Festive & Frugal Christmas Porch Decor
Festive & frugal Christmas porch decor ideas for adding easy touches of Christmas to welcome your family and friends to your home.
Author’s note 2023: I photographed and wrote this post in 2015 at our house on Sutton Place. Every holiday season since then, Pinterest has given it a boost, and brought new visitors to OSP. It really needed an update, but I didn’t want to change anything important. I simply enlarged + brightened the images, organized the information, and added current links. Enjoy!
Welcome to our Christmas front porch! Before we get started, I’d like to chat for just a minute. Like most of you, I have been wandering around blogland looking at 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 influencers.
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,” and we certainly don’t want our joy stolen away. That would be dreadful.
So this is my promise. 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, 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.
Now on to the porch decor!
5 Elements To Refresh
With each new season, I refresh the same five elements on our front porch.
- Door Wreath
- Doormat
- Planters flanking the door
- Sitting area soft furnishings
- Sitting area accessories
The Front Door
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! It’s possible to make a door swag like this for 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 altogether they were under $15.00. Instead of a scarf, you could use any kind of ribbon.
The Doormat
Your doormat is one of the first things your guests see when they step on your porch, so it’s definitely a good idea to refresh it a few times a year.
Evergreen Olive Buckets
I used my olive buckets to hold fresh little evergreen trees I picked up at Lowe’s. To raise them up to the correct height, I put a pot upside down in the bucket before placing the tree.
Soft Furnishings
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. No such luck! The vintage buffalo plaid shirts on eBay are definitely NOT cheap. They must be in high demand. When I struck out there and at my thrift store, it occurred to me that the shirts didn’t have to be vintage. So I found what I needed 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.
Don’t want to make your own pillow covers? CHECK THIS OUT!
Accessories
I tied small bunches of pine to the backs of the rockers. For the table I filled 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!
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disclosure
Affiliate links included. See my disclosure statement. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
- White porch rocker
- Porch lights
- Mailbox
- Merry Christmas doormat no longer available. HERE are other choices.
- Red buffalo plaid scarf
- Red buffalo plaid shirt
- Set of 2 red and black pillow covers
- Ribbon
- Giant pine cones
- Cranberry garland
- Repurposed Shirt Pillow Cover Tutorial
Related Posts
- Our Last Christmas Porch on Sutton Place (2020)
- The First Sugar Maple House Christmas Porch (2021)
- Christmas Porch Decor Ideas (2022)
OUR TWO BLUE
FRONT DOORS
Get all the paint color information for our blue front doors…at the house on Sutton Place, and at our current home on Sugar Maple Court.
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
CHRISTMAS PLANNER
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