am I experiencing deja vu, or is this a repost from last christmas?

Those poor books! My inner librarian is screaming.

I don't have a good photo, but my xmas tree this year is an antique judy that I've stuffed full of white lights and put a star on top of.

We have cats, but always have a real tree. We buy a smallish one and put it on a table. It still goes to the ceiling so it is a great presence in the room, but not a stratching post for the cats.

My tree sits on a small table, too, and my cats leave it totally alone -- so far. (Well, except occasionally they sit on the adjacent console table and bat at an ornament -- so I put the less fragile ones there and wired them on more carefully, just in case.)

I AM librarian and I HATE the bookshelf because I care about my books and my magazines, and this is destructive of them. In a way it's clever, but I think all the book lovers in one's life would be offended, so how "festive" is that?

If you decide you can't have a tree, I think pine rope garland (real or faux) is the next best option. Run it along stair rails, on mantles, over windows, on top of book shelves, or wherever you can, and decorate it with lights and ornaments as you would a tree. (I have some on my mantle, and I stuffed it full of red berry picks from an arrangement someone gave me last year, some riibbons and a string of lights, and a few fake birds. I think it looks great! Other years I have also added a bunch of crochet snowflakes, and the white against the dark gree was also lovely.)

If this is a re-post, I missed it last year so I'm glad to see it.

These are very imaginative ideas, but like Daisuki, I don't think I could stand to see my books that way. Love the drum set, though! And I'm bookmarking the instructions for the chandelier!!

Thanks for posting this.

AT posted this idea about three years ago and we're glad they did. We've been using this idea ever since (we stopped buying Christmas trees about 5 years ago). No messy clean up, nothing to buy, dismantled in moments!

This year's: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22363146@N02/5246930500/

Our first bookcase tree:http://www.flickr.com/photos/22363146@N02/4597170630/

I love the book Christmas tree idea! I also love books, and understand it can be painful to see them bent or mishandled, BUT I think it can be a good use for old phone books, catalogs, and books that are too beat up to read. I'm a volunteer for our local library, and as much as we love to recycle and reuse old books, sometimes they are past saving. At least, this way they're kept out of the landfill!

I'm a retired librarian, and I agree with some of the others. The bookshelf tree makes me cringe. Books in a library are regularly "weeded," but who has access to that many books past their prime? I'm thinking the books and magazines in the picture are being prematurely aged. I love the wall collection tree, but who would want that many holes or pieces of tape on their walls?

Portland, that's a beautiful tree! So creative!

You know, that bookshelf idea is pretty tempting. I have a wall of bookshelves, and plenty of red and green books. I would keep them upright, and use bookends and ornamental pieces on the outside.

I like the smell of fir trees too much though; it's not Christmas without the fresh tree smell. I use floral wire to anchor the top to windowsills on either side as insurance against cats and kids.

After being so negative about the bookcase tree, I thought it might be nice to offer an alternative. The cutest idea I've seen lately is suspending a large branch from the ceiling with clear fishing line and hanging ornaments from it. The one I saw was painted silver, but it could be left natural or painted any color. I'm considering doing one in silver with chartreuse and turquoise ornaments.

Cue everyone crying about the books.

How cool is the drum set tree.
I'm just sayin'.

I might have to do that to my brother's drum set that he never, ever uses.

---www.bymaggie.com---

ALL of those are better than a fake metal or plastic tree. A great alternative to a real one if you are afraid the cats will knock it over.
I say go for it!

Love this. In grad school my design professor always covered a mannequin with green crinolines for a big crazy net tree in the costume shop.

"Novel" idea for a Xmas tree. I also have cats (6) and have a "wall" tree and a decorated fake bamboo. In the days of four cats, I found putting up my bare artificial tree for two weeks before I wanted a decorated tree worked. Cats got used to the tree being there and pretty much ignored it after it was decorated.

I got a glitzy gold 12 inch tree and some very basic decorations (link here), and love it - no mess, took 8 seconds to set up, and it so puts me in the mood everytime I see it. Works just as well for gifts since we have such a small family anyway!

Why do I so love that bookcase tree? It like not doing anything, yet doing something. I think of the super bent ones as magazines so I didn't cringe at all.
I KEEP wanting a tree but keep not buying one because of the expense/hassle/etc. Now I'm determined to come up with my own idea.

Like Daisuki, I'm not a fan of the book arrangement. They'll be completely bent out of shape by the end of the holidays.