Pallet Wood Christmas Tree

My friend recently posted an easy Christmas tree made of pallet wood on my facebook page that she found on Pinterest.  I thought it would make a great screen for our gas meter in front of our house and I just happened to be staring at a pallet in my neighbor's backyard.  After some quick work and few minutes, I was left with this.

I dug through my wood stash - every crafty girl should have one - and dug out a 3x3 oak post and scrap of of 1x8 for a square base.  Admittedly, I didn't measure anything.  I just started cutting.  Beginning with the bottom piece, I eyeballed the approximate size of the next piece, progressively getting smaller.

Set the miter saw at 45 degrees to make your cut.  

After you cut the first angle, just flip the piece over to cut the other end at the same angle.

I laid everything out on the garage floor as I went to be sure it was luh lookin' real gooood!

When it was time to start running some screws through it, I put the top piece in first and then found a little scrap of wood to use as a spacer.  I wanted to be sure the distance between "branches" looked equal.

Time to ace the base.  Here's where that 1x8 board comes in handy.  The base needed to be square to support the tree.

We drove some screws through the bottom of the base and up into the support pole to secure it.

Wha-la!

What is the rule for how long pumpkins stay out after Halloween?

Update...I decided to paint it after seeing something similar in a store.  I had all of the paint laying around - and it just took one quick coat on each board.