great so far. I just put it together this morning, and had to leave for work, so tonight will be the fun part of stringing lights and decorating it. We also hang ornaments along the ceiling on the 1x2 wood that's along the ceiling. Tiny nails are about 4" apart and the ornaments look great up there. We've done this for probably 20 years at least. I'll post some pictures after I'm done decorating. Living in small spaces, we have to figure out ways to do things differently.

I thought it was interesting that they now sell half trees to put up against walls. We had not seen this or heard of it. It's a great idea, and I'm glad DH got the idea to do this with our tree.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all.

FlowerLady

When I first met my ex, he had a "wall tree". I had never heard of the concept nor seen one before and thought he was joking when he opened a coffee table/trunk and said he had a Christmas tree in there. As he pulled it out like a rabbitt out of a hat, I couldn't stop laughing. It looked pretty good decorated, though and his house was really tiny, so he had no choice but to be creative.
I saw a REALLY pretty table top tree in TJ Maxx a couple of weeks ago. It was the only one, so of course it disappeared quickly. I wish I'd grabbed it when I saw it.