I'm not a normal Christmas Tree, I'm a cool Christmas Tree.

Modern DIY Christmas Tree (Wooden Dowels)

By Mandi 11/13/2018

If you’re into modern, simplistic, and minimalist decor this project is for you!! This easy DIY wooden dowel Christmas tree is a little bit of Christmas decor for those that maybe don’t want their house to look like the North Pole 2.0. All of the supplies can be purchased at your local hardware store and it can be put together in just a few hours!

DIY Modern Christmas Tree made with Wooden Dowels- EASY DIY!!

To get started you’ll need:

Dowels:

(1) 1in x 48in (for trunk)
(2) 3⁄8in x 48in
(2) 5/16in x 48in
(1) 1⁄4in x 48in

Wood:

3⁄4in plywood or MDF – 9in x 9in piece

Tools:

miter box
miter saw
T-bevel
Drill
Drill bits: 1⁄4in, 3⁄8in , 5⁄16in, 1in spade bit

Supplies:

Painters Tape
Sandpaper
Wood glue

Here’s your cut list:

  • (2) 3⁄8in branches, cut to 14in long
  • (2) 3⁄8in branches, cut to 13in long
  • (2) 3⁄8in branches, cut to 12in long
  • (2) 3⁄8in branches, cut to 10 3⁄4in long
  • (2) 3⁄8in branches, cut to 9 3⁄4in long
  • (2) 3⁄8in branches, cut to 8 3⁄4in long
  • (2) 5⁄16in branches, cut to 7 3⁄4in long
  • (2) 5⁄16in branches, cut to 7in long
  • (2) 5⁄16in branches, cut to 6in long
  • (2) 5⁄16in branches, cut to 5in long
  • (2) 1⁄4in branches, cut to 4 1⁄4in long
  • (2) 1⁄4in branches, cut to 3 1⁄2in long
  • (2) 1⁄4in branches, cut to 2 1⁄2in long

DIY Wooden Dowel Christmas Tree Supplies

Step 1:

Use the 1″ Spade bit to drill hole into your tree base.

DIY Modern Dowel Christmas Tree Step 1: Drill Your Base

Step 2:

Print off the pattern template found here. Wrap it around your 1″ dowel and secure it with painters tape. This template is going to show you exactly where you need to drill and what size drill bit you need to use.

You’ll need 3 drill bits that will correspond with the size of your dowel branches. 3/8, 5/16, 1/4.

The trick to getting all of the branches pointing upward at the same angle is to use an adjustable T Bevel ($10 at Home Depot) You set it to the angle that you want and then use it as a guide while your drilling!

diy-wooden-dowel-christmas-tree-supplies-vintagerevivals-com-4

 

Drilling at an angleAnother tip is to start drilling straight into your dowel, after you have the tip of the drill bit inside, then start on your angle. This will keep your drill bit from skipping around and give you a nice clean entry point.

Dowel Trunk Drilled

Assembly

Once everything is drilled, its time to assemble! Start by putting the larger longer branches in the lower parts of your dowel and build up!

DIY Modern Christmas Tree Build

Once you’ve done your dry run, with all of the dowels in place, you might want to go back and add glue. Just a small drop inside each of the holes on on the trunk will be plenty. If you’re like me and want to be able to take it down once the holiday is over I recommend color coordinating the dowels. Use different colored markers and mark inside the hole on the trunk and on the edge of the dowel. This will make reassembly so easy!

DIY Modern Christmas Tree made with wooden dowels

So adorable right?!! Now its time to decorate!! You can use any type of twinkle light/ornament combo. I opted for bright and colorful, but how great would this be with white twinkle lights and wooden ball garland?!

DIY Modern Christmas Tree

 

I think that this might need to be recreated in a real tree size, how cool would that be?!

5 thoughts on “Modern DIY Christmas Tree (Wooden Dowels)”

  1. I was super jazzed when I found this DIY because I keep seeing these minimalist wood Christmas trees all over Etsy, but don’t want to cough up the money for one.

    Me and my hubby are making this right now. It seems pretty easy and we aren’t particularly skilled in wood crafting either.

    The only thing that we struggled with so far was figuring what lengths to cut, like the 103/4 inch, 93/4 inch, and 83/4 inch length. We finally figured out it was a typo: 10 3/4 in, 9 3/4 in, etc.

    Can’t wait to see the end result!! :3

  2. I started to make this and was frustrated because the pattern for the trunk dowel is not wide enough to wrap around the dowel I had to make my own pattern which was super time consuming. I’m hoping it all works out

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