DIY Wooden Christmas Tree Skirt Box –BUILDING PLANS!

I love a good multipurpose project and this one is great for SO MANY THINGS!

Some Notes About Building the Wooden Christmas Tree Skirt Box:

Material Selection:

This project was built using basic constructions lumber–2x4s, 1x4s, and 1x6s.

Square Board Edges:

Speaking of table saws, I used mine to square off the rounded edges of my 2x4s before building. You could also use a jointer for this instead. This is TOTALLY OPTIONAL and not required.

However, squaring off the rounded edges will create cleaner joints and just makes the project look a little nicer.

If you aren’t sure what I’m talking about, check out this post about how and why to square board edges.

Overall Dimensions:

The overall project dimensions for this Christmas Tree Skirt Box d are 21 ½″ tall, 38″ wide, 18 ½″ deep.

*Note that the Christmas tree skirt box without the lid closed is 18″ tall. You don’t HAVE to add the lid for the tree stand box, but when the season is over, the lid makes it nice to be able to use it for storage.

HELPFUL RESOURCES TO USE IN THE BUILD:

Throughout the build, you may find these guides helpful to complete the project:

You can check out the printable plans available on Kreg Tool here. And the building tutorial is shown below as well.

Step 1: Assemble Frame Sides

The Christmas tree skirt box will need two of these side panels. You can see in the diagram below that the top and bottom boards are 2x4s, but the vertical pieces are 2″ wide.

This isn’t a common precut size, so these will need to be ripped this width on a table saw. BUT, if you don’t have a table saw or don’t want to rip these, you can use full width 2x4s as well.

I drilled 1 ½″ pocket holes into the ends of all four pieces for each frame. (The holes in the top/bottom boards won’t be used until the next step, but it’s easier to go ahead and drill them now.)

I assembled two side frames using 1 ½″ pocket holes and 2 ½″ pocket hole screws through the ends of the vertical pieces.

Step 2: Complete Tree Skirt Box Frame

I built two frames like shown in the diagram below for the front and the back of the wooden Christmas tree skirt box.

These frames are made from 2×4 boards and are assembled using 1 ½″ pocket holes and 2 ½″ pocket hole screws through the vertical pieces like shown.

Then, to complete the whole frame, I used 2 ½″ pocket hole screws through the holes drilled in step 1 in the top and bottom boards to assemble the front, back and side panels all together.

Step 3: Install Wooden Tree Skirt Box Bottom

I cut to fit a piece of ¾″ plywood to insert into the bottom of this frame. You will only need a piece about 15 ½″ x 35″.

Once I made sure my plywood would indeed fit into the bottom of this frame, I drilled pocket holes around the edges and tapped it into place so that it was about ¾″ up from the bottom edge.

Then, I installed it using 1 ¼″ pocket hole screws.

Step 4: Add Slats on Sides

The sides slats of this project are 1×4 boards, but you could also use other widths instead if you preferred.

I cut several to line each side with–starting with the longer sides first. I dry fit them in place–10 should fit just perfect.

But if the fit is a little too snug, you may have to trim a blade width or two off the end pieces.

Once I made sure they’d fit, I used some wood glue and 1 ¼″ wood screws to secure them to the frame.

After the long sides were installed, I repeated for the short sides, except these should have slats per side.

Step 5: Build Optional Lid Frame

Since this is a wooden Christmas tree stand, the lid is actually optional. If you want to use it for a hope chest or bench during the off season, then obviously, add the top.

If you’d like to build the lid, first, I started with the frame. I built the frame from 2x4s and simply cut four pieces so that the overall size of the frame was the same as the main box.

I used 1 ½″ pocket holes and 2 ½″ pocket hole screws to assemble it.

The top slats on the lid will rest down into this frame, so I lined the inside of the frame with 1x3s so that they were ¾″ down from the top. The slats can rest on these.

I just used some wood glue and 1 ¼″ screws to attach them.

Then, I cut to fit two 1x2s to run between them using ¾″ pocket holes and 1 ¼″ pocket hole screws.

I evenly spaced these and attached flush to the TOP of the 1x3s (so they were also ¾″ down from the top of the 2×4 frame).

NOTE: Put pocket holes facing the top so they’ll be hidden later by the slats.

Step 6: Install Lid Slats

Cut three 1×6 boards to fit into the lid frame. You’ll be able to fit two whole 1x6s, but you’ll need to rip the third one’s width to fit.

Dry fit and cut the pieces to fit first. Once you ensure the fit, remove them, and add some wood glue on the 1x3s and 1x2s from Step 5 and set them back in place.

Step 7: Attach Lid to Christmas Tree Skirt Box

Now that the chest and the lid are assembled, the final step is putting them together!

Before adding the lid, I went ahead and stained the pieces separately to make things easier. I stained them Minwax Early American.

Then, I used some non-mortise hinges to attach the lid. I simply screwed the hinges to the top edge of the back of the chest, then screwed the other half of the hinge to the bottom of the lid.

Additionally, I added some soft close mechanisms since the lid is rather heavy.

However, adding these makes the lid not open fully, so they’ll need to be removed/adjusted when using as a Christmas tree stand. Then, you can put them back when the season is over if you’d like.

Step 8: Finish Tree Skirt Box

To finish up, I added a latch to the lid and some latches on the sides and gave it a few coats of Minwax Helmsman clear poly to seal it.

And then, it was ready for all the seasons!

You can fully open the lid to place the tree inside, OR remove the lid altogether while in use as a tree stand.

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Until next time, friends, happy building!