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! 

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

DIY Dollhouse From A Bookcase

I'm always excited to share a good DIY project here on the blog. Today's DIY project is extra special. Not only because it turned out so cute or because it was so much fun and also very simple to put together, but because it's going somewhere very special. A few weeks ago, I jumped at the opportunity to partner with Porch.com and Wayfair to create a DIY Dollhouse to be donated to our local children's hospital. 

Instead of starting from scratch or using a pre-fabricated doll house kit to create the structure, I ordered this simple white Bookcase From Wayfair (Wayfair generously provided a gift card for the purchase of this bookcase)...

To make the bookcase look more like a house, I hit up the craft store. To give the structure character and architectural detail I picked up a bag of miniature moldings, a package of mini-windows and a doll-house fireplace.

I grabbed an assortment of scrapbook papers to use as wallpaper and Modge Podge to use as my wallpaper paste. 

I also picked up some craft fur to use as carpeting and a battery operated locker chandelier (that really light up). 

After the craft store, I headed to the toy store for furniture and figurines. I selected a line of dollhouse accessories that are completely plastic, therefore they could be cleaned and sanitized as needed. The bright colors of this collection were the perfect complement to the neutral decor I had planned for the inside of the house itself. 

Once I had all my supplies and a game plan, it was time to get to work. 

The first thing to go into the bookcase was the scrapbook-wallpaper. Each room got a different pattern. Once the Modge Podge wallpaper paste was dry, I began installing the architectural details. The mini-moldings, windows and fireplace received a coat of white spray paint. Then, I attached them to the structure using a hot glue gun. 

I mounted the chandelier using Command Strip Velcro Fasteners. This will allow it to be easily removed and put back into place when it comes time to change the batteries. I cut the craft fur into four sections to fit each room. It made the most perfect shag carpeting.  

The plastic dollhouse accessory kits I purchased to go along with the house include a family of four (Mom, Dad, Sister and Baby), a kitchen set, dining room collection, nursery outfit and a new mini-van for the garage (bottom right compartment). I left the furniture kits and accessories in the packaging so that the new recipients could have the fun of opening them and arranging the furniture inside the house. As a child, I would have loved to be able to do the arranging myself. 

I'm excited to deliver the dollhouse to Detroit Childrens Hospital (DMC) next week. Please visit my facebook page, twitter and Instagram for updates and behind the scenes pics of the delivery. 

My friends at Funky Junk Interiors, Makely Home, A Bubbly Life and Lia Griffith also participated in this partnership Porch and Wayfair. You have to stop over and see their versions of the DIY Dollhouse Project...each one is so unique and totally amazing!!!

Thank you for giving me this opportunity Porch and Wayfair.
Thanks for stopping by!