No space for tree...

[YoureAllABunchOfBastards]

Normally we have a seven foot real tree in our living room, in front of the French doors to the garden.

This year we have a puppy (6 months) who uses the French doors as his route to the back garden every day. He can't go through the kitchen as that is where the cats have their food etc.

So, I can't put the tree there, and I'm struggling to see anywhere else it can go without being a) destroyed by BastardPup and b) being massively in the way. We have a large corner sofa and a wall hanging TV, built in tall cupboards and a fireplace - there is no space against a wall at all.

WTF do I do? I've got til mid-December to work it out as the tree goes up after DS1's birthday, but I am flummoxed

Do you have any other piece of furniture that could be moved for the period? We fold up an easel and move a book box to male space for ours, in our old house we used to put the coffee table in the spare room to make space.

If you really can't then maybe have a wall hanging tree?

Could you fit a smaller tree on top of a table/unit somewhere?

Or a skinnier tree only blocking one of the French doors.

As Spam88 says, get a small tree in a pot and put it on top of a sideboard or other unit. We did this for a few years when we lived in a much smaller house and the children were at the toddler stage.

Could it go in front of the built in cupboards?

No low furniture in the room for it to stand on

Built in cupboards are behind the door so it would be constantly hot

I think even a skinnier tree will stop the door opening - I might have to look at a very slimline fake one and put it on some kind of stand. Or put the puppy playpen round it - would that work if I stuck fairy lights on?

Argh. Now looking at the Kallax unit in the dining room (4x4 cube unit) and wondering if I can stick two small trees on the top of it....

Maybe I should stick this bloody awful one on a box - at least it would make it hard for him to get at the decorations

When our dog was small we had to clear a sideboard and have a small one on there.

Tree looks ok and a good space saver. Ive been longing for a real tree for years but with 2 indoor cats that's out of the picture. I think that tree would be good if you have pets, they also do a dark green version. I'd spray the trunk with 'GETOFF" spray though to stop your pup getting confused with a real tree. My friend hung dried orange slices on hers to keep her pets off.

Oh and I would wind lights up trunk as well, that would look nice.

Yes, put a small real potted tree on top of the kalkax, or move the kalkax to your bedroom for the festive period to make room for a full sized tree.

Do you have space in another room or hallway for it?
We had our tree in the dining room last year as the baby had just started crawling.

Could you suspend one from an eyebolt in the ceiling??

Get a large green piece of fabric, cut into Christmas tree shape, stick on decorations/tinsel etc and handy it up on the French window? We did that one year in a small flat and it actually looked pretty good. Pinterest has a lot of ideas.

There's a pub near us did this: suspended branches from the ceiling, then decorated them with fairy lights and baubles. The whole effect was so popular, they've left them up and change the decorations with the seasons. I can't find an Xmas picture, only a spring one, but you'll get the idea

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g3386001-d3310191-Reviews-The_Swan_Inn-Claygate_Esher_Surrey_England.html

Maybe you he dog could use the kitchen door and the cat bowls can go under the tree? They might have a bit of live needle garish they aren’t too pleased about though.

@mumsnut that looks lovely!

We sometimes have a twig tree, just go out and find a nice branch and put it upright in a slice of trunk.
All the action starts much higher up, and obviously it can be as skinny as you like to give door access.

upside down Christmas tree?

Do you have any corners free anywhere? You could get a corner Christmas tree. There are also half Christmas trees that would go next to any flat surface you won't need access to in December(like a cupboard(.

Having shown DH some slim/pencil trees, we have worked out that if we move a large picture we can put the tree on a box in the corner behind the stupidly big corner sofa - it will look OK and be safe from BastardPup.

So that's one problem solved