Your Christmas decorating efforts should start at the entranceway to your house. Creating an enticing festive front door doesn’t have to be elaborate, a few simple accessories can add to your holiday decorating efforts.
Selecting a Theme
The most beautifully decorated homes are usually theme based from the front
door through to the rest of the house. Some individuals based their entire
Christmas theme on a particular color or object while others decorate around
their own religious beliefs meaning that their decorations are all religious as
opposed to fictional themes or conceptions. Parents with small children tend to
decorate with fun, fictional themes like Santa, Frosty the Snowman, reindeer,
stockings and toys. Experiment using different ideas and ornaments to discover
a theme that represents you, your house and its occupants. Feel free to change
your theme from year to year to reflect changes in your household or life.
Your Summer Planters in Use
Don’t put your summer planters or urns away, you can use them for Christmas decorating. After removing all dead flowers and foliage, fill your planters up with a few artificial poinsettia plants available from your local craft or dollar store. Drape some tinsel or tie some ribbon on the leaves and hang a few small Christmas ornaments off the branches. Be sure to ‘plant’ your artificial poinsettias firmly in the soil so they don’t blow away. Consider wrapping your planters or urns in Christmas fabric or Christmas plastic wrap to give them an authentic Christmas look. Try to position your Christmas planters or urns in a protected area nearest to your front door so your efforts won’t be swept away by the wind.
Dressing the Door
There are many things that can be done to dress up your front door. If your theme is traditional, a grapevine or evergreen wreath will fit in nicely. Consider purchasing a plain wreath and adding your own special touch such as red bows, ribbons, ornaments or fake icicles.
A stocking made out of fabric or cardboard is another attractive accessory for your front door. You will require a wreath hook or nail to hang up the stocking. A stocking made out of fabric can be purchased or easily sewn together or you can make one out of cardboard. If using cardboard, paint it red and cut and glue Christmas images from old Christmas cards on the surface. Consider drawing, cutting and painting some extra cardboard to resemble small gifts and fasten to the top of stocking so it looks like the stocking is overflowing with presents.
The Welcome Mat
The stores are overflowing with decorative, festive welcome doormats and what better way to show your Christmas spirit. Choose a doormat that is durable and you won’t mind visitors stepping on. Ideally the doormat should be large enough for someone to stand on but not overwhelming in size. If you are questioning if the mat is too large – chances are it is. Match your doormat to the theme that you plan to carry through your entranceway into the house. Your local craft may carry do-it-yourself rubber doormat kits to create your own personalized front doormat.
For a very festive look, consider wrapping some empty boxes with Christmas paper and placing them beside your Christmas doormat. Place rocks or bricks in the boxes to weigh them down and use Christmas themed plastic wrap to wrap your ‘gifts’ to protect them from moisture. Use plastic christmas tree storage box to store tree and other Christmas items so you could use next year.