Reclaimed wood Christmas tree and star
I’m embarrassed to admit, I can’t remember the last time I decorated outdoors for Christmas.
Much of that has to do with the front door and side windows needing paint.
And the concrete needing work.
And the whole outside needing… a good farmhouse experience. Or something.
Or a pretty for sale sign on the front yard would work wonders…
When things aren’t up to par, they don’t make for great backgrounds!
So as I was glancing around my festive, surrounding neighbour’s front porches of cute toboggans and pretty greens, I looked at my own mess, called myself a scrooge, and vowed to change that this year.
With a DIY reclaimed wood Christmas tree and star! Made from free scrap wood. And it turned out as cute as can be! Here’s what I did…
Reclaimed wood Christmas tree and star
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Gathering wood
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Remember all that amazing, chippy fence wood I picked up not long ago?
Grabbing from my wonderful stacked setup in the workshop, I set to work.
Making a wood tree stand
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First you need a stand.
1. Cut two equal wood pieces, and two small supports.
2. Layer as pictured.
3. Predrill holes, then screw the works together.
My fav cordless drill in the whole wide world is the Makita HERE. (affiliate link)
4. Attach a tall post to the stand from the bottom.
5. Cat proofing a huge bonus.
After thought: I’d criss cross the stand against the post if I made another, rather than having it sit like a plus sign. I think a criss cross would offer more stability.
Oh… and a little bigger too.
Call this one a 10pm brainstorm.
How to cut the tree boards
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I wanted to figure out an easy way to cut all the boards evenly without having to take a tape measure to them. I believe this is it!
1. Swing your miter saw to a desired angle for your Christmas tree edges.
Everyone needs a miter saw. Here’s my DREAM SAW. (affiliate link)
2. Starting with the bottom of the tree, cut the longest board first.
* My first board was 28″ long, x 4″ deep. The tree ended up being 38″ tall. I suggest to cut all your small planks first, then the post last, to ensure it’s long enough for your tree.
Chop one side…
… then flip the board over, and cut the other side to your desired length.
2. To cut your next board, cut one edge first, lay your fully cut board on top of the new board, and pencil in the same length.
3. Adjust board in miter saw until the pencil mark hits the 2, then cut.
Repeat, using your newest cut board as your new guide.
This will cut all your boards 2″ shorter from the last.
Assembling the reclaimed wood tree
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4. Mark the centre of each board, and screw to the post.
My tree used one screw on each board.
Wood scrap Christmas tree star
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I didn’t want to go to a ton of work making a perfect star. No patience for that.
So… I used the edge cuts from the tree boards to build this. How easy is that?
With one exception. The top peak will have to be custom cut, to align with the bottom legs.
2. Once your pieces are cut, pre drill holes, then attach with short screws.
3. Attach a large hinge behind the star, to attach to the tree.
The finished DIY wood Christmas tree!
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Decorate as desired!
It looked really cute strung from side to side with white mini lights too, but my outdoor plug doesn’t work.
(whatever)
Set against the Christmas tree branches I found on the ground, it’s a festive indication on what lies beyond that unpainted front door… 🙂
Wouldn’t this be cute hung in an entry, loaded with key hooks?
If you did that, I’d just attach each board directly to the wall. Because ‘drywall filler’ happens to be my middle name…
Mason jar pinecone twig garland tutorial is HERE.
What scrooge? 🙂
Other DIY trees you may enjoy:
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Wood scrap Christmas tree farm
Christmas and winter reclaimed wood trees, crate-style!
String wrapped wood scrap Christmas trees
A You Cut Tree Farm tree sign in a Buffalo Checked crate
.Visit many other DIY wood Christmas trees HERE
Check out all my rustic wood Christmas decorating HERE
I LOVE your tree, Donna! There is no Scrooge in sight.
Love, Love, Love your tree! Thank You for sharing.
