Happy Thursday, friends! How’ve you been? I’m still busy over here decorating. A day late and dollar short seems to be my motto this year. But what’s a girl to do? Anyway, yesterday I finally got around to decorating our front porch for Christmas! Want to see my Christmas front porch decor? Come on over!
Last year I decorated our front porch quite similarly so I already had the hooks and screws in place. But to recap, I’ll show you a quick way to hang garland on brick or stone. First of all, using a masonry drill bit, my husband drilled a pilot hole through the mortar in between the stone above the center of the front door. Then he hammered an anchor into the hole and then inserted a hook He drilled two more holes on each side of the arch of the front door and added anchors and screws. So, we had one hook at the top of the door and two screws on each side to hold the garland into place so it drapes nicely around the arched doors.
I used a piece of garden wire and wrapped it securely around each screw like so. Then I was able to secure the garland in place by just wrapping the wire around the garland. Because the wire is green, it blends seamlessly with the garland.
I bought my garland at Costco. It came in one, long 18 foot piece for about $20. To hang the garland I unrolled it and folded it in half, finding my center point and tied a piece of wire around it. Then I hung the center of the garland from the hook at the top and secured it with the wire. After that, it was as easy as draping the rest of the garland down each side of the door and allowing it to puddle at the bottom on each side. I used the lights from last year and again, found my center, which was where the two strands of lights were plugged together. For me, it’s easier to go ahead and plug in the lights as I am arranging them on the garland so I can make sure the lighting is well spaced.
I added one large red bow over the top of the door and two smaller ones on each side. The bows match the other red bows on the wreaths on the outside of the house. (I bought real wreaths and bows at our local produce stand called Black’s Produce). The wreaths are freshly made and so full and pretty. Buying them new every year is a bit expensive, and I consider it a splurge, but you can’t beat how pretty they look! And they stay fresh until the new year, which is nice.
And the front porch is officially Lacey approved! She loves sitting out here on the cool stone. I think she is enjoying the festive look of her front porch now!
The decorations really pop when the front porch light are on. And with the anchors and screws already in place from last year, it really makes decorating a snap!
I’ll give you a few more of my quick porch decorating tips soon, but I couldn’t wait to share this with you! How do you decorate your house or porch? Do you use red and green or more neutral colors? Do tell! Well, I’m off to pack away some of the storage bins in my treasure room so we can get to my gift wrap station. Have a great day and please let me hear from you! I miss you! xoxo Dell
