This year I used a little bit of everything from nature that caught my eye and the effect turned out to pretty neat, even if I didn’t quite know how it would all turn out when I started. Here’s my woodland Christmas porch decor for this year!
Whether I’m gathering up foraged findings from around our property or visiting a local garden centre to buy some fancy types of fresh greenery, I always find so many things that catch my eye. I usually try to show restraint and just use a few elements to create a bit more of a refined composition for my Christmas porch decor, but this year I just kind of went for it and grabbed everything I’ve always loved, but maybe haven’t had the chance to use yet. It’s a little bit wild, but I really like the way everything came together. We haven’t had any snow that has stuck for any length of time yet this year, but I’m looking forward to seeing how all of this looks when we do get some. Since this porch has a little bit of everything found in nature, I’m calling this my woodland Christmas porch decor.
How I Plan for my Christmas Porch Decor
Well, I kind of flew by the seat of my pants this year, so my planning phase of this project wasn’t ideal, but I generally like to first decide on the basics: Which larger scale planters will I be using? What type of wreath would I like for the door, and what larger accent pieces do I want to use to fill in?
I knew that I wanted to reuse the base for my “Birch in a Box” again, I’d maintain my two white square planters, and I wanted to try something in the same giant planter that I used for my fall porch. I thought it might be fun to challenge myself to make some kind of small swag for the door too instead of a wreath.
As far as my larger accent pieces, I had no idea. I loved the big lanterns I used up and down the steps a couple of years ago, which we borrowed from a local garden centre for a collaboration and I’ve been toying with the idea of maybe investing in some that I could use year after year. I haven’t found the right ones yet though. They need to be classic and timeless and large enough in scale to be easily visible on the steps when you stand back by the road. So that might be something I’ll start thinking about for next year.
I ended up adding in a last-minute solution though, and when I shared it in my stories, I can’t believe the number of messages I got. I think these lanterns might be my favourite part of the porch too, actually. 🙂
Alternate classic hurricane candle holder option | Love these hurricanes as well | Brass bells | White faux berries | Black ribbon | Birch Ribbon | Recommended all-weather white square planters
Woodland Christmas Porch Decor Ideas
So here are a few of the different things that I did this year. It really was a total free-for-all as far as what types of elements from nature I used, but it all came together just fine, as things from nature tend to do.
I’m not sure if you can tell in these photos, but this planter is just absolutely huge. I thought it would be fun to use it to make one really big arrangement for this year’s Christmas porch. It took a lot of greenery, and I felt like I just kept adding things, and adding things again.
I started with a base of balsam fir branches trimmed from the bottom of our Christmas tree, as well as some cedar from our big hedge. Then I layered on some boxwood, incense cedar, juniper (love those little blue berries!), and white pine. Finally I added in just a few accents: Some fluffy phragmites from our creek banks, these giant seed pods that I found at the garden centre, and a big black bow. I made the bow in the same way that I do with my Christmas tree toppers, just with a few less loops.
That bow has actually survived several windy, rainy storms already this year and I’m pretty proud of how everything’s holding up!
Here’s this year’s “Birch in a Box” planter with fir with all the same elements as the larger planter, and a few faux white berries for accent pieces. I love this thing. It takes me about five minutes to put it together every year and it always turns out so nicely.
I shared more about how the base for this Birch in a Box is put together in this post here, if you’d like to make your own!
My handmade swag with cedar, white pine, boxwood, and phragmites.
When I made it, I thought I loved how I left it a little wild and crooked, but now I’m kind of wishing I would have kept it a little more traditionally-shaped and contained. Oh well! You live, you learn. 🙂
Alternate classic hurricane candle holder option | Love these hurricanes as well | Brass bells | White faux berries | Black ribbon | Birch Ribbon | Recommended all-weather white square planters
And this concludes your little tour of this year’s Christmas porch!
MORE IDEAS LIKE THIS
- Christmas Front Porch 2020
- Christmas Front Porch 2019
- 5 Reasons Why Your Christmas Decor Doesn’t Look Quite Right
- My Top 10 Simple Christmas Decor Ideas Using Things You Already Have
- Blue and White Christmas Decor in Our Living Room
- The Creek Line House Christmas Archives
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Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.