DIY Potted Topiary Skinny Christmas Trees in Urns
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by
Thrifty Artsy Girl
(IC: blogger)
I decided (in July oddly enough) that I was going to try something new with our living room Christmas tree. This year I put an upcycled media cabinet on one side of the fireplace, and a new (but also upcycled) matching cabinet on the other side (I have these cabinet posts up here on hometalk). This left me with no room to put our extremely wide Christmas tree in the corner.
I looked at the space I had to work with and it came to me: I could put up two skinny trees in urns on either side of the fireplace. It would look unexpected and elegant at the same time. I was so excited I immediately looked up Christmas trees online and found a steal of a summer clearance deal on two 7 1/2 foot pencil thin trees. I can't quite remember exactly what I spent, $50ish sticks out in my mind. I know it wasn't much considering brand new tree prices (I'm such a cheapskate). If I could have gotton away with finding matching trees on Craigslist or at the thrift store that would have been my first choice, but that would have been like finding a needle in a haystack.
The first thing I did was cut down the PVC pipe. I figured 9 inches in length so that the bottom branches would be just touching the top of the urn.
I planned on preparing the urn "bases" while it was warm outside but time got away from me (as it often does) and I had to put them together while it was cold outside. I set up my concrete mixing area in the garage and opened the door. I lined my plastic pots with garbage bags since they had drainage holes in them. I filled a watering can and grabbed a terra cotta pot to scoop out the concrete mix (yep found that in the garage). I also brought out a level to make sure the pvc pipes were straight.
I followed the directions on the bag and in less than five minutes I had completed bases. Definitely an easy project, although a little messy. For sure wear a mask when mixing cement so you don't breathe in any dust and maybe gloves would be helpful (as you can see I did not wear gloves).
I let the cement dry for a couple of hours, cut the garbage bags away and then brought those puppies inside to see if they would hold the trees up. I put the bases inside the urns and since I was unable to find two of the same size plastic pot I had to slip a couple of flat rocks down the side of the smaller pot so it would not move at all when the tree was up.
They worked perfect! I could not be more pleased with how straight and stable my "homemade" bases hold these trees up. I could just sit in my cozy Christmas living room all day long!
I'm glad I purchased the 7 1/2 foot trees since with the added height of the bases they measure to be about 8 1/2 feet, just perfect for our 9 foot ceilings.
I really love how my homemade potted topiary Christmas trees turned out, it was very little effort for two elegant Christmas trees that I'm sure we'll enjoy for years to come! To see the complete tutorial or to view tons more pictures stop by my blog :)!
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Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Published December 8th, 2015 11:43 AM
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2 of 23 comments
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Beverly Campbell on Feb 14, 2017
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Spi16010854 on Jan 02, 2018
Beautiful ! The trees could be decorated for Christmas or Valentines day, practically any time you want.
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