Christmas Festive- Front Door Designs

To wrap up our Kick Off Christmas week, why not feature a little festive porch decor? I'll be completely honest here... I've NEVER, not once, ever decorated my porch. Yes-- sad, but true. So this little task of adding some Christmas flavor to my otherwise bland porch was actually quite fun. I wanted to keep the spending to a minimum so most items were purchased at the dollar store & revised a bit. If you haven't noticed, Amanda & I kind of adore the dollar store. You have to get there early on in the season to get the good stuff, but there are definitely some gems to be found! I also worked with the items I already had on my porch, like the light yellow planters, bench, and metal bike.The planters were in need of a major overhaul. They were housing some very dead flowers I planted this past spring. I left the dirt in, but pulled out all the dead plants. I added a metallic tree to one planter & a metallic snowflake on a stand to the other. You could use pretty much anything as your centerpiece for these holiday planters. After the tree & snowflake were added (I did push them down into the dirt a bit to anchor them), I then covered the soil with dollar store moss, some random glass ice pieces I had and some of the fake snow you can buy pretty much anywhere. This set a wintery scene for the birds/nest and pinecone twigs I added next. I wanted to create little vignettes with a natural woodsy feel.Above the window I added some floral elements that were pulled from different things I already had & from dollar store floral arrangements. If you buy a real Christmas tree each year make sure to ask the tree lot for any extra boughs they may have-- they'll usually give them to you free! Plus, you don't want to miss out on that lovely evergreen scent you get from the real deal.After decking out the window, I added the hanging ornaments to the front of the porch. The large metal snowflakes I bought for like a dollar at a garage sale & the other ornaments were from the dollar store (except for the two large size bronze pinecones which were half off at Kohl's). Following the ornament hanging I put up a swag garland over the front door and hung a few ornaments from that.I wanted to have a larger piece by the door since my front door is kind of tall. I found a galvanized tin I had and added bronze/gold spray-painted branches for some height. I then added some floral elements from different floral bunches & the little gold bird, which also came from the dollar store. The "Joy" sign was purchased at Hobby Lobby, but could easily be made. I used jute to tie the sign around the bucket & also to hang the ornaments from the porch to maintain the natural rustic look. I thought I was done at this point, but then noticed the lonely little bike planter sitting there & thought it could use a little Christmas flair as well-- so I filled the baskets with extra ornaments & floral pieces (a few I borrowed from a pine tree in my yard, hopefully my husband doesn't notice any of the little gaps I made!). So here it is... my first attempt at porch decorating. Hope you enjoy. Oh and we're looking forward to lots more fun & festive posts this month, so make sure to follow along!