4 Cozy Ways To Decorate Your Home With Branches
When a stiff breeze picks up and starts to shake the trees all over the place, it's time to get inside! But before you retreat to the warmth of your home, you should pick up a few fallen branches and twigs first — there's a whole host of ideas you can try for adding a rustic touch to your living room!
1. Candle Stand
You'll need:
- straight branch
- 2 pieces of wood (as the base)
- hard wax oil
- 2 Mason jar tops
- gold spray paint
- 2 long screws
- 4 short nails
Here's how:
- Saw the branch into two equally-sized pieces and screw them to the base. To prevent the branches from splintering, use a small drill bit to make the hole for the screw. Rub hard wax oil into all of the wooden parts and leave it to be absorbed into the wood.
- Spray gold paint onto the Mason jar tops. Once the paint is dry, use a nail to affix the tops to the branches. Now glue the two remaining nails to center of the tops with the point facing upward. This should provide enough support for your candles.
- You can also decorate your candle stand using pine cones and decorative moss.
2. Squirrel Picture
You'll need:
- strip of wood (80 in x 2 in x 1 in)
- 8 nails
- 2 branches
- pine cones
- thin wooden panel
Here's how:
- Cut the strip of wood into two 25-inch pieces and two 15-inch pieces. Now create a frame by nailing the longer pieces of wood to the shorter ones. Use a triangle to make sure you have a 90° angle.
- It's not time to glue the branches to the frame. Before cutting the branches for the right fit, hold the branches up to the frame in the position you want them and mark where the cuts need to be made. Don't worry about it being 100% accurate; you can close any gaps using the hot glue.
- Draw a silhouette of a squirrel or find one on the internet. Now transfer the drawing to the wooden panel so that you can cut it out. Next, use the hot glue to affix the squirrel and pine cones to the branches on the frame.
3. Lantern
You'll need:
- Mason jar
- twigs
- tea light
Here's how:
- Cut the twigs so that they're slightly taller than the Mason jar.
- Now affix the twigs to the side of the Mason jar and place the tea light inside.
4. Branch Triptych
You'll need:
- 3 picture frames
- branch with twigs
Here's how:
- First, remove the glass and back panel from the picture frames. Now, place the picture frames next to each other and cut the branch into three parts so that each one fits into the frame.
- Before cutting the twigs to size, affix the pieces of branch to the picture frames using hot glue. Next, glue the twigs to the edges of the frame at the places they've been cut.
By following several simple steps, you can add some rustic seasonal charm to your living room in no time at all. So make yourself a nice cup of tea and get to work!