Four years ago we bought a $50 dollar tree at Canadian Tire, similar to this tree. It was our first Christmas together and Mark took me on a date night to Canadian Tire to purchase a tree and all the ornaments.  Before Mark I lived on my own for a VERY long time. I never had a tree. I’d usually buy one of those little shrubs from the grocery store to put on my kitchen table. Obviously we wanted to buy something on a budget and ended up finding this great tree for only $50. The best part about the tree is that although it has the fake branches, on the end of every section it has some branches that look real. This is the key to purchasing a fake tree. Getting one that has branches that look authentic.

Since moving into our new home I have tried to get some height on the tree by using a small vintage stool and an old crock I had on hand. I liked the look of this but wanted something a little cleaner. I saw a large basket at my local Salvation Army Thrift Store and thought it would look great at the base of the tree. The basket would leave space for presents, while still giving the tree height. How to accomplish this? The base of the tree wouldn’t fit into the basket. I thought of a few ways to prop it up, none of them would have been good for the weight of the tree. Finally I thought of using a wood stump (we have some for our fireplace). This would give the basket weight, so it wouldn’t tip over. Mark helped me figure out the best tool for the job. All we needed was a spade bit. This would cut a hole in the piece of wood so the tree would easily stand up. What? So easy!

Simple vintage basket DIY.

The basket I bought from the Salvation Army Thrift Store was a great size but I didn’t like the colour. I wanted it to look a little more vintage and not blend in with the floor. I had some walnut stain leftover from our DIY Growler Wall and thought I would try to stain the basket.

Get your materialS

Basket, gloves, stain (whatever colour works for you), plastic drop cloth and an old rag.

Start staining

Simply dip your rag into the stain and brush it onto the basket. I did not let the stain sit at all and wiped off the excess immediately. If you want a darker basket, let the stain set for a little longer then wipe off the excess stain.

let stain dry

Depending on the weather this may take an afternoon or a day.

Wood round

Find a piece of wood that will fit nicely into your basket and then used the spade bit to drill a hole, it is that easy! I don’t have a photo of us drilling the hole because these short winter days are really horrible!

DIY Christmas tree basket cost

Basket: $3.99 (Salvation Army Thrift Store), Spade Bit: $8.49 (Rona), Stain: No Cost as I used what I had on hand, I’ve had this little can of Minwax Walnut for probably 4 projects! It goes a long way (Rona), Wood Round: Free

**Note: Items like the gloves and rags I buy in bulk so don’t include those in my total. If you are thinking of doing more DIY’s these are great investments to make!

TOTAL COST: $12.48

For less than $12.50 I was able to create a new stand for our Christmas tree. The best part is we can also store more of our holiday items in the basket when the season is over. Multi-functional! Compare to this basket which is almost $200. I am sure there are more affordable baskets but all of the popular ones I saw were at least $100. Use that money for some Christmas cheer and DIY an easy Christmas tree base.

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