Industrial Branch Christmas Tree
Hi and welcome back!
I’m so excited about Christmas decorating this year. It’s our first year being in the new house and I’m stoked. Since this is also my first year blogging, I realized I needed to have my stuff up a few weeks earlier than usual, so people reading can hopefully get inspired and plan. And to tell you the truth, I’ll looking forward to being able to enjoy the holidays a little longer and being done by Thanksgiving!
I saw this tree years ago, but never had a good space to put it in. I have no idea who this image belongs to or how they hung it, so if you know, please let me know so I can give proper credit.
This year I decided to attempt it and turn this entire wall into a “Winter Wonderland” type wall. I started by making and hanging the snowflakes. I shared how I did that project over on Sawdust 2 Stitches and you can see the tutorial HERE.
Then I started on the tree. It just so happened that we had a bunch of limbs in a pile in the side yard, which I rummaged through until I found a bunch I thought might work. Then I narrowed it down by finding six or seven with a diameters that were close. I did have to ask my neighbor if I could cut one dead limb off her tree, but she didn’t mind and that was my first experience with a hack saw :).
Then I cut them all into a tree pattern, making each one a little shorter than the last. That was super easy. I didn’t measure or anything, because I wanted it to look a little rustic.
Then I drilled holes in each limb. I did measure to the middle of each branch for the hole. Still easy…
I had some leftover twine and decided to give it a try. I wrapped it around and knotted it up. I drilled one small, high hole in the brick and attached a hook. I didn’t want to drill anymore into the brick, so I was bound and determined to make it work with just the one hook.
Once it was hung, I wrapped these light strands around each limb. I LOVE these little strands. I turn them on once at 6pm and they stay on for six hours, then turn off for 18 and I don’t have to touch them again for the rest of the season. They use LED lights, which are super bright but don’t use much energy at all.
Next, I leveled the branches out using fishing wire. I started at the bottom because I have this sticking out of my wall (why? I have no idea)…
Then I worked my way up, using the fishing wire to continue to level out the branches. I only had to go a few braches up because the weight of the lower branches pulled the top branches level.
Then the kids attached ornaments. They are also super excited about decorating. We had a blast putting the ornaments up. I had to help some, and used my fishing line to wrap the ornaments around the branches that were thicker.
Done! Except…
Then we all went to bed, and at 4am CRASH! The twine broke, the whole thing fell, waking the whole house. Fun, and my hubs was super happy about that. Anyway, the twine wasn’t going to work apparently. So, still determined to get this thing up, I went to the hardware store and looked around until I found this.
It was easy to use and you use little stoppers under the branches to hold them in place. This kit had one stopper fewer than I needed, but they sold the little stoppers seperately, so it wasn’t a problem. This feels SO MUCH more secure. There is no way this thing is breaking. So, once I got the branches back up, I re-did all the fishing wire and ornaments and secured all the battery packs with more fishing wire and then I was really done.
I tried to cut the extra braided steel (haha), but since that went poorly I ended up using more fishing wire to tie it to the underside of the bottom branch.
So, expect for the small little mishap, it was a pretty easy little project, and since I used branches from my yard, everything – the lights, ornaments and steel wire cost me about $40-$50, which wasn’t bad for such a huge impact. You could also use cheaper lights if you had a way to plug them in. And you could do this whole project much smaller and cheaper with smaller branches and less lights and ornaments. Maybe the twine would work then :).
And it’s so cool on a quiet, dark night…
I love the way it reflects off the ceiling and floors!
That’s it! I finally have my Industrial Branch Christmas Tree up and I love it. Thanks so much for stopping by and I’ll be back soon with more Christmas inspiration.
April
Linked up at
This looks great April! I’ve seen that pin on Pinterest too and always thought it was beautiful 🙂 Great job!
Thank you so much Lindi!
Hey! I tried to send you an email, but your email icon didn’t work 🙁 Maybe you can send me one from my site!
Oh no, I’ll check it. Thanks for letting me know!
Hi, April ~ This is such a gorgeous project! So creative and festive! I love all of the lights and the little details. Pinning this for future inspiration. Awesome job!
Thank you so much Tiffany!
April, this is fantastic! I love the new ways of have a “Christmas tree.” This looks so cool and I’m sure your kids love it! Omg to the whole thing crashing! My hubby would have had a fit!!! LOL glad you found the kit with stoppers, how perfect!!!! Sharing!!!
