A Year of The Branch - How it all started back in 2017!

I can't believe it is already over a year ago now, that we cut down this large branch from a fir tree at the back of the garden. I remember it being extremely damp and very large, definitely in need of some TLC before we could hang it up. The under floor heating worked a treat to help with drying and the plan was that it would replace a Christmas tree in this room, as last years tree perished within days due to the underfloor heating. I wanted to elevate it above our dining room table in the conservatory and decorate it for the occasion. This area has a lot of empty ceiling space and two very handy metal beams that make it easy to hang items on. It was a bit of a gamble on how this was going to look, as the branch was big and quite unruly. So I was very pleasantly surprised when it fitted the space beautifully. We used strong twine string to hang it from the beams either side et voila! If you don't have the beams, you can easily create a similar look through using screw hooks in the ceiling. 

December 2017:  And here it is, last Christmas fully decorated, I went for a very soft pink and white theme with the decor using paper snow flakes and transparent glass baubles from Cox & Cox, mixed with a few gold stars. The plan was to take the whole thing down in January, but along with a lot of protests about this on the gram! I couldn't bring myself to do it. So off came the decor and we were left with a bare branch, that I decided to decorate throughout the year for seasonal occasions and celebrations.

First up Valentines day!  A mix of heart garlands, honey comb balls added to the pink baubles that I popped back on the branch from Christmas. ​I also entwined some faux ivy on and preserved rose heads, which have now become a permanent fixture.

Followed by a Peter Rabbit theme on my sons Birthday in March, it was a lot of fun putting this all together and finally having something back on the branch, which had been completely stripped back after Valentines!  

The carrots were taken out, but other than that I kept a lot of the decor used for my sons Birthday at Easter, just adding some pretty gold and light green/teal speckled  eggs made it perfect for the occasion. 

It was all a bit bare for a couple of months while the conservatory had a paint over. We changed the colour of the windows to a more dramatic dark grey/blue tone to create a critical style feel. The branch was then back in action for my husbands 40th Birthday, with fun gold fans from Ginger Ray, I also added round glass tea light holders, which along with the ivy have also stayed as they look so pretty lit up at night, especially for dinner parties. 

All the fun and colour was added for an amazing hot summers day on my daughter 5th Birthday!

Things got a bit more dramatic for Halloween with spiders and webs that I found in Tiger, mixed with fun black honeycomb ball garlands. The kids loved it. 

Ready for this years Christmas decor...  and this is what the branch looks like on a regular day now, the ivy has stayed put.

One year later and the branch is still here, boy did we make use of it!  It is adorned with more of a dramatic look this Christmas. Using larger baubles, darker colours and contrasting shapes and textures give it more depth. Which I felt was needed to work with our newly painted windows. I also hung all the decor at different levels to give a cascading effect over the table, this effect looks so pretty and sparkly especially when the tea lights are all lit up.

The question is do I keep it up another year... I think I will, as I couldn't imagine the space without it now. It would have to take a pretty special light feature to take on the branch!  Wishing everyone a wonderful New Year,  Happy 2019!

Four years on and this lucky branch has had an abundance of new looks! Here are a few from 2019/20, it has definitely become more dramatic and a prominent feature throughout the years.

Where to get the looks: