Cost Saving Approach to a Festive and Welcoming Holiday Porch

Merry Christmas! 

Today, I'd like to share some tips on how I keep holiday decorating costs from getting out of hand.  Every year, I create a festive display on our front porch. This is one of the areas where I splurge and spend most of my holiday decorating budget. There are some ways in which I'm able to cut down on the expense without sacrificing style.

For instance, I love to use fresh greens at the entrance of our home to welcome guests with the scents and live textures of the season. Instead of heading to the local nursery or the tree farm,  I grab these small, fresh, table top trees from the garden center at Home Depot ($15.99 each). They already have a plastic base attached to them which fits perfectly inside my existing porch urns. 

To keep them standing up straight (even through a blustery Michigan winter storm) I bury the plastic base in a $5 bag of pea rock. 

This year, I purchased a gorgeous set of faux greenery from Potterybarn that includes a wreath and pair of decorated garlands. This was a bit of an initial investment, but I will reuse them for many years which cuts down on the re-curring annual cost of decorating. 

I wrapped the base of my fresh trees with the garland and secured it with a large wire twisty tie. 

Then, I added inexpensive white lights to finish them off. 

I like to have a big, oversized wreath on the door, however as you can see in the image below, the wreath I purchased from PB was on the small side. 

To dress it up and to make it appear larger, I added fresh greenery. In the past, I would purchase a large, fresh wreath from the nursery to attach to the back of my faux decorated wreath, but this year I found a way to cut the cost in half. 

I noticed a plain, undecorated 31" fresh, mix-green wreath cost $49.99 (yikes!). However, a 50' strand of mix-green garland was the same cost. I grabbed the garland, cut it in half, looped it into the shape of a 31" wreath and tied it around the back of my PB wreath with wire twisty ties. I was able to use the other half of the garland to decorate my foyer!

Here is a look at the wreath after I added the fresh greens...

The size and scale is much more dramatic. Not to mention the fragrant and textural mix-green garland added to the faux wreath takes the entire look up a notch. 

Here is a peek at the foyer that I decorated using some of the remaining garland...

Okay, back outside on the porch...

A few years ago, I made a hand painted sign to personalize my porch decor. It was very inexpensive, I just used a piece of MDF, black chalk paint and Sharpie Paint Markers to make it. Since then, my holiday decor colors have changed from red and black to gold and black. To save the cost (and time) of making another sign, I simply painted over the red paint with two coats of gold. 

I brought a few indoor elements outside to make the porch look warm and cozy. My indoor/outdoor pillows and rug do great in the Michigan elements. An inexpensive scarf from Walmart, a bunch of fresh greens (clipped from around the yard) and some bricks placed inside wrapped packages dress up my little wooden deer on the cheap. 

The final element was absolutely free, snow!

I hope you are all enjoying the season.

Peace to all who enter my home and yours! 

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Antler Evergreen Holiday Centerpiece

This holiday season, if you would like a simple, large scale, fresh evergreen centerpiece that won't cost a fortune...look now further than your own front yard. Using clippings from your landscape, you can create amazing centerpieces and holiday accents without spending a dime. 

Here is an example, I put together this centerpiece in just a few minutes and it brought holiday cheer to my dining table for the entire week. I used a simple white vase I had on hand, naturally shed antlers from my neighbor, faux berries from the craft store, and evergreen clippings from our bushes,

In order to keep the greens fresh for a week, I stuck a small clear vase filled with water inside my large white vase. This vase-inside-a-vase trick will keep the white vase from sweating on my table causing damage to the finish. 

I absolutely adore these faux red berries from the craft store. I use them in many different areas around the house through the holiday season. 

My neighbor and his friends collect naturally shed antlers from all over. This year, I grabbed a handful from him and gave them the glitter treatment. You can read the details in this post; How To Make Glittered Antlers. 

Today is the first day of the 2014 Holiday Housewalk presented by Jen Rizzo. I'm so excited to be a part of this amazing tour of homes for the second year in a row. Jen will be your tour guide all week long. Today, she is kicking off the event with a look into her very own Christmas home, it is absolutely gorgeous!  We'll be sharing my 2014 Christmas Home on Thursday. Happy decorating!

How To Make a Striking Table Runner With Ribbon

Today, I'm sharing one of my top secret table styling tips. This is one of my favorites because it's quick, simple, inexpensive, and looks amazing. All you need to make your holiday table look extra special this year is a couple spools of ribbon (just the cheap stuff, no wire edges required) and a roll of duct tape to create a bold, eye-catching Ribbon Table Runner.  

The best thing about this project is that it is extremely versatile. You can use any color or patterned ribbon that complements your dinnerware. In this example, I used plain, red velvet ribbon from the clearance aisle.

To create the ribbon runner, start by placing a strip of ribbon down the middle of the table with a few inches of extra length on each end. Secure the ribbon with small pieces of duct tape placed under the table top. Repeat this process until you have a total of five, evenly spaced strips in place. 

