DIY Chippy White Spindle Tree for Christmas
I'm sharing how to make a chippy white spindle tree from an old crib rail and chair spindles for a sweet and shabby vintage addition to your Christmas decor.
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Hi friends and welcome to the December edition of
Thrifty Style Team, hosted by Julie of
Redhead Can Decorate. We are a group of bloggers who love sharing our best inexpensive home decor
and DIY ideas with you each month! You'll find links to all the projects
below.
I am SO excited about my spindle tree and to share this project with you
today!!! I've been wanting to make a spindle tree for a long time, and it
finally happened...with lots of help from Mr DIY ❤ It brings me great joy to
make something beautiful and collectible from something that's been discarded!
I love chippy white pieces. They just speak to me, and a couple years ago I
cut up an old wood chair using my amazing
Dremel Saw Max (I love this tool!) and came up with an
easy technique to make chippy white spindles.
What did I do with those spindles? I hung some of them on my Christmas
trees that year! See my
blue and white French farmhouse Christmas tree here
and my
red and white Santa's workshop Christmas tree here.
I also made some
farmhouse candleholders from the chippy spindles. I assure you that my chippy white spindles haven't been wasted and I've
enjoyed finding unique ways to decorate with them.
Using a crib rail for a spindle tree
I've had an old brown crib side rail sitting in my garage for a couple years
(picked up curbside), and this year I told Mr DIY it was time to make a
spindle tree for Christmas! I had spotted a tutorial in American Farmhouse
Style magazine for a spindle tree, and it was the exact look I'd had in my
head! Sausha of Sweet Pickins Milk Paint put together a
fabulous tutorial
and I used it as the base for my spindle tree.
Let's do this!
How to Make a Chippy White Spindle Christmas Tree
I'll direct you to Sausha's tutorial above for the majority of this 'build'.
It was really quite easy to do and we had nearly all the supplies we needed.
Determine size of tree and cut spindles
I started by laying out all my crib spindles and leftover spindles from the
chair that I cut up to get an idea of the size and shape for my tree. A little
frog tape
helped me visualize the tree shape. I marked the spindles and Mr DIY cut them
down with our
miter saw
(one at a time so I could keep them in order!)
You can see that I chose to use a finial for the top of the tree, and a piece
of my chair for the trunk. I had a leftover finial after making
these easy DIY finial wood Christmas ornaments
and using them as the base of my
easy beaded wood tray with crackle finish. These finials are a great buy; they come in a package of 2 from Lowes for
only $2.98! You can
find them here.
The thing to note here is that my crib spindles were all the same size, and my
chair spindles were a little bit bigger, much different than the inspiration
project which had a large wide spindle at the bottom which added some cool
variation.
You can really use anything and make it work! If you just have a few spindles,
adjust this tutorial and make a small, tabletop tree!
I managed to even use the ends of the spindles that we cut off for the top
smaller portions of the tree.
Drill a hole through middle of each spindle
Once the spindles were cut, we needed to drill a hole through the middle of
each one, so we could thread the
metal rod
that is necessary to give the tree structure and stability. The trunk pieces
were a little more challenging because the hole needed to be drilled straight
down the entire middle of the spindle. Mr DIY used a
drill press
to make that easier.
The drill left the holes kinda ragged, but you don't even notice that once the
tree is all put together.
Cut metal rod to size
We did a 'dry run', to see how tall our tree was compared to the metal rod. I
think the rod was 3 feet, so we had to cut a little bit off.
Paint and chippy all wood pieces
Before threading all the spindles onto the rod, I painted and 'chippied' (I
may have just invented a new word, lol) all of the brown crib rails so they
matched my chippy white chair spindles. I used the same
DIY chippy paint technique
that I did a couple years ago. It's easy and goes fairly quickly. You just
need
white chalk paint, a wax candle and a
razor blade scraper.
Once the paint was dry and the pieces were as chippy as I wanted them, I
threaded each piece onto the metal rod, starting with the base and trunk. Oh,
and we ended up adding another small section of a chair spindle to make the
trunk a little bit taller.
The results are just what I imagined! This little chippy white spindle tree is
adorable! Just look at all that white chippy goodness ❤
The spindles are fairly loose on the rod, so they can be rotated or left flat
for an entirely different look.
I considered hanging some red ornaments from the spindle ends but decided it
was cute as is. My DIY Christmas spindle tree is currently hanging out on our
front porch and it looks so cute.
You can see my Christmas plaid porch tour here.
What do you think? Do you need a chippy white spindle tree in your life?? I'd
love to hear your thoughts!
Finding Old Spindles
The best (and least expensive) place to find spindles is by looking for old
chairs or a crib curbside on garbage days or even ask your family and friends
if anyone is looking to get rid of one.
I actually have been walking by a chair at the curb this week and had to
stop myself from bringing it home!
You might have luck with FB Marketplace or Craigslist or even
FreeCycle. If you're
still having a difficult time finding spindles, I've sourced a few for you
below.
SHOP SPINDLES
Please make sure to visit the links below, the Thrifty Style Team gals are
so talented and always have great ideas to share!
Pin it to remember
More Great Ideas From the Thrifty Style Team
DIY Beautify -
you are here
The Tattered Pew - How to Make an Ivy Topiary From a Wire Hanger
The How To Home - How to Dress up a Cheap Poinsettia Plant so it Looks Expensive
2 Bees in a Pod - DIY Christmas Matchbox - Perfect Gift
Postcards From the Ridge - Festive Christmas Table Decor That Anyone Can Do
Lora Bloomquist Create and Ponder - Scrabble Holiday Art How To
I Should be Mopping the Floor - Free Retro Santa Printables
Sweet Pea - Painted Christmas Stocking
Cottage on Bunker Hill -
How to Make a Wreath out of Gingerbread Salt Dough
Click here to see ALL my Christmas projects
in one convenient place!
You are so creative, Cindy! I love this chippy tree. It's perfect for Christmas especially for a shabby chic lover like me. Have a very Merry Christmas sweet friend. xo
ReplyDeleteThank you Mary Beth, it does have a sweet shabby chic feel! Merry Christmas my friend ❤
DeleteCindy - You have done it again! Your spindle tree is so charming and perfect for Christmas! Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! Merry Christmas 🌲
DeleteI love this project, Cindy! You will enjoy using this for Christmas decor for years to come.
ReplyDeleteThank you sweet friend I definitely plan to 🌲
DeleteAbsolutely love it! Yes, I think I need one of these in my life, because I still have plenty of spindles in my stash. I really like that you can spin the spindles for a totally different look!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lora, I still want to make some of your spindle snowflakes! Merry Christmas friend!
DeleteThis is my favorite Christmas idea I've seen this year! I love how tall you made it by extending the bottom. Brilliant all the way around, Cindy!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Julie!
DeleteThis is my favorite Christmas idea I've seen this year! I love how tall you made it by extending the bottom. Brilliant all the way around, Cindy!
ReplyDeleteThis is one of my favorite projects that you have done Cindy!! It's so adorable!!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteCindy, this is such a cute and clever diy tree! I've put one of those small electric hand saws on my Christmas list. I didn't know they existed! Have a wonderful Christmas.
ReplyDeleteThanks Angie, you will love the handy saw!
DeleteCindy- I can't begin to tell you how adorable this is. I love all of the added interest the chippy spindles give this tree. It's seriously fantastic. Merry Christmas, friend! xoxo
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Kristi, I'm so happy you like it! Merry Christmas my friend! ❤🌲
Delete