Rustic Christmas Porch

decorating my porch with natural elements in my own yard

 My Inspiration:



Pottery Barn



My porch doesn't look a thing like that but I was drawn to the twiggy garland above the arch.  So I made my own version of that.

found some nice twisty branches and clipped lots of them

Lay the branches out in a large area and place them in a way that looks nice and even on both sides.

In the center tie them together with twine:

Attach this to the top molding of your front door or portico.

I have nails in my molding from years past so I used a little floral wire to attach and tame these wild little twigs to the molding.  Plus I have an iron scroll that came in handy too.

When in place I wrapped some burlap around the middle to make it look like it was meant to be this way.  :)

added some glittery ornaments to the garland

(I got these last year for pennies after Christmas)

AND

Since I was going all natural and twiggy I chose this wreath but it didn't "pop" all alone-

so to compliment the twig wreath I found this white "junk" in my kids' fort in the woods.  I stole it. (I'm pretty sure it originally came with my adirondack chair)

I found these silly little metal trees in the basement.  I thought they were "cheesy" until I lit them up and left off the plastic stars that go on top.  They were the only lights that worked this year so I had to give them a chance to shine.

  I hauled some logs up from the backyard and nailed the little trees to the tops with u nails.

Now my porch is all rustic and natural.  I literally spent NO money here.


On the garage I tied up my old sleigh to an iron trellis that is screwed into my house.

Then painted our house number on it & added some clippings and star.
From far away it looks like this:

A Rustic Christmas Porch

This week I'm Linking with:

Holiday Curb Appeal

The Christmas decorating begins.


I love to come home to a lit up house.  It's so welcoming. I couldn't wait to get the candles in the windows....

but the windows were not ready for the candles.  My windows had about 6 years of grime on them. I'm embarrassed.

I washed my windows inside and out......just the front side of the house. (all day)

I remove the screens in the winter time so the sun comes nice and bright through the windows.

This also makes the windows look brighter from the curb.  This is a great tip if your home is going on the market.  It's a good way to boost curb appeal.

(mine isn't on the market - I just like the look)

This is what they look like with the screens-

Without a screen:

I spruced up the window boxes with clippings from my yard and added a little star in each.

I love my old sleigh.  This year I added our house number to it in white.  Our UPS guy will be happy about that.

A few other little accents:

Enhance the view of your home with nice bright windows and window boxes.  Gather items around your home and use them in an unexpected way this year.

Happy Decorating!


to see more about the accents in these photos
click here

Handmade Gift Ideas

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A few ideas for handmade gifts...

give homemade gifts this year & show your love...
some of these items are available at my little etsy shop

39 twigs and twine

Looking Holiday Here

I brought out my "anorexic"  artificial tree this week to display my
 homemade ornaments for viewers.

The shape of this tree is goofy, I know.  I fell in love with it at a department store many years ago.  I like it because it takes up very little space. 

Our family tree is coming soon.  My family is still holding "votes" as to which day to decorate it (we make it a little party type celebration with the four of us).  The problem is that we have an even number of people in our family and nobody will budge on their vote so the results never change.....

We need Sadie's vote to tip it one way or the other......

aaah.....I don't think so!

The decorating begins...

   

an earth inspired tree...

I went with artificial trees many years ago for two reasons:
 1- I had a huge real tree topple over once because it was shaped off center. The sap and dirty water clean up was horrible.
(I was on the phone with my sister when it happened and the story gets better every year)

2- I have a hard time seeing all the discarded Christmas trees on the curbs in January waiting for garbage pick up.  I thought I was being "earth friendly" by going artificial but the artificial trees aren't biodegradable.
I just won't throw them away!

holiday decor moving into the family room a little bit -

Happy Holiday Decorating!