ZERO COST EASY RUSTIC WINTER PORCH DECOR

Winter has finally arrived her in Michigan. It was an extremely warm November but December is bringing us a beautiful blanket of snow covering the leafless trees, and brown hibernating grass. It put me in the mood to do a little Christmas/winter porch decorating and time enjoying nature while I did it. On our land we have a few varieties of pine trees growing and that was my entiere inspiration for this years decor. Not wanting to spend any money I loaded up the side by side with my favorite chainsaw and garden nippers and off I went to explore and harvest.

When I trim the evergreens I like to take the branches from the bottom, closest to the ground and also trim any that are starting to encroach our driveway. I don’t want them scratching our vehicles so I like to keep them trimmed back and December is always a good time to do that. Not only do I keep everything trimmed neatly I get to use the trimmings to decorate. If I do it any other time of the year the clippings just end up in my compost bin.

Our side porch is the entrance we use everyday. We never use the front door so to me it’s our main entrance. I always have an old chair on the deck for those who like to sit down to put shoes on and off or an occasional chicken likes to rest on it. More often than not it’s a perch for a chicken. I didn’t change anything out this is how it looks year round, I just change what’s in the boxes and pots with the seasons. I did change out the rug, keeping it rustic not Christmasy and It can stay put all winter long. The flower boxes had pine clipping added to them and the bucket got a branch that mimics a Charlie Brown tree.

I really wanted to create an half archway of dead branches and pine to the front porch posts but I wasn’t quite tall enough to reach the peak so I did the best I could without a ladder. I to hold it in place while I worked I put a zip tie around it all and then used my cordless nailer to add a few finish nails to sturdy up. For a little sparkle I added a strand of lights to the half arch. I like how pretty they look when the snow is falling. It took me less than an hour to do and that includes me tooling around on the side by side inspecting prospective pine trees to harvest from.

Two years ago I went through all my Christmas decor and donated everything but one small box to our local Hospice store. I just don’t decorate like I used to. I guess age is a factor. I love putting it all up but hate taking it all down and the space it takes up to store it was just to much. I’d much rather do just a little, enjoy it and be content with not going all out. When winter is over I’ll keep the lights and the rest can be composted. I say that’s an easy way to get a few months of enjoyment and not a lot of work.

Thank you all for stopping by today. I hope you find a little inspiration to put you in the mood to do some outdoor decorating. Have a wonderful day and I’ll be back soon to tell you about Houdini (our pet turkey) and her injury that I’ve been nursing for months. God Bless, Dawn