Pallet Christmas Tree

Pinterest is the perhaps what I devote at least 2 hours of my day to some days.  It's be less or sadly, more.  As any pinner knows, it's a fabulous source for ideas that can sometimes go very badly when attempted at home.  Well my lovelies, not today.  Today I had pin success and I am pleased as pie to share it.

Let me take you on a small ride into my past.  I use to put up a Christmas tree every year.  A lovely one, 6.5 feet tall.  My ornaments were silver, blue and white.  I loved putting up my Christmas tree.  LOVED is the key word.  One year we adopted a cat.  We named him Walter and introduced him to said tree.  Needless to say, the tree hasn't been up in two years.  Walter, the sweet angel, destroyed our tree.  Couple years later, I find Pinterest.  Then I find this little number on pinterest and decide it is my destiny.

Cat proof and awesome.Better yet, I have a vast supply of pallets at my job.  So this weekend I decided to create my own version of my European inspiration.  Follow the jump to see the instructions and final product.
First acquire a pallet.  If you look around chances are you will find one laying around somewhere.

Next, remove the the back cross pieces.

On the front side, the "good side," use a straight edge to mark the shape of your tree.

Once your tree is drawn, take a saw and cut the lines.  I used a jigsaw, but a circular saw will work way better.

After I had the tree shape cut, I used my palm sander with 100 grit paper and sanded the hell out of the tree.  I then switched to 150 grit followed by 220, both sides.  This way the tree was nice and smooth.  Just make sure when you cut and sand you wear protective glasses and a respirator mask.

I attached a picture hanger on the top back of the tree to hang it up on the wall. I then gently hammered in some silver push pins and hung some ornaments on the tree.  WA-LA!  Cat proof pallet Christmas tree.

The cost break down:
Pallet: Free
Hanging hardware bought from Walmart: $6
Ornaments: From my attic, Free
Total time: around 2 hours, the thumb tacks were a bear to hammer in.