Our Christmas Tree - Part 2

It's not often I brag on my husband but if there was ever an occasion to do so, it's now. He came up with this idea to build a platform tree stand and at first I didn't know at all what he meant. Then he used the magic words "tiered like a wedding cake" and the lightbulb went on.

He built this in two days....

He used mostly scrap wood from the garage but did have to buy a couple 2"x4"s. He bolted our existing tree stand to the top.

I love the simplicity of his design. Each tier is 4" tall so I'd guess this added about a total of 10" to the height of the tree. As I stated in my earlier post, we chose a smaller tree than we normally would have for our high ceilings because this was in the works.

Here's how it looked after we covered the base. Is it the perfect size or what? Last year we picked a very tall tree but getting a tall tree also meant getting a very WIDE tree, which didn't work in our small house. This way, we're getting the height but not the circumference.
There are several other reasons this platform is Christmas GENIUS!

1. We didn't have to cut any of the low branches off the tree to make room for presents underneath.
2. There are those two tiers for presents, so once they are all stacked up under there they won't be spread across the living room and it will look really nice, I think.
3. There's only a very small portion of the tree that's within the reach of curious little hands. (Not that any hands will even go near this tree - we specifically asked for the most prickly kind of tree they had and WE GOT IT!)
4. Chris wanted me to mention the SAFETY aspect of the tree. With a flimsy little tree stand, some people resort to wiring their trees to the wall to make sure it's not knocked over. There's NO WAY this thing is going anywhere.

We enjoyed decorating it last night and here's the finished product...

We're not big into garland and all the other fanciness - just lights and ornaments for us.

Chris is already talking about improving on the design and making us a new one next year when he has more time. I told him he could probably sell this one for $20. What do you think?