Theresa designed a DIY Christmas tree that’s easy to make, awesome to look at, and takes up less space than a traditional tree.
And, yes, we made this DIY tree it from pallets.
Pinterest, prepare your servers to go down as we put up our holiday decor.
OK, shutting down Pinterest might be a bit much, but we do love this tree and want to share with you how we made it. And that we made it as part of the Minwax Made With Love Finished With Minwax program we’re lucky enough to design and build projects for.
Here’s the DIY tree how-to
We made it from pallet boards (here’s a video on how to take pallets apart) and 1x8x8 pine boards we got at The Home Depot. Unlike typical pine boards, these Eastern White Pine boards—I think they called them ‘project planks’—have a fresh-from-the-mill texture to them, a perfect match for the pallets. Also, since I left them outside for about six months they’ve taken on a nice pallet-esque patina. Just sayin’…
Layout and fit the pallets
First thing we did to bring our DIY Christmas Tree to life was lay it out for size and spacing. Theresa immediately got creative with the pallet staves. More on that below. Actually, the very first thing we did was make sure the two angled side pieces were the same length, then we dry-fit it together.
Secure the pieces with fasteners
A few 2-inch screws through the base into the angled sides of the tree hold it together on the bottom.
A piece of pallet wood at the top (on the front and back) holds the top of the tree together. Theresa thought spacing the shelves about 12-inches apart was the way to go.
You could certainly use screws for attaching the shelf cleats to the sides of the DIY Christmas Tree. However—because we have and love a pneumatic stapler—we chose to use it for quick, easy connections.
Make the shelves
You can’t see it, but there is a pencil in my left hand. To get an accurate measurement for the shelf, I bridged it across the the side and marked it. Easy and fast.
Cutting angles is miter saw country for us. But you could also use a jigsaw or circular saw. The main thing is to be careful of cutting nails. I had to adjust several pieces to avoid them.
For a traditional look and to add some stability, Theresa designed an old-school looking base. We used our countersink to pre-drill pilot holes for 3-inch deck screws then connected the pieces and screwed them to the bottom of the tree.
Time to finish the DIY pallet tree
Minwax Polycrylic protective finish added some much needed luster to the rustic pallet wood. We used about a quart for the first coat. Clear satin adds just the right amount of glimmer and depth to our DIY Christmas tree. Also, in this shot, you can see how Theresa positioned the shelves she made from staves—the wood the pallets boards are nailed to that have a notch for forklift forks.
To suspend the ornaments between the shelves, Theresa threaded them with wire. I drilled holes in the shelves, fed the wire through and bent it over. Easy. Fast, too!
Silver, gold, simple. With the lustrous look from the Minwax polycrylic it’s just the right blend for a sweet holiday look.
Note: Minwax has provided us with some of the products used in this project. We were also compensated for our time and this blog post. All opinions and positions expressed here are ours and do not necessarily reflect those of Minwax. For more information about painting projects, please check out Minwax online.
