Hey there!  Welcome to Decorate and More with Tip!  Here on my blog I share tips on how you can decorate your home on a budget by creating it from scratch, revamping, re-purposing or giving it a makeover with easy tutorials.  I hope I inspire you to create something beautiful for your home. 🙂

Can you believe Christmas is 5 months away?  I need inspiration for decorating our home this Christmas season, do you?  If you do, I have a blog hop for you!  I gathered 13 friends to offer some Christmas inspiration, all different types.  I am hosting the Christmas hop and hope you join me in hopping over to everyone’s Christmas blog today.  I have listed everyone participating in the hop at the bottom of my page.

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To review all of my Christmas past blogs you can click here → CHRISTMAS.

 

In search for inspiration on Christmas decorations, I tend to stop when I see a sled decorated for the holiday season. You know, the sled we went down on a large snowy hill.  I have thought many of times how I would decorate a wooden sled in our home for the Christmas season.  It would be fun decorating on our hearth, our front porch or even on our dining room table as a centerpiece.  Seriously!!  Every year I say I am going to purchase a sled, but I never do.  Guess what? I am going to have a sled to decorate this Christmas and  I am sharing how I built my own with scrap wood.

CHRISTMAS  SLED  TUTORIAL

I went out into our shed and grabbed some scrap wood I could use for my sled. As you can see, the pieces I have are all different types of wood.  If you are starting from scratch you will want to purchase one type of wood.

My pieces I will be using.

Below, I listed the size of boards you will need.

• Two 1″ x 3″ x 36″  – for the runners
• Two 1″ x 2″ x 13″  – for the support boards
• Two 1″ x 4″ x 20″ – for the side bed slats
• One 1″ x 4″ x 22″ – for the center bed slat
• One 1″ x 4″ x 16″ – for the driving bar
• rope

Tools:

• circular saw
• jigsaw
• electric sander
• drill with drill bits
• nail gun or hammer and nails
• screwdriver
• proper size wood screws for the wood you are using

To make the runners

     1. Since I am using scrap boards I cut a  1″ x 6″ x 36″ in half, lengthwise  – creating my two pieces for my runners  ( 1″ x 3″ x 36″).

     2. After I cut the board, I measured and marked  1 ½” all the way down one side of each board.  I connected the marks to create a cut line.

     3.   I used a 3″ round object to trace a curve shape on one end of my runner.  To make the inner curve I measured 1½” from the traced curve shape.  I hope this made sense.  Repeat for the other runner.

     4.  I cut out the curvature part of the board with a jig saw and a circular saw for the straight cut.

To make the support for the runners

1. I cut two 13″ long piece from a 1″ x 2″ board.  The two pieces will be attached across the runners for support.  I haven’t attached them yet, I will need to sand everything first.

To make the bed slats for the sled

1. I cut one 1″ x 4″ at 22″ long and two pieces at 20″ long.

2. For my bed slats I  want a rounded top edge and for the bottom a straight edge.  How I achieved the look, I used a small coffee can and traced around  the middle board to make a curve shape.

3.  Using the same coffee can I made a curve on both side boards to create a curve top edge.  Using a jig saw to cut the shapes out.

To make the driving bar

This part is optional.

While I was looking for wood to use for my sled, I notice a scrap piece of the thrift store shelf I gave a makeover to for our daughter’s master bathroom.  Below is the shelf, if you can remember what it once looked like.

To go view the before and after of the shelf you can click here → THRIFT STORE SHELF MAKEOVER.

Do you see a sled’s driving bar?

Maybe this will help you visualize a driving bar.

1.  I cut the piece into a thick boomerang shape.

Here’s a rough draft of my sled.

I sanded all my pieces with an electric sander.

As you can see, I had a huge mess to clean up before Mr. Tip came home.

I used a drill and a large drill bit to drill a hole at each end of the driving bar.

Attaching the support boards to the runners

1.  Attaching the two support boards to the runners with wood screws.

     2. I mixed Waverly Ink and Truffle chalk paint together to make a dark brown paint.  I painted two coats.

I stained my bed slats and driving bar with a mixture of English walnut and gray minwax stain.

I gave two coats of Minwax protective sealer wax to all of my pieces.

All my pieces are cut, sanded, painted and stained.  Next is giving them time to dry for 12 hours before I assemble the sled.

How to put the sled together

1.  Starting with the driving bar, I attached it with a nail gun to the runner.

2. Attaching the three boards for my bed slat with a nail gun.  Spacing the boards 1″ from each other.

3.  For the handle I am using a pieces of Dollar Tree nautical rope.

4.  I took one end of the rope and placed it through the drilled hole and tied a knot at the end.  Did the same to the other side.

Y’all, I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am of myself, I took scrap wood and made a perfect Christmas decorations for this coming season!!

Adding a little touch of Christmas to the sled.

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Stay strong and Blessed ♥

Need more Christmas decoration ideas?  Check out all my friend’s Christmas inspirations.  They are just a click away, how fun is this?  I love Christmas and all the inspirations this blog hop has to offer.  Thanks for stopping by.  Happy hopping!

               

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