Can you spray paint a real christmas tree?

Posted February 6th, 2010 by Thomas

My boyfriend and I both hate the thought of buying a fake christmas tree.. but we also like to be untraditional and want a red or black tree for our first year. I thought about getting a fake one cheap and spray painting it my self… But would it be possible to paint a real tree???

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 6th, 2010 at 9:36 pm by Thomas. Filed under: Fake Christmas Tree. Tagged as: , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Can you spray paint a real christmas tree?”

  1. Herbie
    February 6th, 2010 - 9:36 pm

    If you paint a real one nobody will know it isn’t a fake anyway. It will use an awful lot of paint and make a mess, and be difficult to cover properly. How about instead getting a branch of an ordinary tree such as a sycamore, and decorating it with baubles etc? I did this my first Christmas in a flat and it was really effective.And it certainly wasn’t conventional.

  2. Greywolf
    February 6th, 2010 - 9:36 pm

    If you don’t like fake trees, why would you spray-paint a real tree? Doesn’t that make the real tree fake?

    OK I’ll assume that you are just curious (I’ll be charitable, it’s almost Christmas). Yes, you could spray paint a real tree (1) don’t use cans, use a proper powered paint sprayer (2) you’ll need lots of the paint (3) do it outdoors on a calm dry day (4) before you start, make sure you have a doorway wide enough to get it back in – it will be very brittle and shed needles easily.

    Helpful hint in case you decide to have an (unpainted) real tree – choose a tree that is freshly cut, cut another inch off the trunk, then stand it in sugary water for the whole of Christmas. This lengthens its life, so it doesn’t start shedding needles until you chuck it out.

  3. opj62
    February 6th, 2010 - 9:36 pm

    It can be done but you probably will want to be sure it doesn’t cause the tree to dry faster I don’t think it will check the water ever day.

  4. Dwight S
    February 6th, 2010 - 9:36 pm

    I wouldn’t do it, if for no other reasons than safety concerns. Nearly all plants ‘breathe’ through their foliage. To spray paint a live tree, which is already on borrowed time since being cut off at the trunk, will only shorten its life further. Not to mention the fire hazard of adding volatile paint on the foliage, especially if using lights or other electrical decorations.

    If you’re going to do it, I vote for idea #2. Just buy a cheap artificial tree and paint it. Try to use a paint that is non-flammable and compatible with whatever material your artificial tree is made of. Either way, it’s a bit of a gamble safety-wise, but at least most artificial trees are designed to be flame-retardant. Using the cooler, LED lights is another possibility.

Leave a Reply

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>