If you’re a member of the itty bitty porch committee, you already know that decorating for any season can be a challenge. If you do too much, your porch can look busy and cluttered. If you do too little, your decor can look unintentional, like maybe you just brought your plants up on the porch to get them out of the weather. Throw in the endless options for outdoor Christmas decorations, and finding the right balance for your small space can be particularly challenging, especially while working on a budget! In this post, I’m going through my top five winter essentials for small porches, how we decked our porch for the Holidays on a budget, and some inspiration from some of my favorite small porches!
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FIVE WINTER ESSENTIALS FOR SMALL PORCHES
1. WREATH AND/OR GARLAND
Nothing says Christmas like garlands and wreaths! Even the smallest of porches has room for a wreath or garland, making these holiday decor items an essential when working with a tight space. Wreaths and garlands are great because they bring in touches of natural winter greenery and festive feels, while taking up minimal space. Plus, they come in a variety of colors, styles, and sizes, so you can find the perfect ones for your style and space.
Pro Tip: Add bells, ribbons, or festive door hangers to your wreath or garland to bring in extra layers of dimension and detail! A simple wreath with a with a rustic bell door hanger, or a cedar garland interlaced with a bell garland or strand of lights, are easy ways to achieve a minimalist, designer look while working with a small space!
2. Seasonal Plants or Trees
Seasonal plants or small trees are an easy, affordable way to bring the holiday feels to your small porch! Real or fake, plants and trees go with any style, and you can find just about any size you need to fit in your space. You can’t go wrong with a Christmas tree in a cute basket or pot, or a smaller potted pant on a stool or table!
3. WOODEN STOOL, SMALL CHAIR, OR BENCH
A small piece of furniture like a wooden stool, chair, or bench is the perfect addition to any small porch! Chairs and benches can be both functional and decorative, and are perfect for displaying seasonal pillows and cozy blankets! Wooden stools (or even small accent tables) are great for holding smaller plants or decorative baskets while adding height variation to your decor, which keeps your design interesting!
4. SEASONAL SIGN OR WELCOME SIGN
I have been seeing these tall and skinny leaning porch signs just about everywhere these days, and I am NOT mad about it! This narrow style sign is perfect for us small porch folks because they fit perfectly into a little corner or beside the door! You can find just about any color, saying, or design you want, so this is a great option for decorating for any season.
5. SEASONAL RUG AND DOORMAT
Just like with wreaths and garlands, a rug or doormat will fit on even the the smallest of porches! This is the perfect way to add color, pattern, and a festive saying to your porch design, while tying everything together! Plus, you need somewhere to wipe the snow (or Alabama clay in our case) off your boots right?!
Pro Tip: I love layering a cute patterned rug underneath a regular doormat for a more custom, designer look, that is still functional for wiping your feet!
HOW WE DECKED OUR PORCH FOR THE HOLIDAYS ON A BUDGET
If you hang around here long enough, you’ll quickly realize I’m all about finding ways to get a designer look for less, and our Christmas porch design was no different! I’m going to go through each element I used to style our porch this year and tell you where I got it, how much it cost, and why I love it! I’ll add a “SHOP” section at the end of the blog post where I’ll link everything I can for you as well!
1. Wreath & GARLAND
Okay, so you’ve probably noticed two different wreath looks throughout this post. It’s the same wreath, but just shown with two different sets of bells! Our wreath came from Marshalls and was $29.99. I love the simplicity of this wreath. It is classic, realistic, and good quality, so I know I will be able to use this for years to come! While I do love the simplicity, I felt like it needed just a little more detail and dimension to give it that designer look, hence, the bells! Both of these sets of bells were DIYs (you can see how I did them in this blog post) and were super affordable designer dupes! The longer door hanger shown in the first photo is a set of black bells from Joann’s that I spray painted, and they were on sale for $7.99 when I got them! The smaller set of two bells are from Michael’s and were on sale for $4.99 when I got them! Both were spray painted with Rustoleum’s Satin Bronze Metallic Spray Paint ($6.99).
Our porch was particularly tricky for me to decorate because it is not only VERY small, but also asymmetrical! To balance out the stool, plant, and welcome sign on the right side of the porch, I decided to run my garland asymmetrically to the left. This created interest while giving some weight to the left side of the door.
The garland shown around our door is actually a combination of garland and wreath picks! The garland we used is from Lowe’s and was $5.98 for a 9 foot strand (we used 2 strands). You can’t beat that price for 9 feet of faux garland, but I’ll be honest… you get what you pay for. It’s not the worst looking garland I’ve ever seen, but certainly not the best, so I felt like it needed a little something to take it to the next level!
That is where the wreath picks come in! I found these individual pine wreath picks shown below at Hobby Lobby. They were originally $2.99 a piece, but I caught them on a half off day, so they were just $1.50 each! I originally bought 7 of them, and had to go back and get a couple more to finish off my garland, but they seriously made such a difference in the over all look! To attach them to the main garland, I wrapped the bendable, wire stem around the wire part of the garland, and used the branches of the garland to cover up any of the wire that was showing.
This is a super easy way to make a really cheap garland look more expensive. You could add in eucalyptus, cedar, bells, berries, you name it! You could even use floral tape to add in some fresh stems if you had some on hand that you wanted to use.
