The Best Of Orlando's Festival Of Trees 2017

Nothing kicks off the season of twinkly lights and glitter-bombed greenery like the Festival of Trees, am I right? So earlier this week John and I made our annual trek to the Orlando Museum of Art to find some new decorating ideas to steal borrow.

Who's pumped??

 K, let's jump right in.

This year's lobby tree was SO SHINY:

Let's head into the exhibit itself for my first favorite, though, a sweet snowy scene:

The warm yellow lights shining through the tree almost look pink from a distance, and help break up all that white.

I like when designers theme the gifts, too; look at the furry present! Ahhh! Now I want all gift wrap to be fuzzy.

The best part may actually be the tree's sponsor, though: it was a teeth-whitening service.

Well played, guys. Well played.

Usually I break up wreaths and trees into separate posts, but I'm feeling willy-nilly today, so let's head straight down the Decked Hall:

 

It's about twice this long, and filled to the brim with wreaths (on full-size doors!) and mini trees galore.

 I'm a big fan of themes, so loving this little musical magnolia tree:

The trumpet topper with the blast of glittery sprigs is especially awesome - and the sheet music garland!

 This little owl wreath reminded me of the one at Diagon Alley:

 

 Feathers! Gotta start adding more feathers to everything. (That and adorable owls.)


A pretty traditional tree, but done to perfection:

The script on the garland ribbon really sets it off.

And this one looks like Spring: all flowers and butterflies!

Some pretty-in-pink poinsettias:

If you really want your tree to stand out, how about some funny little gnomes?

Ok, not so little.

I feel like the tree should have big curly shoes sticking out underneath. :D

As a side note, these match the gnome figure I bought later in the museum gift shop:

 I think mine's cuter, though. :D


You guys know I'm always most fascinated by tree toppers, and I really like this one:

Specifically, I like how the bouquet of magnolias on top has that layer of glittery leaves under it, like a cap. It makes the whole top feel like one piece. Very polished.

More proof that every wreath is improved by putting a cute animal in the middle:

Also look at the balance: bow on the right, fox on the left. It's not just centered up and down.

There's a whole room of gingerbread houses at the Festival, but I'm only including this one, because GUMDROP ROOF:

And it's a dollhouse! (But mostly, GUMDROP ROOF.)

Another full room setup:

I actually liked the rustic accessories more than the tree:

Also, this Barbie tree topper. I...er... just look at it:


The tree itself was gorgeous, and a huge 8 footer. It was like, "PHENOMENAL COSMIC CHRISTMAS TREEE!! ...iiiitty bitty tree topper."

(Random Aladdin references are just the sort of service you can expect here at Jen's Festival Commentary, folks.)

I think this next one is my favorite mini tree:

Grape vine, bunches of red and white grapes, wine corks, and even sparkly little wine glasses! It was even lovelier in person, too. So sparkly, and gorgeous colors.

How about the cutest Mid-Century Modern dining room spread?


SO CUTE. Teal and red are so good together. (Almost as good as teal and orange.)

Oooh, here comes John's favorite tree/room setup. (My favorite is in Part 2.) There's so much to take in all at once that it's hard for photos to do it justice, but I'll try:



The theme is Red Cardinals, and I love how many little birds were perched on branches sticking way outside of the tree:


See them on the left there? And also on the mantel?

The tree was packed to overloading with a full-size birdcage for a topper, candles, branches, and interestingly enough, large succulents for greenery:

Again, my favorite part is how they used the branches: extending them way out and then hanging more ornaments and birds on them. Such a cool idea.

(If you're noticing my photos look quite different from one to the next, btw, it's because I edited some with an HDR filter to bring out the shadows.)

It's a lot, I know - too much, even -  but we kept finding new pretty things to look at!

Ack, it feels like I barely started, but since I'm at the halfway point I'm going to stop there for now. Stay tuned for Part 2 with more of everything, including MY favorite full-size tree of the Festival!