I thought I posted this in the off-topic, but looks like I didn't, so mods move as appropriate.
This is hardly worth posting on a prop building forum, and to be honest (and politically correct) probably the "un-manliest" thread in this entire forum, but I did it for my kids and figured I'd share. This was supposed to be a $100, 2 weekend project that ended up costing twice as much and took twice as long (so it goes!).
I wanted to build a tree in their play room to fit their TV and DVD player. I quickly learned this project was a bit too ambitious for my skill level, but it turned out OK and the kids love it, which is all that really matters. This was the first time I tried something like this.
I bought a cheap, $18.00 TV stand from Wal-Mart.
I cut a slot out of the back plate for the DVD player and mounted it to the front. I put a small piece of industrial strength Velcro on the back of the DVD player so my kids couldn't push it back. I re-enforced behind the backing with 1 x 2's.
I bought some styrene pop-outs from Lowe's and started hot gluing a structure together.
I kept gluing several pieces together to form a basic structure. If I were to ever attempt this again, I would go online and buy two of those big 4' x 5' Styrofoam blocks used in construction, would have been so much easier.
I drew in some rough branch shapes and started to carve. I wish I had one of those hot wires to cut through the styrofoam but they were expensive. The craft stores sold one for about $20, but it was too small for this project and didn't work well.
Here's the basic tree shape.
I used brown felt, drenched in Elmer's glue, to cover the body. Once that dried, I covered the entire tree with two more coats of glue. It dried very solid and should hold up well.
Started painting the walls and added some vinyl Pooh stickers.
I painted the tree using several different Acrylic colors which is hard to see in the photo.
My mom came over and helped with painting some details.
I made the top of the tree out of a large heavy duty piece of felt. The ceilings are about 9' - 10', so this is pretty tall. The felt is stapled to the ceiling and wall. My wife went to Michael's and used a 50% off coupon for a fake tree. I took all the branches off and pushed them through the felt and secured them with hot glue.
For the most part the entire room is done, save a few details. It came out OK and the kids love it. To be honest, it was a complete pain in the rear. I just wish I had better sculpting skills, the tree didn't come out how I had envisioned and the proportions are off, but I can live with this.
This is hardly worth posting on a prop building forum, and to be honest (and politically correct) probably the "un-manliest" thread in this entire forum, but I did it for my kids and figured I'd share. This was supposed to be a $100, 2 weekend project that ended up costing twice as much and took twice as long (so it goes!).
I wanted to build a tree in their play room to fit their TV and DVD player. I quickly learned this project was a bit too ambitious for my skill level, but it turned out OK and the kids love it, which is all that really matters. This was the first time I tried something like this.
I bought a cheap, $18.00 TV stand from Wal-Mart.
I cut a slot out of the back plate for the DVD player and mounted it to the front. I put a small piece of industrial strength Velcro on the back of the DVD player so my kids couldn't push it back. I re-enforced behind the backing with 1 x 2's.
I bought some styrene pop-outs from Lowe's and started hot gluing a structure together.
I kept gluing several pieces together to form a basic structure. If I were to ever attempt this again, I would go online and buy two of those big 4' x 5' Styrofoam blocks used in construction, would have been so much easier.
I drew in some rough branch shapes and started to carve. I wish I had one of those hot wires to cut through the styrofoam but they were expensive. The craft stores sold one for about $20, but it was too small for this project and didn't work well.
Here's the basic tree shape.
I used brown felt, drenched in Elmer's glue, to cover the body. Once that dried, I covered the entire tree with two more coats of glue. It dried very solid and should hold up well.
Started painting the walls and added some vinyl Pooh stickers.
I painted the tree using several different Acrylic colors which is hard to see in the photo.
My mom came over and helped with painting some details.
I made the top of the tree out of a large heavy duty piece of felt. The ceilings are about 9' - 10', so this is pretty tall. The felt is stapled to the ceiling and wall. My wife went to Michael's and used a 50% off coupon for a fake tree. I took all the branches off and pushed them through the felt and secured them with hot glue.
For the most part the entire room is done, save a few details. It came out OK and the kids love it. To be honest, it was a complete pain in the rear. I just wish I had better sculpting skills, the tree didn't come out how I had envisioned and the proportions are off, but I can live with this.
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