2. NORFOLK PINE
I wanted to incorporate some real greenery into our winter porch decor through the use of a plant! I found this cute little Norfolk pine at Lowe’s for just $19.99, and fell in love with it! I love the feel and look of it’s branches, and it’s a little bit of a different look than your everyday average Christmas tree! I found the basket pot at Hobby Lobby (half off) for $12.99!
3. WOODEN STOOL
Okay, y’all know I love me some Facebook Marketplace, and that’s exactly where I found this little stool, for just $5! I have seen all sorts of wooden bar stools on marketplace lately for $5-$10, so these are a great affordable option to add to your small porch decor! You can also find some affordable stools on Amazon. If you see one you like but don’t love the color, you could always sand and re-stain it, or even spray paint it a solid color!
4. WELCOME SIGN
I got this little welcome sign from a local antique store for $35! The vendor makes these herself in a variety of colors, but I love the classic black and white. I use this sign all year round, and it blends perfectly with all of my decor! If you wanted a more seasonal sign, I’ve seen a ton of cute signs on Etsy and Amazon and say “Merry Christmas” or “Merry and Bright” or some other common Christmas phrase!
5. BUFFALO PLAID RUG WITH CUSTOM DOORMAT
If you read my last post, y’all already know I love me some layered rugs, and outdoor rugs are no exception! I love using this custom doormat we received as a wedding gift over a patterned rug to change up our porch look for the seasons! In the Spring and Summer, we used a black and white striped rug (shown earlier under the “Sleigh All Day” doormat), but for the fall and winter, I decided to go with a plaid rug to mix it up! As I mentioned earlier, this custom doormat was a gift, but you can order it on Etsy in a few different designs for $56-$66 depending on the size. It is a little more pricey than your average doormat that you might find at Target or Hobby Lobby, but it is totally worth it in my opinion, because it is amazing quality and you can use it all year long. Our doormat has been heavily used everyday for the past year, and it still looks good as new! The plaid rug layered beneath the mat is from Amazon, and was only $20.99!
INSPIRATION FROM SOME OF MY FAVORITE SMALL PORCHES
Okay, enough about my porch! Everyone has a different style and porch space to work with, so I want to share some of my favorite small porch designs with you, and link you to my “Winter Porch Inspiration” board on Pinterest. Here, you’ll find a variety of ideas for decking your porch for the Holidays!
The owners of the other four porches you’ve seen featured throughout this blog post have graciously allowed me to share their photos with you here, so I want to highlight these all together in this section for you!
1. Elizabeth Hyland
THIS PORCH. Let me just say that this porch is amazingly beautiful all on its own. From the intricate details framing the door, to the pretty lights and little green mail box, this space feels so inviting. Now add in all the lush greenery, real stems, and pretty Christmas lights, and you get this enchanting little front porch. This is the perfect example of achieving that intentional, balanced, and designer look while working with a smaller space.
If you love this porch, just wait till you see the rest of her house! Elizabeth has an amazing sense of style, and she perfectly achieves that stay home style feel with her cozy neutral decor. Click here to visit her Instagram page!
2. HAYLEY BANKS
Okay y’all, this is my best friend’s porch and it is SUCH a great example for those of you with a small front porch that is centered on a window rather than a door! This 3’x5′ buffalo plaid rug grounds the space perfectly, while the placement of the trees and garland help highlight the symmetry of the porch. The hairpin bench serves as both a functional furniture piece, as well as a place to display the cutest Christmas pillows from, you guessed it, TARGET! I will link her rug, pillows, trees, and garland at the end of this post for you as well!
3. SARAH JANE INTERIORS
I LOVE this neutral, classy front porch by Sarah Jane Interiors. I originally found this porch on Pinterest, and hopped on Instagram to message her about using it for this post, and I’m already obsessed with her feed. She has the prettiest home full of cozy neutrals and natural textures, and if you love this porch, you will absolutely love her style! Click here to visit her Instagram.
What I love about this porch is its simplicity. It is so simple in nature, but the lush greenery, natural textures, and rustic bells work together so well, creating an elevated, eye catching look.
4. SARAH KNAPEK
I don’t know what it is about the name Sarah, but I’m starting think that means you have a cute front porch! I came across Sarah Knapek on Instagram when I was looking for some porch inspiration, and fell in love! How cute is that leaning Christmas sign, layered door mat, wreath with the cylindrical bells, and well, pretty much all of it! If you love this porch, cozy farmhouse decor, and cute kiddos, you should check her page here!
I hope you found some inspiration and pretty new pages to follow on Instagram from these four porches! If you’re looking for more inspiration for decorating your porch for Christmas, I’m linking my “Winter Porch Inspiration” board below for you!
SHOP
Click on the words beneath the photos to shop!
I hope this post has given you some some helpful tips, tricks, and inspiration for decorating your small porch for the Holidays! Just because you’re working with a smaller space, doesn’t mean you have can’t make a big statement with your design!
I’d love to hear what you think in the comments below, and I’d love to see photos of your small porch designs! Feel free to shoot me an email or message me on Instagram. Thanks for reading, and happy decorating 🙂
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