Growing up in Canada has certainly instilled in me a love of snow. Not the cold… just the snow. Snow is so pretty and makes the winter seem less dark and dreary. It makes the world feel softer and surprisingly lighter and somehow cozier.
I love the look of a snow-covered Christmas tree. Like the outside, the snow makes the tree feel softer and brighter.
I saw this tree a few weeks ago at the store and loved the look of it… but not the price! It wasn’t even a big tree, just a porch-sized tree. I didn’t want to pay that much for a small tree so I went home and got out my paints and something from the dump I thought might work.
The Dump Find Christmas Tree
I found this sad little tree and urn earlier this fall at the dump reuse centre and at the time hadn’t known what I would do with them. When I picked it up, I wasn’t even sure what exactly it was. It was all wrapped up in a large, clear garbage bag so I knew there was some sort of greenery and an urn but that was about it.
Once I got it out of the bag I realized it was identical in size to the snow-covered (flocked) one I had seen at the store.
Painting the Plastic Urn
While I love the basket that the store tree was in (and I may look for one for next year), I decided to just give the urn a facelift for the time being.
Not wanting the urn to be the exact same colour as the tree, I gave it two coats of Fusion Mineral Paint in Mist. Mist is a beautiful, soft blue colour that looks almost white in some light.
The cool blue already made the plastic urn look better.
To highlight the details of the urn, I added some of Fusion’s Antiquing Glaze. I love this glaze to give pieces an instantly old look and it is one of my favourite go-to’s. (see some other projects with it here and here)
After brushing the glaze into the cracks and crevices, I used a damp paper towel to wipe it off the high spots. This left the glaze sitting in the low spots and around the embellishments.
I love the instant age it adds to a piece.
Painting the Tree
The tree itself needed a little TLC before I could begin its transformation. It was quite squished and bent but nothing that a good fluffing couldn’t fix. Did I mention the tree even had lights on it?? That worked! Bonus!
Once the branches were sufficiently fluffed, I started brushing the “needles” with white paint. You do want to be quite gentle so that you don’t get splatters of paint flying everywhere. I used Fusion Mineral Paint in Casement (a soft snowy white) to paint the tree.
You can see how much better the tree already looks below with the white paint on the bottom half.
After letting the paint dry, I wanted to add the clumpy snow so I mixed Fresco powder into the Casement. You want a thick paste consistency when you combine the two.
As soon as the paste was mixed, I randomly globbed it onto the top of the branches.
I was amazed at how little paint it took to cover the entire tree and how pretty it looked once it was all dry.
The Faux Flocked Christmas Tree
To cover the top of the urn, I added some fake snow and that finished off this little beauty perfectly.
You can use the same process on any size tree, wreath, or evergreen branches. It’s such a lovely way to bring the snowy outdoors in.
If you love this look as much as I do, keep your eye out at the thrift store or even on the curb… you never know when you’ll find a little tree that needs a make-over too.
You don’t have to spend a fortune decorating for the holidays. There is always a way to get the look you love for less and, most of the time (at least in my world anyway), it can be done with a little paint 🎄
Grab my list of 10 Things to NEVER Pass Up at the Thrift Store here and make your home look beautiful on a budget as well!
**Please note that this post includes affiliate links. By using the link, the cost does not increase and a small portion of the sale is given back to help fund this blog. For your convenience, you can also find all of my favourite DIY products here. Thank you and Happy Creating! **
