Slim, Pencil and Flatback Christmas Trees for Small Rooms

Slim, pencil and flatback trees fit rooms a full tree will not. A 7-foot slim tree is under 47 inches across at the base, and a 7-foot pencil tree only about 19 to 23 inches, against 50 inches or more for a full tree. A flatback tree is half a tree that sits flat against a wall to save depth.

How wide slim and pencil trees are

Slim and pencil trees are narrower versions of the full tree, and the difference is in the diameter. Treetopia gives the widths for a 7-foot tree: a full tree has “a 50-inch diameter or more at its base,” a slim tree “is less than 47 inches in diameter,” and a pencil tree’s “diameter is up to 60% smaller, usually 19 to 23 inches.”

King of Christmas describes the same ladder in its own range: slim trees at “a slightly narrower diameter,” and pencil trees with “an even more narrow diameter (slightly tapered towards the top).” Widths differ between makers, so read the diameter on each product page against your floor.

Slim and pencil artificial Christmas trees

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Tall pencil trees for high, narrow spaces

Pencil trees usually stop at 9 feet, Treetopia says, but not always: its own No. 2 Pencil Christmas Tree “goes up to 12.” Slim trees run from tabletop size up to 12 feet. For a high ceiling with little floor, a tall slim or pencil tree gives the height without the width of a full tree, and the tall Christmas tree guide compares real 10 and 12 foot trees.

Treetopia suggests a pencil tree for “small apartments” or as a second tree in a larger home, and a pair of them to frame an entry or an archway. Balsam Hill describes its slim trees as “tall, slender trees with a sleek, elegant profile designed for tight spaces and corners.”

Flatback Christmas trees against a wall

A flatback tree saves depth, not width. Balsam Hill calls them “lifelike half Christmas trees” that “rest easily against the wall,” “creating the illusion of a full tree when viewed from the front,” and says they are “ideal for apartments and smaller rooms.” Its buyer’s guide describes flatbacks as “space-savers that look like a full-shaped tree but rest flat against a wall or corner.”

A flatback suits a room where a full tree would block a walkway. Balsam Hill sells some as corner trees, so measure both walls of the corner before you choose. The back has no branches to decorate, so you need fewer ornaments than for a full tree of the same height.

Decorating a pencil Christmas tree

A narrow Christmas tree has short branches, so it holds fewer and smaller decorations than a full tree. Balsam Hill’s advice for small tabletop trees carries over: choose ornaments “proportionate to the size of your tree.” For lights, fairy lights, which Balsam Hill describes as very small lights on a thin wire, keep a narrow outline neat.

The topper should match the outline. Balsam Hill notes that “a finial tree topper matches the slender profile of a narrow or slim tree.” Below the tree, a narrow tree needs a smaller skirt: Balsam Hill’s rule is a skirt “at least 6 inches bigger than the full width of your tree,” so a 7-foot pencil tree of 19 to 23 inches takes a skirt of about 25 to 29 inches (our estimate), not a 60-inch one. Start with the Christmas tree size guide for height by ceiling, or, if even a pencil tree is too big, a small or tabletop tree.