This decoration may become one of my favorites that we’ve ever done! It definitely is going to be one that we will do year after year. I had originally come up with it to go over our dining room table, but Matthew took that idea and made it even better.
Did you see last week’s weekly design video where we talk about how we installed our Christmas bough over the table? Well, if not the most thing to know is that it failed. Well, maybe not failed but it only lasted two days and then started to drop the needles big time.
We realized we had to rethink and redesign that installation. But we had a brilliant idea to try that kind of Christmas bough again somewhere else in our house. Bring in Matthew’s idea of putting it above our downstairs tub!
How magical is that? Well, I loved it and was determined to not have the same experience as what happened in the dining room occur in the bathroom. So, I did a bunch of research and we came up with a better way than what we did the first go around.
What to know what I learned? Here you go – I put all my tips into this blog post. Which, to be honest is just one important tip.
- Forage a well-proportioned bough
When you are out looking for the perfect branch make sure you find a full one, with side branches that are evenly down the main branch. Also think about how it will fall over whatever you’ve decided to install it above. For the bathroom installation we went with a smaller and wider branch with branches heavily on the top so that you had the canopy mostly over your head when bathing.
- Soak it in the tub
Okay, so I forgot to take a picture when I did this, but this is the key thing that we did not do for the first installation over the dining room table. Although we have a small bathtub the branch fit in perfectly. I soaked the branches for about a day and then I had the main branch sit in the water soaking up as much water as it could overnight. This also allows the branches to dry from their own soaking. I then drained the water and let it sit for a couple hours before starting the install.
- Hold up to measure and cut off excess
Alright, now it is time to hold up the branch and see how it will fall into place after the install. If you have someone else around have them check it out from far away and let you know what needs to be tweaked. Take the branch back down and cut off the pieces that need to be taken off and make sure all the dead is taken off as well.
- Use twine or metal wire to install
For the dining room installation, we used wire and cup hooks to secure it above the dining room table because we were hanging the branch from a beam. For the bathtub installation all I had to use was twine and the already positioned shower curtain hardware. All I did was wrap the twine around the end of the branch and strung it up in the predetermined place. Then I held the other end of the
- Fluff to perfect
Once it is installed now you get to fluff it a bit – make sure all the branches are hanging where you want them. Add any lights or decorations to hang down from the branches to add some more Christmas cheer! We will be adding battery powered lights to our bathtub bough and maybe some hanging snowflakes if the craft bug bites me.
I am so happy with how this one turned out! What do you think?
Will you try to do your own Christmas bough? If you do, let us know in the comments – we’d love to hear from you!
XX
