Christmas Tree Package Storage Bin

This year I am so excited to partner with The Home Depot to create this fun and trendy holiday craft.

If you are like me during the holidays, you get tons of packages and they end up all over the front porch or sometimes hidden in planters or outdoor cushions.
I am making these Christmas Tree Package Storage Bins that will be both decorative and functional.

I first determined my measurements. I used a large sheet of paper and T-square to draw out the sizes of the tree. I knew that I wanted the tree branches to cover the front of the box and the box was about 10” wide. I decided to cut the tree branch lengths 13”. I wanted the widest branch to be about 4” wide.

Since I was stacking the crates, I knew that the height of each crate would be 12” so I wanted my trees to be more than 24” tall to account for two.

I used a table saw to cut the 13” sections. This gave me about 3 or 4 sections to work with. Once I had smaller sections to work with I cut about 6-8 (4” pieces, 3” pieces, 2” pieces and 1” wide pieces) so that I would have a variety of widths.

This is the most important step. Once I had my pieces selected, I labeled all the pieces of my branches. I labeled them by if they went on the left or right and which order number from bottom to top. It's super easy to get confused and cut the wrong thing when you are doing this type of project.

On the opposite side of where I cut the 45-degree angle of each piece I used my triangle square and measured 40 degrees.

I laid my pieces together how I wanted to make the trees like a puzzle. I used painter’s tape to hold them in place.

I used the regular common Plywood board and cut four 3” strips in order to make the tree trunks.

I cut my tree trunk to fit my tree then I used wood glue to secure the tree branches onto the tree trunk.

Since I wanted these bins to be taller, I stacked two crates. I removed the bottom slats on the top crate.

I stacked the crates and then used the slats I removed from the top box and placed them in the stacked crates to attach them together on the inside. I drilled the slats to the boxes to secure them together. I also used straight brackets on the crate faces to secure (the trees will be covering them).

I painted the trees using Behr Vine Leaf paint. One of the boxes I painted the trees before I attached them but on the first one I forgot to do that so I recommend painting them before attaching.

I used wood glue and glued the trees to both faces of the bins. I used clamps to allow them to dry. Once the glue was dry I secured them on with screws. I used 1 ¾-2” size wood screws.

I did two boxes with two different themes.

• Longer 27” Crate: The box for larger packages I did a classic Christmas theme. I painted the crates with Behr Dark Crimson and since it was such a long crate, I needed a slat in the center to add more stability. I used an extra slat that I had removed from the crates when I stacked them. I painted it green so that when I drilled it on the side it would look like a present ribbon.
• Shorter 18” Crate:
  This box I did a more modern minimalist style. I kept it simple and sanded and stained the crates using Varanthe (Provincial) stain. Then I attached the painted trees.

I let the paint and stain dry overnight then I sprayed the bins with weatherproofing. I used the Olympic Water Guard Clear Wood Sealer.

This is the part where you can add your own decorations and get as creative as you want. I made a tag that says Santa’s Gifts from leftover plywood. I used a Mitre saw and cut it into a tag shape.