Once the strips are all in place, tuck the loose ends up under the apron and secure with tape. 

Voila! 

A beautiful, eye-catching Ribbon Table Runner. 

Later on this week, I'll be sharing another simple, but fantastic holiday decor project using simple wire edged ribbon. Thanks for stopping by. 

For information on my affordable online design service, please click here.

Pre-Made Wreath Becomes A Gorgeous, Large Scale Centerpiece

If you are hosting a holiday dinner this year and want to set a beautiful, impressive table, but your short on time, this post is for you.  This is the easiest centerpiece ever, and it gets a lot of attention.  It's large in scale, colorful, smells delicious and sets a festive mood.  The other major benefit to this centerpiece is that it will last the entire season and can be used year after year.  I have shared this project in the past, but it makes an appearance every fall.  This is a great alternative to the fresh flower centerpiece I shared the other day.  

The biggest plus, is that anyone can put this together in less than 5 seconds.  Even those of us who don't consider ourselves crafty, this project is (for lack of a better term) 100% fool proof.  Actually, I hate to even refer to it as a "project" because all it required were three simple things…

A beautiful, large scale fall pre-made wreath... 

A clear glass canister from the kitchen...

And a yummy fall scented candle (unscented works too)…

All you need to do is lay the wreath on the table, place the jar inside the hole in the wreath and stick the candle inside the jar.  Voila...

Okay, I lied.  There were actually four things used in this project.  After I initially assembled the centerpiece I decided I wanted my candle to stand up higher so I set the jar on top of a can of tuna. 

This particular wreath is from Sams Club.  I like to shop there for pre-made holiday decor items because they are typically larger in scale.  Since Sams Club sells commercial grade products, they are usually bigger than decor items made for residential use.  I have also found some beautiful pre-made wreaths this year at Michael's and Hobby Lobby if you don't have a Sams Club nearby.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Back to work!

For information on my affordable online design service please click here.

All photos credit to Sarah Macklem of The Yellow Cape Cod. 

Using Deeply Discounted Holiday Decor For a Spring Tablescape

At the end of this post, I'd love to hear your ideas on re-purposing holiday decor throughout the year.  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  We had absolutely gorgeous weather here in Detroit.  It was simply perfect.  After the long winter we are really excited about the change in season.  A few weeks ago I jumped the gun a little and cooked my family one of our favorite meals and put together a bright, cheery, spring inspired tablescape.  Even though it was still snowing at the time it felt a little like spring inside.  

I was able to put the table together inexpensively with some items I picked up in the discount aisle at HomeGoods.  I jokingly refer to this aisle as the land of misfits, but in honesty it's my favorite area of the store.  Not just because it's a sneaky alternate route around the more popular aisles, but because if you have a little extra time to dig for goodies you can find some beautiful things for next to nothing.  During my last visit I scoured this aisle for items to use in this spring tablescape. 

On this particular day, the aisle was filled with damaged merchandise and the last of the Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentines Day stuff.  At first glance it seemed there would be nothing to use for spring.  But at second glance, there was.  It was just a matter of perspective.  Instead of looking at the holiday decor like it could only be used for said holiday I looked at it in terms of function and form.   

When it comes to purchasing damaged items, I asked myself three questions; "How noticeable is the damage?", "Does the defect affect the safety of the item or the way we will use it?" and "How long would something like this look new and perfect in my home anyway?".  For example, I purchased this beautiful gray footed cake plate with a small chip on the base.  The small imperfection took the price of this beauty down to $7.  It was a fantastic piece and the small chip was hardly noticeable.  

I topped it with pretty yellow cupcakes and used it as our centerpiece.

I found these adorable heart shaped bowls in the Valentines Day pile.  Just because they are heart shaped does not limit them to Valentines Day.  They blend well with my simple white dinnerware and soften each setting with their sweet shape.  They made perfect salad plates for our spring dinner and I look forward using them throughout the year.

These beautiful mercury glass candle holders were in with the left over Christmas decor which was deeply discounted.  Instead of looking at them as Christmas mantle decor (as they were advertised), I looked at them as a beautiful gray accent that picks up on the color of my linens.  At less than $1 a piece these are a gorgeous mercury glass accent that can be used anywhere, anytime. 

The last Holiday item that I re-purposed for our spring dinner was a Thanksgiving printable I had tucked away in a closet.  I leaned it behind the food serving buffet to remind us that we should be thankful and grateful all year long.  Why limit these words to the month of November?

Our spring dinner was heart warming, both figuratively and literally.  We ended up pushing the table in front of the fireplace to thaw the children out.  While I was busy preparing our dinner they were out enjoying the snow this one last time...

I'd love to hear how you have re-purposed holiday decor, please leave a comment here or join in on the conversation on my facebook page.  Happy spring everyone!  Thanks for stopping by.

For information on my affordable online design consultation service, please click here. 

 ® The Yellow Cape Cod