Spoonful of Imagination

Add it to a Family for Something Beautiful

DIY Wood Christmas Tree Stand

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outdoor_christmas_tree_standHave you ever loaded your family up (like on Christmas Vacation) and headed out to cut down a Christmas tree? Matt and I were a little excited our first year of marriage and took up that task. It was a good three-hour drive, where my youngest brother (who we took with us) kept asking why we didn’t just buy one from the lot in front of Cicis pizza.

Memories. Isn’t that something we love about Christmas?

Now that we have our own kids and they are old enough to appreciate the experience, we loaded up and headed north to the tree farms once again. Bonus: we live a lot closer to the farms now.

cutting_down_your_christmas_treeWhile shopping for trees, my J and I fell in love with all the little trees they had. We decided we needed one of those as well and cut one to take it home.

oh_christmas_treeI had visions of creating a wood box to hold the little tree on our front porch. I started out on my dream by getting a long 12″ piece of wood.

I used my Ryobi Compound Miter Saw to cut the board into 12″ square pieces. I then stained the five pieces I cut and handed my dream project off to my awesome husband.

He used wood glue and nails to create a wood box.

building_a_wood_boxOnce the box was created, he measured for the middle and drilled a huge hole into the center of the box. This hole was wider than the circumference of our tree trunk, which was perfect.

building_a_christmas_tree_standMatt is creative and took it even a step further than I had imagined. He screwed an old spaghetti jar lid to the inside of the box, so when the jar was twisted onto the lid, it could hold water for our tree. I was merely going to put a pitcher under our box to hold the water. Both ways work, so you could go whichever way you want, if you want to create this same tree stand.

Wood_christmas_tree_standI love the simplicity of the design. It’s simple, yet so pretty. The natural look with a few shiny lights at night is so pretty.

front_porch_christmas_treeThis wood Christmas tree stand looks so good with my wreath from a chicken feeder. I am loving the more simple decor we are doing around our house this year. I hope you too are able to enjoy the simple things this Christmas like the joy of finding your tree.

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DIY Rustic Wood Shelf

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wood_shelf_tutorialToday, I’m excited to share another element of our Foster Care bedroom. If you’ve followed along you’ve seen the plank wall, unique curtain hooks, the “LOVE” and “Whole World Inside Me” wall art, and the pallet frame. Right now, I want to walk you through this Rustic Wood Shelf. I gathered some odds and ends wood and a few planks from a collapsed barn to make this piece. If you gathered your own wood and followed the principles in this post, you could make your own rustic shelf too!

I love the detail and even the moss in this warped wood. Although it looks rustic and rotten it is solid and heavy. I let it dry out for a couple of months, before using it to create this shelf.

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old_woodI cut my scrap wood pieces to create four equal squares. I then spray painted them, let them dry, and sanded them briefly to create a more rustic look to blend with the wood.

spraypaint_and_sandWe then used the Kreg Jig that I received at Haven to drill at an angle and attach my barn wood to the painted squares. This Jig allowed us to create a clean pocket hole that was minimal in size and could easily be covered by a plugable pocket hole to create a finished look.

kreg_toolFor extra reinforcement, I drilled screws from the top of my barn wood down into the square blocks. This made sure that the barn wood was tight and secure.

creating_a_shelfI then used some of my Purebond wood scraps to cut and cover the back. I measured the size they would need to be and stained them.

scrap_purebond_woodMatt then used a small finishing nail and hammered them into the middle shelf board, so it was one nail down the middle of each Purebond wood piece).

back_of_a_shelfWe made sure it was level and rigged a little hanging device on the back. This is a heavy piece, so we wanted to create a safe way to hang it that would hold up. Using 50lb eye hooks and hanging wire that we wrapped into a loop made a secure way to attach it to hooks that we anchored to the bedroom drywall.

shelf_bracketThe last thing was to hang it up and stage it! I love how it came out. It is simple, yet has character and charm. I am still building my confidence with my Ryobi Miter saw. I use it often to cut things, but it is usually something simple like a wood sign. To design and build something from scratch is still new to me. I am so proud of this piece.

create_wood_shelfI love the rustic, natural wood with a pop of pretty blue color. I love the edges of the shelf hanging over the side blue wall. What do you think?

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rustic_shelfI loved putting my accessories on this shelf. It’s a simple, yet fun way to decorate our foster care bedroom. Since we will have a range of age and gender staying in the room, this shelf allows for me to quickly switch our decor based on who is using the room.

Do you collect wood? My stash is running low, so maybe I will be on the hunt for some pallets soon. I hope you had a great weekend. If you missed it yesterday, I got a tattoo this past weekend!

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