5 DIY Projects to Dress Up Your Home for the Holidays

Holidays are such a fun time to dress our homes! A couple of years ago I set out to make wreaths and ornaments out of pine cones and mason jar lids. It was a lot of fun and we’re still using those ornaments to this day! I’m a bit of a “grinch” actually but with Lodi in my life now I realized I’m looking for to the holidays more than ever before in my life. We don’t have little ones (unless our pupper counts and she totally does) so we’re looking forward to time off for truly adult holidays and I just can’t wait to see his face when opens the gifts I got him!

(This is a contributed post, for more information about my compensation please read my disclosure policy)

As you all know, we DIY everything around here. From renovating the kitchen to restoring old end tables I like to add my own personal touch to my grandparent’s farmhouse. Thus, it should come as little surprise that I also make my own holiday decor.

If you are looking for some DIY inspiration to help make your house a little more cheerful this year (and boy could we all use that!), here are 5 DIY projects to dress up your home up for the holidays.

1.      DIY Advent Calendar

If your kids are older or you just want to add some crafty decor to your home, consider making a DIY advent calendar. Grab a solid cork board or paint a spare piece of thin wood and then paste envelope tags over them. Four rows of six envelope tags should do the trick. Then, find some fun trinkets around the house you can hang from each day along with a fun numbered tag. Each day remove a tag and add the trinket to your tree for even more fun.

2.      Leaf Garland

Looking for something fun and crafty you can do with younger kids? Let them help you decorate the table for Christmas Eve with this fun leaf garland craft.

Simply grab some green construction paper and cut out green leaves in the shape of poinsettia leaves. Add some green lines to add dimension and bring out the veins of each leaf. Then hot glue some red berries along the garland for some extra pizzazz, use miniature red bells.

3.      DIY Seasonal Fireplace Craft

Wish you had a fireplace? Create one you can hang up against the wall during the holiday season and then pack away until next year. However, next year you may be in a position to upgrade your living situation and buy a house with a fireplace.

In the meantime, you can purchase or savage a large white burlap cloth, or other white material that is thick enough to absorb paint and then spray a large black square on it with chalkboard paint. After the paint dries, grab some chalk and design your own fireplace. Let the kids jump in and help. Draw a fireplace frame, add some logs in the fire, or even toast a marshmallow if you like.

4.      Harvest a Charlie Brown Tree

Sometimes a tiny tree next to the fireplace or as an accent in a study is the perfect way to add some quaint Christmas cheer. We have plenty of tiny trees out in the woods, so this was pretty easy to pull off but it’s clearly dependent on where you live. Remember, the point of this tree is not to be magnificent, but instead to be charming. A great perk is due to its pint-sized shape you can even let the kids help you cut it down. They will be proud to show off the tree they dragged in to visiting friends and family.

5.      Make/Bake Homemade Gingerbread to Build Houses

Yeah sure, you can go to the grocery store and buy the premade gingerbread houses that you and your family can decorate, but those DIY’ers who love to do things from scratch – this is for you.

If you’ve never done this, you can look up how to make Gingerbread cookies online and then get to baking. Once they’re done, you can start creating. Some people have holiday villages set up, others bake theirs each year and may (or may not) eat them instead of storing until next holiday season.

(This is a contributed post, for more information about my compensation please read my disclosure policy)