Thursday

Christmas Tree Crate Base

A few years ago I made a three sided bottomless Christmas tree crate, with a paint job modeled after one I saw on a friends blog.

Why three sides instead of four?

3 Sided Christmas Tree Crate Slides in Place, Bliss-Ranch.com


Our tree is big and lifting it into a crate would basically be a pain in the azz, and I concluded it would be easier to just slide something three sided and bottomless into place at the base of the tree after it was standing where we wanted it.  This would give the illusion the tree was actually inside a crate.

The first crate was red painted with white letters, and is now incorporated elsewhere in my holiday decorations and the family room has the warm shades of the copper and gold.

3 Sided Christmas Tree Crate Slides in Place, Bliss-Ranch.com

The color conversion happened last year when I decided to stop fighting the log siding in our family room and go with the colors it exudes.

Gold, copper, bronze and I painted and glittered a box of previously red, and green ornaments that I picked up at a garage sale..

3 Sided Christmas Tree Crate Slides in Place, Bliss-Ranch.com

The tree looked marv last Christmas in it's new shades of family room orange, but the tree crate not so much, hence why this year I made a new one.

For the new crate I used paints I won in the fall from Dixie Belle Paint Company.  Their line of paint is a chalky mineral no prep paint, and it went on very nice and complimented the other colors I have in the room.


3 Sided Christmas Tree Crate Slides in Place, Bliss-Ranch.com

A nice Terracotta color, another named Drop Cloth, and the green is called Kuduz, but apparently it was camera shy.

The crate build is simple, three pieces of whatever size/type wood you need - I used luan - screwed together on the side.

After Christmas is over, the screws come out and the crate is light weight and lays flat for storage. 

I settled on the song I'll Be Home For Christmas, painted the letters and grabbed the Christmas Tree stencil and the Light String design from Funky Junk Interiors Old Sign Stencils line.  The front of my crate has added grooves to mimic the front of a real crate.

Between fast drying paint and the easy stencils, this made for a quick project.

I hammered in some shiny silver round head tacks along the edge and simply slid the whole three sided crate in place, hiding the big tree stand.

3 Sided Christmas Tree Crate Slides in Place, Bliss-Ranch.com

Really, it's only a short time the crate even shows and the tree skirt too for that matter, which is old burlap coffee bags.

Even though the crate might not show for very long before gifts block it from view, at least it doesn't stand out now wearing the wrong colors.

Home Made Wood Paint Drag, Bliss-Ranch.com

The front received a very light sanding to age it just a bit, and for the sides I painted a base color of the Terracotta and used my wooden paint drag with the green and drop cloth colored paints loaded on it then simple pulled it along to give the crate a vintage look without sanding.

3 Sided Christmas Tree Crate Slides in Place, Bliss-Ranch.com

We again flocked our tree using a pro-grade flock we ordered online, and I added some cotton batting to random tips to make the snow look extra thick.

Everyone will be home for Christmas, a tradition I hope we are able to continue as long as I'm sliding this crate under the tree. 

3 Sided Christmas Tree Crate Slides in Place, Bliss-Ranch.com

We'll be warming ourselves by the fire because as I was typing up this post the man of the house informed me that the blower just went out on the furnace.  That explains the numbness in my cold fingers as I type.

How does a heating item always know to do that on the coldest night of the season so far?  Brrrrrr.  We better put on our kerchief and cap when we settle in for that long winters nap!





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6 comments :

  1. I love this...great change to match your ornaments and new tree color scheme. Three sided is so smart. And your storage idea is awesome. I wish I would have thought of that. ;)
    Stay warm!

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  2. You know what? I think I'm gonna do this! I love your copper and orange touches...it really warms things up!

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  3. You're so talented! I love everything you do!

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  4. This turned out great, Bliss...the 3-sided idea is so smart! Hope the furnace is fixed now!

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  5. You are so, so talented. Love it.

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  6. You had me at 3-sided and it comes apart for storage. I'll bet your warm and coppery toned family room loves its new Christmas tree crate!

    ReplyDelete

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