Thank you so much Sara! Yes, the one thing my husband hates is being woken from sleep, haha. He’ll live though and I’m just glad it didn’t fall ON a kid or dog! Thanks for sharing :).
That is such a cool idea! I love how the backdrop is a brick wall…it makes the area feel so lofty. Love!
Thank you so much Jess!
Oh my goodness, April, this is GORGEOUS! I’m featuring TODAY on RoadKill Rescue. Look for a live post within the next hour! 🙂 I have to think a bit to come up with some more adjectives to describe this tree real quick, none of the ones I already know seem to suffice. 🙂
How exciting, thank you SO MUCH! Whoo-hoo, what a great way to start my weekend. Thanks Kimm!
Hey April – Just discovered you and this fabulous project at “Inspired By You” link party. This is super creative! Cheers to a lovely week!
Thanks so much!! Glad you stopped by!
This looks so great!
many greetings
Uwe
Thanks!
Oh WOW! How creative, what a neat project. I love your industrial branch Christmas tree. I wish I had a place to put one. Thanks for sharing! Pinning!
Thanks so much Linda!
Yay April! It’s me again. 🙂 After featuring this amazing tree this week on RoadKill Rescue, I couldn’t be happier to see it linked up to our new link party on my other blog, Reinvented! 🙂 Love. this. tree.
Haha, thank you so much! I saw the new party over on Blogtalk and I’m excited for you guys! Thanks for stopping by (again) and thanks for the feature (again)!
Love this Christmas tree!! Very creative and beautiful!!
Thanks so much Keri!
Wow, what a great idea! I love how it turned out, it looks beautiful during the day, but also at night!!!
Thank you so much!
This is so pretty, how did you get the snowflakes to stick to the brick?
Thanks Diane! There is a link in the article to the full tutorial, but I basically used the “dorm putty”. So glad you stopped by!
This looks so festive and beautiful! I can’t even imagine what you thought when the crash woke you up!! Glad you found a better solution.
Me too, haha! Thanks for coming by!
I absolutely adore this! Pinning and sharing for sure. I’ve always wanted to justify a second tree. This might be my answer. Gorgeous!
Thanks so much Malia!
Love this!! I need to figure out somewhere to put one up in my house!! That spigot thing at the bottom looks like a gas line for a gas fire place.
It’s so weird, there is no fireplace around that wall! I need to get someone to tell me what it is, but for now I just call it my tree holder ;). Thanks for stopping by!
SO stunning. I would never want to take this down. It would be Christmas all year round at my house!
haha! Thanks Sonja. I just thought the other day I’m probably not going to like that blank wall as much once I take it down! Thanks for stopping by!
Looks amazing I have pinned it – thank you for joining in Pin worthy Wednesday.
Thanks so much!
April you are so creative! I LOVE this so much. What a great idea and I just love how it looks all lit up. Beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing at The Creative Circle Link Party. Pinned!
Thanks so much Deb!
I love, love, love this tree April! I am always so happy when you can incorporate aspects of nature into the decor; so pretty! Thank you for linking this up at the Bewitchin’ Projects Block Party last week. You were one of my featured picks over at Recreated Designs. Hugs, Lisa
I’m truly honored, thank you so much! So glad you liked it and thanks for stopping by!
Hi April,
The brick backdrop is just perfect for your industrial branch Christmas tree! I love all the snowflakes that you added all around it. I am a bit jealous you already have all your Christmas decorations up! But I guess that makes sense as a blogger to get it done early so you can share amazing things like this! Thanks for partying with us at Talented Tuesday. Hope you have a happy Thanksgiving!
Cheers,
AJ
Thank you so much AJ! I wouldn’t say I have ALL of it done, haha. But, I am looking forward to enjoying them a little longer this year. Thanks for stopping by!
How did you plug all the light strings together without having strands in between the branches? BTW- fantabulous post!
Thank you Bobbie! Since they are battery operated, I just did one string per branch. I did the larger string on the larger sets and the smaller strings on the smaller branches. They are on timers, which is really nice, I haven’t had to touch them since I turned them on the first time. Thanks for stopping by!
This is so cool!! You’re right, it looks amazing all lit up at night!
Thank you Jenny!
This is so neat!
Thanks for sharing at the Create -Share -Inspire link party.
Come back soon!
Thank you so much!