As I get older and the work that gets put into the holiday, I think I'd rather have a cute pencil tree with lights and some simple ornaments. I'm over collecting ornaments. Me too... to all of it!
Our main tree is pretty uneven right now. Jeff and I were decorating it and we got bored with it after a while... lol! You can see our tree from all sides... it's by the railing of the stairs to our downstairs area. You can see the back if you come in the back door or if you're going down the stairs. I looked yesterday and I think there are about 4 ornaments scattered back there.
It all gets decorated. The Christmas tree is my favorite part of Christmas so we go through all the ornaments, tell their stories, etc. as we decorate. Our tree is in the basement family room that no one ever sees except us so I'm not worried about that aspect of things.
I'm with the team that puts the ugly ones on the back...my boyfriend added a lot of ornaments on that side, so I asked him to buy new ones that he likes, instead of making fun of my beloved old stuff ROTFLOL!! the cutest ones are on the front; my tree is on a corner and the back is actually in a window, but I live on an apartment very high, so I don't care if the ones facing the window are old or ugly...
We have a small LR and the tree is tucked into a corner between the couch and fireplace so no one is going to see the back of the tree. We fill up 2/3 of the tree and hang some ornaments on the inside branches close to the base of the tree so it gives it some depth but don't worry about the little bit that is up against the wall. Works for us
The back of ours faces the living room window, so it all gets decorated. But, I put my not-so-favorite ones back there just because they're not seen close up.
I got a slim pencil tree last year and I love it. This year we put it in a corner so the back doesn't get many ornaments, just ones at the top because that part can be seen. The back does however get the ribbons because I wrap those around the tree. Then I turn the tree so the best sides are showing and decorate from there making sure all the showing sides get the best ornaments and the best coverage.
I put mine in a corner and only decorate the front & sides - but the sides are more sparsely decorated as it gets closer to the back. It has never bothered me. I hate navigating around the back of the tree and once hubby puts it up it stays put. I don't like to move it around bc we have really tall ceilings and the tree is pretty tall. It's a beast to move. I don't think I've ever decorated all the way around any of my trees!
We have a similar set up. Our tree is more sparsely decorated on the wall-facing side and the more ornate elements are outward facing. It's horrible that I don't really like decorating the tree? lol (don't answer that)
I always decorated the whole tree when I did a large tree. The large trees were usually in front of a window or in an area where you could see all around it so it just made sense to decorate the whole thing. The small trees I use now are also decorated fully. Of course, they stay decorated even in storage. Plastic bag to cover them makes it easy to get them out. One is always on the dining room table where all sides are seen. I switch them out as to where they go so all are fully decorated. To be honest, I have never thought about not decorating the tree fully.
As time goes on, it's more of a chore than fun for me... so I don't really like to decorate it. I would rather just have the tree with lights. I love that warm glow.
our doesn't face a window, is generally in front of the fire place (which is not used with wood, we have gas central heating but the fire place looks nice LOL - but when we had the very little tree we would decorate any way as if not it would fall to the front, we do the same now these past few years we have a bigger one our upstairs neighbor gave us, is white, so we run the lights all over the tree as you can kinda see the other side... but we do too keep the not so nice ornaments for the back!!!
Some years back I had a colleague who put her (fake) christmas tree halfway in her (fake) fireplace/mantel. She actually didn't put all the branches in, so that it looked like it came out if the mantel/fireplace (very difficult to explain in English). So I think just the thought of that might drive you nuts! I know I could never. I actually have my tree somewhat in the middle of the room right now, so there are ornaments all around. But I do focus more on the area that is in few from the living room. In my old home I had my tree in the corner of the living room. On the side there was a window which I closed the blinds from because otherwise I felt like I did have to decorate the tree on that side too, even though nobody ever looked through there.. So now I did make sure it had some baubles and lights, but not a lot. Bottomline: I understand. LOL!
Yay so happy to see others do the same as me! The only spot for my tree is right next to the thoroughfare into the kitchen and because I love big bushy trees I have to leave off the back branches so we can moosh it right up to the wall. I’d love to have the space for it to be fully set up hopefully after the renovation I’ll have extra wall space to be able to do it. I also can not wait to dress the tree in full and then bag it all trimmed ready for next year.