How To Make A Real Garland

Christmas is in full swing at our house. I’ve finally finished decorating everything, and am enjoying the cozy nights next to our Christmas tree. Today, I wanted to share about another element of our front porch, how to make a real garland. 

On Monday, I showed how I made the garland that frames our front door, but what I wasn’t showing you, was another big element to our front porch. 

I am in love with the it! It’s such a lovely element to our front porch. The perfect mix of festive, and cozy, all while bringing in the beautiful green.

I know you’re wondering, was it time consuming? And I’ll be honest, it was. But only by a tiny bit. Once I got on a roll, it went pretty fast. Here’s how I made it….

I started with cheap, cheap $3.00 fake garland… (I bought three, but only used two)

I stretched it out, and began fluffing all of the fake branches to make it appear fuller…

Then, I began cutting off branches from a fresh Christmas tree I bought just for this…

Then, I placed the fake greenery in the spot I wanted it on our stone columns, then tied a lightweight jute rope around the column and fake garland, and tied it in a tight double knot…

That picture shows the real greenery tucked in too, because I forgot to take a picture of just the garland wrapped around the pole. (Blogger of the year…)

But, I think you get the idea. I started at the bottom and made my way up, tying the fake garland to the column the entire way to the top, leaving about 2 feet in between each section. 

(And you may have guess it, no picture…)

Once the garland was tightly tied to the columns, one on each side, I started adding in my fresh Christmas tree cuttings…

It’s easier than it sounds, but I just began shoving them cut stem up into the fake garland. They stay in quite well, and I tried to get as many of them as possible into the rope sections. The picture below shows you how it looks…

I worked in sections, starting at the bottom and working my way up to the top. The Christmas tree greenery was also very forgiving, and fluffy, so you couldn’t see in the garland to the fake portion. It all looks real, and I made sure to cover the sides so you can’t see anything but the fresh greens. Then, to give it a different element and texture, I added in fresh cut Juniper tree clippings, leftover from the garland around our door…

And just like that, it was done. I will say, this has held up remarkably well. We have had hard wind since I put it up, and I’ve only had a few little pieces fall out, which is easy to stick them right back in. As you keep building the garland, they hold together by the stems, fake garland, rope, and kind of make a jumbled wall of a mess. That’s really the best way to describe it.

It’s also a temporary garland, so it’s not meant to stay around for months upon months. I’m perfectly fine with a few stems falling out every now and then. I can easily tuck them right back into the garland. 

Here’s how it all looks…

If you look closely to the picture above, you can spot the rope I tied around the columns. Luckily, I could tuck most of them in between the different rocks, making them nearly invisible. 

I love the way the garland frames our front porch. It draws your attention to our front door.

The fresh garland is fluffy and full of texture. I’ve never decorated our front porch like this, so I’m enjoying the new idea come to life…

Those Juniper berries add all the difference…

Plus, they tie in the garland around the front door…

I love it!

So there you have it… our fresh garland. I’m so happy with how it turned out. It’s such a happy welcoming, both to us and our guests. Plus, it was cheap. I bought the tree, and ended up using just enough branches, that I had a 3 foot mini tree left over, so I placed it in a barrel, and I had $6.00 in fake garland! I mean, would you ever have guessed that beautiful fresh garland started with the cheap-o fake stuff? Not I, friends…not I.