Festive & Frugal Christmas Porch Decor
In this post: Festive & Frugal Christmas Porch Decor | Ideas for adding easy touches of Christmas to welcome your family and friends to your home.
Welcome to our Christmas front porch…and Happy Sunday to you all. Before we get started, I’d like to chat for just a minute. Like most of you, I have been wandering around blogland taking Christmas tours. They are more beautiful and inspiring than ever before…but they can also be a bit disheartening. Some are so picture perfect that I wonder if people really do live that way? I will even go so far as to admit (grudgingly) that a few blogs actually made me depressed. There is just no way I can come even close to what is being posted by some bloggers.
So…instead of drowning in the Sea of Comparison, I decided to take a piece of advice from Teddy Roosevelt. He wisely said “comparison is the thief of joy.” We certainly don’t want our joy stolen away. That would be dreadful.
Here’s the deal. Everything you will be seeing here over the next few weeks will be do-able for anyone, simple and budget-friendly. Along with all of that, I promise everything will be festive and welcoming. I may fluff my pillows and pick up the dog toys but the rest of it will be authentic. At the end of the day, the most important thing to me is that when you visit here, you feel comfortable and happy. I want you to leave feeling inspired and ready to take on the world…not like throwing in the towel.
OK…enough chatter…on with the porch tour!
Remember last spring when I shared the five things I always do to add seasonal touches to my porch? Not to sound like a broken record, but it really does work every time. Here they are:
- Door Wreath
- Doormat
- Planters flanking the door
- Sitting area soft furnishings
- Sitting area accessories
To switch things up a bit this year I went with a fresh pine bunch instead of a wreath on the door. Honestly, once I had it all bundled up and hanging on the door, I wondered if I had lost my mind. It looked a little rough around the edges. I wasn’t ready to admit defeat though so I added a buffalo plaid scarf and a string of bells. The last thing I did was trim a few random branches to tidy things up and when I stood back to look, I was pleasantly surprised! This could actually cost no money at all if you have access to pine trees and a spare scarf in the closet. I had to buy my greens but all together they were under $15.00. Instead of a scarf, you could use any kind of ribbon.
Next was the doormat. I picked this up at Hobby Lobby when the Christmas decorations first appeared. For the olive buckets, I went with fresh pine trees from Lowe’s. They are pretty cute and the perfect size.
When I was brain-storming for my red and black buffalo plaid plan, I knew I wanted to make repurposed shirt pillow covers for the porch. I thought I could find buffalo plaid flannel shirts at my Goodwill or as a last resort, on eBay. Ha!
Boy, was I wrong. The vintage buffalo plaid shirts on eBay are definitely NOT cheap. They must be in high demand. When I struck out, it occurred to me that the shirts didn’t have to be vintage. So I hopped online and found some shirts on Amazon. They were not the deal you would get at Goodwill, but they were significantly cheaper than the vintage treasures on eBay…and they made the most darling pillow covers.
I tied small bunches of pine to the backs of the rockers. For the table I piled an enamelware tub with giant pine cones and faux cranberries.
Doing this porch was fun and the red really pops from the street. I wish I could have taken photos with a dusting of snow on everything but no such luck. It’s cold enough though for the fresh pine to easily last until Christmas.
The holiday season is in full swing. The next few weeks will be busy for everyone but I hope you enjoy the hustle and bustle…at least a little.
Affiliate links included. Click HERE for my disclosure statement.
Sources:
White Porch Rocker
Porch Lights
Mailbox
Doormat no longer available
Red buffalo plaid scarf
Red buffalo plaid shirt
Ribbon
Giant pine cones
Cranberry garland
Repurposed Shirt Pillow Cover Tutorial
I’ll see you soon…in the meantime, may your days be merry and bright.
If you missed any of the Christmas posts from 2015 just
click the image below. There are two other buffalo plaid projects and some printables.
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