Put A Pallet On Your Front Porch...(This Is Genius)

Don't toss that old pallet. Try this enchanting fall idea for your front porch instead. So what I'm searching for is a branch that resembles a full grown tree. This one looks pretty good. It's quite nice and heavy, and it has a lot of branching out, so I think I'm gonna try this one. I ended up finding a really nice branch from a mountain ash that I put aside. This is unexpected. Someone was doing some trimming. Look how beautiful this one looks. And someone was cutting down. This hydrangea, and check this out, that is the perfect specimen right there. I'll take that as a second option. While the leaves were drying, I placed the branches against the palette to get a feel for how large the base needed to be. Flipping the palette good side down, I started to cut some of the backboards off with a jigsaw, then pry them off with a curl bar to reduce the overall weight of the frame. Do you ever change your mind mid-project? Welcome to my indecisive club. So now what I'm thinking... is if I did it this way these boards would give more height to the tree visually. I might have to do it this way instead now. I held the pallet upright then using a jigsaw cut a ready-made platform measuring about three boards wide. Then I pounded in any protruding nails and gave the piece a good sanding on both sides. The frame was carried indoors where I lined up each branch exactly how I wanted it to sit. The branches were secured into position using various sizes of pipe clamps which worked out perfectly. I also liked the industrial touch they gave. Finally, the most fun part. I then grouped all the dried foraged finds. Starting with the leaves first, I hot glued random leaves along the branches of the tree. I even mixed up different types of leaves to give the tree a little more interest. I then reached for some moss I had on hand and hot glued it along the bottom of the pallet to create a forest floor. A few smaller rocks along with foraged weeds were then added in groups to create forest growth. This part was just so creative. It was fun to play with different variations. Once bringing the tree inside, I found the frame a little bit too tipsy, so I added a couple of boards to the back so the frame could lean. I ended up removing these boards, installing them flat along the bottom instead to avoid a huge lean, which worked out better for my space. To cover the stand, I added more moss along the base with chunky branches and a few other foraged plants to complete the look, which gave it a really nice 3D effect. And just like that, my porch fall tree was ready to celebrate the season. The tree art was the perfect shape and size to greet my guests by the front door. And since the tree was completely foraged from real materials, it blended in perfectly with the fall surroundings, adding just the right needed touch. I love this little tree by the front entry. It's such a great nod to fall with just simple elements of nature, because nature never does do it wrong. If I were to make another one, one tip I would do differently is to dry the leaves pressed in book pages prior to using them. This leaf I put on yesterday and it did dry and curl, which is very realistic looking of course, but this one I put on today which looks vibrant and straight and beautiful. So I think I would rather have more of those than these, so something to consider.