Relatively new follower here, all I can say is I love this along with ALL your other projects. Thank you so much for sharing this! I am making this for outside my front door…
I love this tree! I would “undecorate” it and leave it in my landscape all year!
Adorable! I love the star with the hinges… very cute!
LOVE IT!!!!!!
Oh please do not take apart that beautiful tree! I’m not sure what the shipping would be but I would buy it in a minute if I could get it to Alabama! Love you and your style so much!!
That is seriously cute and definitely bumps you out of the Scrooge category. 🙂
Love it!!! All you do fits my decorating style….old and rusty AND repurposed. You are amazing.
I just love your tree. The boards you chose were just the perfect shabby distress. I will be on the hunt for fence now. Love all your projects and the inspiration that you give us all. Have a Merry Christmas my Funky Junk Friend!
Hugs
Becky
I especially love the garland. I really need to do something with my porch before my Christmas company shows up!
Another “junky” masterpiece! I LOVE this!! Pinning for next year! 🙂
You are so funny!! I love your sense of humor! I laughed all the way through this blog today. I really love your cute little Christmas tree! Where would you want to move to if you sold your house? Austin, Texas? That would be great, and we love people on bikes down here. Your son could go to Univ of Texas. See, it’s all planned out! Ya’ll come on down!
I also loved your Coca-Cola centerpiece from yesterday. And guess what I found in my attic 3 days ago while looking for other Christmas items that had seemingly evaporated? A CC crate made into a little wagon. That’s my project for today. Love your blogs! You’re the best!
That is awesome Donna. When Scrooge decides to get in the spirit, (s)he goes Big or goes home – love it! Great tutorial too – thanks.
So clever! I haven’t one anything outside either…you’ve inspired me!
Love it Donna! It’s the perfect junk tree!! Merry Christmas!
Hugs,
Jann
THAT IS VERY GOOD WORK
I love that your helper dressed up for the occasion (tuxedo kitty)! Merry Christmas from Southern Oregon. Thank you for all the inspiration!
(By the way, I’m originally from Ontario).
Looks really good Donna … GREAT JOB !!!
Love the garland too.
Merry Christmas,
Audrey Z. @ Timeless Treasures
Donna, I can’t even tell you how much I love this-it’s awesome!!
Donna, love this fantastic Christmas tree!! The way you made the star is awesome and of course love the decorations on the tree!! 🙂
It’s just perfect. I love it.
Hi, Donna! That is SO DARN BEAUTIFUL! I love everything about it, and your photos are just gorgeous. Thanks for the wonderful post, now super inspired to look at my pile-o-junky-wood again.
love this Donna your best & most creative person! love this tree and Lake or is it Skye? looks like he or she has his winter coat on! 🙂
Audrey
sunset beach ca
The tree is too cute,
Merry Christmas
Not only is that tree awesome but the instructions on how you cut the pieces to size was no less than brilliant! Thanks for the tip 🙂
So original Donna!
How wide and. Long is the bottom board
Hi Ann! I started with a 28″ long x 4″ deep board. The tree ended up being 32″ high. I’d suggest to cut all your small boards first, then the post last to ensure it’s long enough. Good question, I’ll add this info to the post!
Can you advise angel you cut boards for junk tree at? Thanks.
Hey Dennis, sorry, I don’t remember. It may have been close to a 45 degree. I’d just choose one angle that you like the look of and roll with it.
I adore this tree! That star with the hinges!!!
Hi, I was wondering what the length of the boards used as the base were?
Hi Stacy! The base boards are 11″ long, but I suggest to make them longer for more stability.
So sad that you plan on taking it apart after Christmas 🙁
I love this project so much that I featured it in my post “15 Rustic Farmhouse Christmas Decorations”. http://www.diyhsh.com/2017/10/15-rustic-farmhouse-christmas.html Hope you’ll stop by and check it out.
Thank you for this inspiration. I am so glad I didn’t put our old gate to the curb. Didn’t know what it wanted to be. Ta da Christmas tree. Love this! Love re cycling when it’s so adorable.