When I say from Trash to Christmas Treasure, it’s really not just a line… literally that’s what began a whole new passion for me, working with discarded distressed wood.
Doug really started it all when he came home one day with a truck full of fence wood, cast off on the side of the road. He quickly went about building what ended up being my Second Home, Workshop, Playhouse for the grand kids, Potting Shed, She Shed, etc…
After that day I began to think what else I could make with distressed thrown out wood? It just took off from there.
So this isn’t so much a how to DIY but more a blog that hopefully may inspire you!
Christmas in my workshop is pretty great…I love to work in there with my little heater. My creative juices go wild!
In my shed I found myself making Christmas decor different from any other decorations … that’s the whole idea!
But… lets start at the beginning.
I’ve talked about this before. Sometimes you can go to fencing companies who will gladly give you their old fence castoffs. Always wash the wood really well, wear a mask and gloves then just go for it.
Here’s just some of what I’ve made for Christmas out of cast off wood. Hopefully you get some ideas. I’d love to see what you come up with!!
Whether Christmas Trees, Boxes, Trays or Christmas Signs, there’s so much you can do!!
First, our Distressed Wood Christmas Trees…
This is a bit time consuming. You do have to rip the wood to size for the branch, paint the wood as desired. I always use red and white along with the natural wood. That’s just my preference. Really Doug assembles them all. I merely direct!! I’m good at that 🙂
You can make your star out of wood, we always use rusted tin. Just add rust!!!
I love my porch made a little more modern this year with a great Sign I purchased at Vintage Begonia located in Old Town Temecula. My trees go great with this beautiful sign as well as our cedar porch ceiling and bench we also made from a plank of cedar.
Something else I’ve found really easy to make are Boxes!
Add five pieces of wood and you have a box. Boxes of all kinds. Tall sides or short…you design it the way you want it!
Add a birch branch and you’ve got a great utility box, dish container, or just a fun way to display your Christmas Decor!
It works great on your Christmas Table to display your dishes and chargers!
Or for your garden shed to hold plants or tools…
I’ve been playing with black this year and I have to say I do love it. It’s not for everyone but it works in my house!
Boxes can also be made in all shapes and sizes to hold your Christmas berries and pine branches…
Or how about a 4 feet long box. I use mine to hold all my large pine cones! These were collected by my son Ian, his wife Suzanne and granddaughters Madi and Hannah! I love them!!
Did you know you can dry pine cones in your oven set on low heat?? I dried all these pine cones, my house smelled amazing!!
How about a Window Flower Box hung with a french cleat! I have done a French Cleat blog so just go in my history to see how that would work for your Window Box!
Another great way to use your distressed wood is with TRAYS!
This photo was taken from a Christmas Boutique I held a couple years ago. Notice how much I made from distressed wood!
Almost EVERYTHING!!!
These trays are great on your kitchen island, or as a lap tray and even homework. Choose your handles to match your decor.
How about a Utility Display Tray on Casters for your Table or on your Kitchen Island like the one shown here on my daughter in-law Kristen’s. The one I made Kristen is 4 ft long and left with natural wood. You can also paint white, red or even black! They’re so fun for displaying food, condiments or Christmas decor.
**If you do use these trays to serve food, you must clean and then seal with Butcher Block Cleaner/sealer. **
Now with the same method, you can also make an Amazing Back to mount your photos. Something you can really leave up all year long! We love to print Doug’s Holiday photos on metal then mount them to distressed wood backing for a floating look! I have them mounted with 1/4 inch float so they are not removable, but you can use a thin piece of wood to accomplish the same thing. Just put in a screw to change out your photos throughout the year!
At a visit to Myrtle Creek in Fallbrook, Doug took the photo below of Christmas Trees lined up in a row! It was so beautiful. We were there on a outing taking family photos and to get our Christmas trees. Adding a memory like that gives so much more meaning.
The darling Snowman ornament above is one of my favorite Christmas photos.
Below I made three different Christmas Decorations out of scraps of wood . First with several pieces of birch I made a tree with a star made of rusted tin. Second adding a bottle brush tree to a an old tin can then mounting to a plank of distressed wood. Third another one of Doug’s photos of a Temecula Vineyard one year when it actually snowed mounted to a one of our wood backings.
(All of these are now in my daughter in-law Kristen’s home. She’s one of my biggest fans, nice!)
Adding a birch branch to the top of this picture makes a more rustic look. This again was in Temecula!!! That was just crazy freak storm! For those of you who don’t know Temecula, it’s normally hot here…we don’t get snow!
Another way to use the same wood backing is to mount a metal sign like the one we had made by Kelly at Faraway Hood, hanging now over our bed… I love that sign!! She does all sorts of cool signs you can mount yourself or you can actually order them already mounted to wood.
Check her out!!! http://www.farawayhood.com/
We also gave one to both of our kids customized just for them. My sons helped me with this so their wife’s were totally surprised. They also have mounted theirs to wood and have them displayed in their family rooms…Great Gift Idea here!!!
Ok, below you might be thinking, what is this????
It could be the backing for a photo, a tray, a sign but believe it or not its our headboard. This wood was very special to Doug and I. My sister Linda brought it specially packed from a farm in Iowa… I think. I’m probably getting this wrong but to my memory it was from an Amish Barn. We hung this the same way we did the Window Flower Box with a French Cleat. So surprisingly easy! This will always be my headboard because of the special meaning it brings.
Thank you Linda!!
Look how beautiful the grain of that old Amish Wood….
I have so much more I want to share and next week I’m going to try to do a DIY on Wood Etching/ Carving!!
We’ll see if I can do a step by step tutorial…or maybe a video…You would think with Doug being a photographer I would like having my picture taken…I hate it! Poor Guy.
You do not have to be an artist to wood carve, I promise!
Get your Dremel Ready !!
Merry Christmas!!
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