4 DIY Christmas trees to create and paint yourself

With Christmas just around the corner, thoughts may have turned to festive decorating and that ever-important Christmas tree. With living spaces getting smaller and the public getting more creative, why not unleash your inner artist this month and make one of these non-traditional DIY Christmas trees? Whether you’re a business owner, work in an office or simply fancy spreading the festive cheer in your own home, grab some paint and get arty with these design ideas from Star Paint.

4 DIY Christmas Trees

1. Wall graphic

The idea of painting on your own walls can be daunting, but contrary to popular belief can be very easy – plus the results look spectacular. A stencil is the easiest way to ensure your design is neat and tidy, but if you can’t find your desired stencil in store, it is simple to make your own. For this design, you will need a stencil of a Christmas tree, a selection of paint colours including green, red and gold and various different paint brushes. We recommend using Star Paint’s Dura Star Acrylic (DUR) due to its hard-wearing and durable resistance for your DIY Christmas trees.

Step 1: Tape your stencil to your wall (ensure it is straight).

Step 2: Take your time and carefully fill in the stencil using a green shade (or another colour if you don’t want a green tree) and medium-sized paintbrush.

Step 3: Once the main body has been painted, leave it to dry. Once it has dried, begin painting decorations on your tree in bright colours such as red or blue. A smaller paint brush will work best here. Choosing a colour palette for your home/office can be difficult, so why not use this handy advice on which colour combinations ALWAYS work?

Step 4: Then move on to your star. Using a gold paint and a thin paintbrush, sketch a star at the top of your tree.

Step 5: Once your DIY Christmas tree has dried, place your presents on the floor and admire from afar.

Variation: if you really don’t want to paint directly onto a wall, why not paint your Christmas tree on a plank of thin wood/ chipboard or even sticking together some pallets planks in the shape of a tree and paint those. Let your imagination go wild.

2. Book crazy

How about using books for your DIY Christmas trees? For this method, you’ll need a selection of books, two small boxes and decorations.

Step 1: Sort your books by size and cover in paper. Using a paint such as Star Paint’s Super Sheen Acrylic, paint each book in a dark green colour. This is your tree.

Step 2: Take one of the boxes and use it as a base then place the heaviest of your books around the box.

Step 3: Place the other box (which helps if it is slightly smaller) on top of the other box. Continue building and stacking your books around it.

Step 4: Once you have finished stacking the books, it is now time to create the top of your tree. Choose smaller books and cover in paper. Then using an acrylic paint in a yellow/gold shade, paint the smaller boxes – this is your star for the top. Once dry, place the smaller painted books on top.

Step 5: Your tree is ready and it’s time to decorate. String lights around your DIY Christmas tree and place decorations on flat surfaces.

Variation: install floating shelves of increasing width from top to bottom (so it forms a triangle) and place the covered and painted books on the shelves. Find creative ways to arrange the books and hang decorations on your tree.

3.Tree branch

For this idea, you will need to find a dry tree branch (with no leaves). If you can’t easily find one of these then some shops may sell something similar. You’ll also need a selection of paints (white, silver and gold look best) plus some glitter. Star Paint’s High Gloss Enamel (HGE) works best on wood and comes in white.

Step 1: Place some newspaper on your surface to protect it.

Step 2: Lay the dry tree branch on the newspaper. If you foraged it from outside, you may need to wash any mud or dirt off it.

Step 3: Next, it’s time to get painting. When working with a brush, cover the brush with paint and smooth over the branch twigs. It is important that they are evenly covered. Simply brush the paint over every piece of the dry tree branch (you will get lots on the newspaper, but that’s what it’s for).

Step 4: Whilst the paint is still tacky, sprinkle silver glitter all over and then leave to dry.

Step 5: Once the dry tree branch is completely dry, place it in a pot or vase and secure with sand or coloured stones. Hang decorations on the twigs and you can even add some lights or tinsel if you want. There you have it – your very own moveable Christmas tree.

4. Style it with string

Possibly one of the simplest yet most stylish methods to creating a DIY Christmas tree. For this design, you’ll need some string or wool and some nails. You will also need some silver paint to finish off your minimalist festive decor.

Step 1: Hammer 8 nails into the wall, creating a large triangle shape. Ensure there is a nail at the top and then 4 nails going diagonally from the left-hand side. Then hammer 3 nails going down diagonally from the right-hand side.

Step 2: Use 3 pieces of string to create the outer triangle shape of your tree. Tie each end of the string to the nails.

Step 3: Starting from the top, tie string from one nail and then pull it diagonally to another nail and tie. Complete until you have reached the bottom.

Step 4: Once your string resembles a tree, it’s time paint some decorations. At the top point, paint a star and then at each nail, paint round circles to imply baubles. You may want to add some glitter to complete your look.

Step 5: Once dry, your Christmas tree is complete.

Here’s to a creative Christmas with your DIY Christmas trees. Check this out if you’re looking for more fantastic DIY ideas.