Front Porch Decorating: DIY Winter Swag

Make this easy winter swag wreath to hang on your front porch well into the new year. A lovely way to extend the life of your outdoor Christmas decorations.

During the Christmas season, I like to keep decorating around our house simple. Aside from our tree and a few tchotchkes, most of our decor is winter-themed rather than Christmas per se. I began this a few years ago when it didn’t feel quite right to start pulling Christmas decor out in early November. However, if I waited until later in the month, I’d usually get too busy to fully decorate the house. With the new year arriving so quickly, I always felt the pressure to get it down lickety-split!

Perhaps it’s pure laziness to avoid going through all that work for one month, but I like to think of it as stretching my decorating dollar and having less stuff to store. Decorating for changing seasons rather than specific holidays is so much easier.

When decorating our front porch, I like to take the same approach. Other than freshening up the flowers and foliage when they start looking tired, the look basically stays the same for months. Last week it quickly changed from fall to full winter mode around here with heavy snow and chilly weather. It was time to switch out the frozen gourds and kale for something a little more wintery.

This swag is one of the easiest holiday projects I’ve tackled to date. Once you gather your materials, it will literally take less than 30 minutes to put two of them together. Just a tad shorter than the woodland wreath I made earlier this season. That project requires much more patience but is still worth it!

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DIY Winter Swag Wreath

Tip: You can use real greenery for your swag or faux (or a combination of both). If you use faux, be prepared to spend a bit to get good quality. There’s some real tacky looking stuff out there! Fortunately, I bought mine just after the Christmas season last year. It’s a great time to stock up on Christmas decorations at a fraction of the price.

I cheated a bit and used faux pine and spruce greenery that already had natural pine/spruce cones attached. (Don’t worry, you can attach your own very easily.)

Instructions

1. Gather the ends of the greenery together in a way that looks good to you.
2. Trim the tops (or bend in if necessary) and wire them together.
3. Attach additional pine/spruce cones to the front using more wire.
4. To finish it off, wrap the top with jute string and add a bit of ribbon.

Don’t you just love the look of black and white buffalo check?!

Winter Front Porch Decor

I decided to hang the swags on either side of the window of our front porch using small nails and loop of jute. 

These DIY swags are a nice alternative to round wreaths. For a different look down the road, I’ll simply switch out the ribbon.

For now, I think they go well with the rustic log and black lanterns I have sitting by the front door. I also put out the log candle holders I made, as well as an old crock.

Have any of your own winter front porch decorating ideas? Think about what you can find in nature and go from there!

Rather buy than DIY? Here are some nice winter swag options to decorate your home.

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