DIY WOOD CHRISTMAS TREE

Make your own wood Christmas trees this holiday season with just a few pieces of wood and my free pdf!

When it comes to Christmas decorations, there’s nothing more exciting than creating your own festive decorations. So let’s dive into making some rustic wooden trees to decorate your home or sell online in your holiday shop. 

The project gives a pallet Christmas tree look that is so popular right now. It’s an easy project that you can make and sell.

They’re small, cute, and really simple to make! Make a few at a time and sell them as part of your holiday decor. These little trees are also great for small spaces. The look of the trees can be finished in many different ways, so if your style is rustic Christmas decor or clean and simple, these trees are a fabulous way to get creative.

The cost of these trees are only a few dollars, and even less if you use scrap wood or pallet wood. This is a great way to use up short pieces you have laying around.

Creating a Wooden Christmas Tree

I have a FREE tracing pattern that you can use to create your flat Christmas tree signs. The printable will help guide you as you make the angle cuts necessary for this farmhouse style project.

You can also use different shapes or another tree pattern that you already have. Just print the pdf pattern, tape the papers together, and cut out the shape with scissors. It’s super simple to make your own Christmas tree shape.

You don’t have to have a special Cricut, Silhouette cutting machine or any kind of stencil machine for this project—just a printer to print out your guide. Below you’ll find a full tutorial to help your festive decoration.

This DIY wooden Christmas tree measures at about 11 inches wide by 11 1/2 inches tall. For the lumber, you need one piece of a 1×4 at 3 feet long. I used a 1×4 common board from Home Depot. 

Because we’re painting this project and the goal is for it to have a reclaimed wood look, pretty much any type of wood will work, so don’t spend too much getting the perfect piece. 

You will, however, want to make sure the boards are flat and not warped so the tree will lay properly and look high-quality for your store or anyone who received your DIY Christmas gifts.

You also need little pieces on the back to attach these together, and for this you can kind of use whatever you have. I have 2 thin strips that are scraps from my table saw. They need to be 6 and 4 3/4 inches long.

Supplies:

• 1×4 pine board (actual dimensions are 3/4″ thick by 3.5″ wide.)
• Small wood scraps to use on back for attaching
• Hot glue gun & glue sticks
• Acrylic paint—green, white, black, etc.
• Wooden ornaments or decorations for your trees

Tools:

• Crown stapler
• Miter saw
• Bandsaw
• Orbital sander

Cut the wood

Cut your board into three pieces: 12, 10 and 10 inches.

Trace your pattern

The first thing you want to do is place your boards face down, so you can draw the shape of a Christmas tree on the back. In other words, make sure your “nicer” side is down unless you’re going for the rustic look and put whichever side you prefer to use as the front—face down.

Line the boards up, keeping the two shorter ones on the outside and placing the longer board in the middle.

Bring the trunk down, so it’s flush with the bottom of the wood pieces. Do not recut that when on the bandsaw. Make sure your boards are pushed inwards, avoiding huge gaps, then take your pencil or marker and trace the tree pattern to make sure it stays in place. Make sure your template is lined up evenly with the horizontal lines to prevent the pattern being off center.

Assemble your wooden pieces

Grab your small back pieces and add wood glue to one side, lay them down on the 1x4s and attach with a brad nails or crown stapler. I’m using 3/4 inch staples. 

Make sure that you don’t use staples that are too long to avoid them going through not only the first layer, but the entire tree.  Nothing is more frustrating than nails poking out on the front side of your wood planks.

Push your outside boards tightly towards each other when you nail to avoid any huge gaps on your evergreen branches.

Cut out the shape

Normally on a bandsaw we cut with the boards facing up but for this project it’s ok to have it face down since we’ll sand the edges  a little bit later.

First, cut out the top of the tree and the tree bases. Place the blade just to the outside of the cut lines, so you can still see the pencil marks.

Then, make these large relief cuts.

Finally, cut the shorter curved angles.

Sand your DIY Christmas tree

Turn your orbital sander at an angle and sand the corners of the wood tree to get them rounded and smooth away the rough edges.

Sand the face and backside, and any pencil marks.

Blow the sawdust off the cut wood with an air gun and you are ready for paint.

Paint or stain the wood trees

This simple wooden Christmas tree can be finished or decorated in so many ways. It’s a great idea for a custom piece! You can glue on Christmas ornaments, use metal word cutouts, add a wood snowman and a touch of snow to the branches, place pine cones or even add a star to the top to celebrate the festive season.

For a farmhouse look, do a whitewash with white paint and a baby wipe. For a rustic tree, paint and then sand to distress. Here are some different colors and styles I did for my rustic Christmas trees. 

For a video of this wooden tree project, check out the facebook live I did.

I hope you enjoyed making this alternative Christmas tree. I’d love to see what kind of wooden Christmas tree ideas you have! Merry Christmas!

If you like to make wood crafts, consider joining the Wood Craft Blueprints membership for step-by-step tutorials of trending projects that you can make and sell!