Christmas Tree DIY! US$30.00

I'd always wanted a ceiling-high Christmas tree.  And here in tropical Malaysia you don't go to a Christmas tree farm and choose one and drag it back home. Ikea is the only place that sells live trees and they're usually not tall.

That's why we always go the artificial way - and an artificial, 8-foot high tree is about 400 Malaysian Ringgit (that's about US$120).  Taking into consideration the number of lights and decoration a really tall tree would need....nope, that would not work for me.

So I did what most DIY-ers do...said those famous, dangerous words, "Bet I could make one myself for much less..."

...so I did.

The original plan to make an eco-friendly one did not work.  It will be shelved for another year (wink).

My criteria, before it got out of hand, which it very well could if I didn't have any:

1.  It had to be ceiling-high
2.  It had to be shabby-chic, rustic, unique
3.  It had to be in tones of blue/white/gold or silver, to match the rest of the living room
4.  It had to be within a budget of RM100.  Whether that was a realistic figure or not, I determined to go by  Project Runway Tim Gunn's motto: "Make it work!"

I looked at my ladder - perfect height.  I spread the ladder and had to tie it to a fixed position, as I did not want it to open all the way.  This is because I had to have a tall, narrow tree, not one that is so wide it takes up a lot of space in my small living room.

The only suitable round thing I had in the house was a rattan hula hoop, which I put over the top and down the ladder.

 Then I looked through my trash treasure and found this copper looking thing which (as usual) I have no idea is what.

 I taped it into a bigger hoop for the base of my tree and a smaller one for the top.

Then I wrapped the whole thing in wire mesh (about 1inch squares) which I had bought, tying the mesh to the hoops to keep it in place.  When I ran out of mesh, I used our leftover barbeque mesh with smaller holes which worked out well for the top of the tree.  My husband helped me make sure the mesh was a nice conical shape (yes, he made me say that).

Then the lights were twirled around the wiremesh cone.  Did you know I figured out all by myself the spacing and just how many spirals that would take, and how many lights would be needed?  I used string to get the spirals in place, measured the string, then put on the lights and removed the string!  Sometimes my ingenuity amazes me!  Surprisingly the tall but skinny tree took only 300 lights (3 strings of 100 lights each).

And here's the fun part! I cut a hundred and nineteen pairs of denim jeans into 3 inch square patches - and just poked the patches through the wire mesh!  Why denim?  tones of blue, remember?

 Now work out the math!  Anyone wants to try to figure out how many holes needed to be filled? Good grief!  It's like the circumference multiply by the height add the area or something something like that! You can see Math was never my strength. My mother who lives with us, was eyeing me throughout this whole longsuffering project and who probably thought she'd have to eat takeaways for the next one week decided to get in on the action.  She helped cut the square patches, too.

And can you see a  problem here?  I had no ladder to reach the higher parts...my ladder was the support base for the whole cone, remember?  So, my mother had her 'heart in her mouth' each time I climbed up onto this:

Then the baubles went on - I used all gold (the silver did not work well).

I kept running out of jeans...at that point anybody who happened to come by, and were wearing anything denim were in trouble.  At first I used what we had, then I bought some from a jumble sale,  then I asked people for some .  I had told my friends to be sure they had no sentimental attachment to the jeans they were giving me as I was going to cut them and didn't want them bleeding when I did so.  Lastly, my husband's old trousers and shirts, as long as they were in blue tones, were 'sacrificed' (yes, he made me say that).  To get a somewhat even tone, I bought a can of snow spray and sprayed the darker blue fabric randomly.


And then I came to a halt.

Originally, I had wanted an angel for the top of the tree.  It had to be a fairly large angel to be in proportion, but I could not find one in any mall I had gone to.  Even stars did not have the right look nor were they in the right size.

So I did what most DIY-ers do...said those famous, dangerous words, "Bet I could make one myself for much less"....

...so I did.

I found a piece of sack cloth among my trash treasure which I remembered asking my favourite paint shop man for, months ago.  (I have no idea where to get burlap, which should work).

 I made a 3D star out of cardboard, and wrapped it with the sack cloth.  I love the texture of this cloth.

 

Then I found this ball of stringed gold sequins which I had bought a long time ago from Daiso, that amazing Japanese shop that sells everything for RM5.00.  I twirled and glued it on by hand as my glue gun had blown two days before!

I absolutely love my hand-made rustic blingy star!

Total cost:

Wire mesh                                         40.00
3 boxes of 100 lights, each 6.50         19.50
Gold decor (some old ones)               21.00
Snow spray 1 can                                1.90
Jeans from jumble sale 6pairs x 3        18.00
                                                 __________
                                                 RM 100.40 !
                                                 __________

 

So here's my 9 and a half foot high DIY Denim Christmas tree for RM100!

 And some great friends posing by it.

                      

Denim jeans or skirt credits:
Bavaani           3 pairs
Abhishek         2
Paul                 3
Ai Vee             3
Getsy               1
Yvonne            1

Jumble Sale      6

                    ____
                     19  pairs denim jeans or skirts, plus about 5 non-denim
                    -----

The best part is I don't have to store away this huge thing.  I will just disassemble it, and use the mesh for barbecue pits.  And the denim patches...I will use them to make a funky patchwork bedspread.  When I turn 82.

What do you think?  Do you like my star?  Do you like my tree?  Next Christmas I have other plans!  Do write your comments at the bottom of this post.  I love all your comments!