Merry Christmas friends! The holidays are here and twenty blogging friends and I are spreading some Christmas cheer as we share ideas for Christmas door decor! 

 

It’s still early in the season so if you are looking for something unique for your door then you have come to the right place. To get this holiday hop started I am sharing how I am decorating our doors this year and a few other favorite Christmas wreaths from years past.

 

Farmhouse Style Christmas Door Decor for the Back Porch

Today we are starting off on the back porch where I have decorated our white glass storm door with a rustic farmhouse Christmas basket. Actually if you look closely you will see that it’s a basket in a basket! The back porch is an addition with white vinyl siding so it has more of a farmhouse-cottage look. I always save my more farmhouse style holiday outdoor decorations for this area. Right now our back porch is still a disaster of leaf debris, some scraggly fall plants and a stack of Christmas wreaths that need to be hung on the windows but hopefully it will have some farmhouse Christmas charm by next weekend.

 

The inspiration for the green basket hit me unexpectedly when I was unpacking Christmas decor a couple of weeks ago to decide what I wanted to use this year. I found the green cone shaped basket at a yard sale this summer and knew I would be using it somehow for Christmas. Actually this door basket was totally free since I already had all the items on hand.

 

When I unpacked the skinny  thrifted Belsnickel style Santa I immediately had the idea to stick him down in the basket with some realistic faux greenery picks from my Christmas stash. He has a broken foot so putting him in the basket is a great way to display him.

 

The “Santa in the forest” cone basket was too small to just stick on a hook on the center of the door, so I used an older white washed tobacco basket behind it. I attached the cone basket to the tobacco basket with a small command hook. I found the olive green ticking striped ribbon in my craft stash and it was the perfect farmhousey-finishing touch for my double-baskets farmhouse Christmas door decor.

 

As I was taking photos I realized how much I really love this creation, so it just might end up inside somewhere where I can enjoy it more throughout the season.  I have plenty of other Christmas wreath supplies in my stash to whip up a simple farmhouse Christmas wreath for the back porch if I decide to keep in inside. 

 

I spent very little time and no money on my “Santa in the Forest Basket in a Basket” door decor.  This year my goal for Christmas is to keep things simple and inexpensive and to repurpose, repurpose, repurpose! I think I am on the right track so far! 

 

A Traditional Christmas Fruits Wreath 

Here is another “free” wreath that I made this year using an old wreath, plaid ribbon and colonial style faux fruit and pinecones picks from my wreath making stash. I had put the fruit picks in our yard sale this summer but after about an hour of looking at them there at the sale I decided to keep them to make a simple fruits wreath for our side door for the holidays.

 

I am so glad nobody bought the fruit picks at the yard sale. Someday I would like to make a fresh wreath similar to this one using real fruits and foraged greenery, but for now this classic wreath will do.

 

 

Plaid Tidings Front Door Christmas Swag

This year I am really focusing on more simple and traditional holiday decor for the front porch too. I found a beautiful gathering of fresh mixed greenery cuttings at Lowes for less than $10 which was the perfect foundation for the type of swag I wanted to create for our front door.

 

 

 

 

Most of the swag is a real mix of Fraser Fir, cypress and juniper cuttings. The swag was a little too short for our oval glass door so I added some very realistic faux greenery picks just at the bottom to elongate it a bit. The beautiful plaid ribbon is the same ribbon I am using on our Christmas tree this year. It has a yellow stripe which matches really well with our yellow brick on the front porch.

 

 

 

I hadn’t planned to add any accessories to the swag, but after hanging it and taking a step back I decided it needed a little something in the middle. I had three bright, shimmery gold bells on a rope but the gold was too glam for the traditional and simple swag. I shopped my house and found a tarnished school bell to repurpose as a Christmas bell.  I always like to add a touch of vintage whenever possible, so the old school bell was a fun alternative to a Christmas bell. I also think it is a fitting since I just returned to teaching music after several years off due to chronic health issues. I am feeling so blessed to have this opportunity!

 

I only could find one bell  ( I know I have three others somewhere!) No worries, I inherited the junkin’ gene from my  from my vintage junk-loving-mama and she has a few I can borrow. Since I just came up with the idea for the bells yesterday, I didn’t have a chance to finish up my swag for this hop, but I will have it all fixed up with the extra bells in time for my first Christmas home tour of the season on Wed., Dec. 11th. I hope you will stop back by to see how it turned out along with much more vintage, classic and traditional Christmas decorating ideas!

 

Even without the extra bells I just love the classic simplicity of this swag and it smells sooo good! Best of all it only cost around $12.00 counting the ribbon.

 

More Beautiful Christmas Wreaths and Door Decor Ideas

 

The Holly and The Ivy Christmas Swag

Last year I also created a music themed Christmas swag based on the old Carol, The Holly and the Ivy.  I really loved that swag too!

 

“Bobtail Nag” Horse Head Wreath

A few years ago I started making wreaths to sell and my “Bobtail Nag” horse head wreaths have been very popular. 

 

 A former music student of mine IG @timcline ordered a custom horse head wreath for his 1805 New Hampshire home. He sent me a few pictures of the wreath on his original back door and I just fell in love with his home!

 

I invited Tim to share a guest Christmas Home Tour and the post is truly delightful (a must see for any lover of historic homes and Christmas!) After checking out the door decor today I encourage you to take a step back in time for Christmas at the historic Blaisdell House!

 

I also made a traditional, wintry wreath for my neighbor who just loves red cardinals and plaid. There are plenty of beautiful red cardinals here on Forest Avenue (we are surrounded by woods.) I love seeing the wreath across the street on the original door of her 120+ year-old Tudor style home. Fun fact: the male cardinal is the Kentucky state bird!

 

 

 

You can see more of my original holiday wreath and swag designs here.

 

 

 

I hope you have found  these Christmas wreaths and door decor ideas to be inspiring! Now the inspiration continues with Debra of Common Ground sharing her beautiful door basket and a peek at her Christmas porch! You can continue visiting all of the beautiful blogs on today’s hop via the link up below.

Thank you so much for visiting today and have a very Merry Christmas!

Amber

 

 

 

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