10 Simple Things You Need for a Farmhouse Christmas

Recently I’ve had several readers ask HOW to get a farmhouse look when you don’t live in a farmhouse.  Good question… not many of us actually live in a farmhouse.  So today I thought I’d tackle Christmas farmhouse decor.  Here are a few basic things you’ll need to do to get farmhouse style Christmas decor in your home this holiday season.  Don’t worry… it’s easy!

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Start by clearing out clutter.  The farmhouse style is simple, without a lot of tchotchkes.  Plus you’ll be adding in a lot of decorations, so remove the decorations, photos, fake plants, etc that you have out now and put them into storage for a few months.  (This is a great time for a good cleaning, too!)

Now that you’ve got that done, get out your Christmas decorations and start editing.  Farmhouse decor is mostly neutral which makes the color you add at Christmas really stand out.  I would recommend sticking with one main color, probably either red or blue.  I’m gonna bet that there won’t be much you’ll need to add!

Now for the fun part!

Christmas Farmhouse Decor Includes:

Lots of Greenery & Naturals

This can be fresh cut or artificial.  You can gather fresh cut greens and pine cones right out of your own backyard if you have evergreens.  If not (or if you have allergies), just head on down to the craft store or big box store (or Amazon) and get some artificial garland, a wreath, and miscellaneous Christmas picks.  Here’s a great example of a simple garland around a front door.  Looks like there are some fresh cut greens stuck in pots on either side, too.

You’ll notice in a lot of the photos greenery has been stuck in jars, behind vignettes, or hung on the backs of chairs, frames, or cabinet doors.

You can also fill bowls and jars with pine cones or add them to your wreath.

• DIY Pine Cone Kissing Ball
• How to Bleach Pine Cones – I haven’t tried this yet but they look beautiful!!!
• How to Make a Pine Cone Garland

Galvanized Tin

Use galvanized tin buckets for your Christmas tree, poinsettias, or a bouquet of greens.  Or find galvanized tin ornaments for the tree.

These cute little buckets combine THREE of my ten components of farmhouse Christmas decor — galvanized tin, chalkboard, AND burlap!  You might be able to find buckets with labels already on them or you can buy mini buckets and stick your own chalkboard labels on them.

• Christmas tree sized tubs
• buckets for bouquets
• How to Rust Metal

Vintage Crates

Last year I put my small aluminum tree in a vintage crate then filled it with Shiny Brite.  (That post is coming soon!)  Here’s a small Christmas tree sitting on top of stacked crates!

Here’s another fun farmhouse idea!  Corral your hot chocolate fixin’s in a vintage crate.

• Baby It’s Cold Outside Sign
• Vintage Crates
• Vintage Scale

Mason Jars

Nothing says “farmhouse” like a mason jar.  Use them as vases, candle holders, or glasses.  Fill them with candy or tiny pine cones.

Janet used mason jars to hold greenery AND a little bottle brush Christmas tree.  Check out her blog, she’s got even more ideas there.

I love Jennifer’s mason jar candles on her stairs.  You could use flameless votives if you were concerned about them being knocked over by kids or pets.

• Mason jars
• bottle brush trees
• Car in Mason Jar Snowglobe
• Snowy Mason Jar DIY

Burlap

Add a burlap pillow, table runner, tree skirt, or make these cute little burlap Christmas trees.  I’ll show you how in another post.

Colleen tucked a little burlap around a mini tree in her kitchen.  Another thing I love about this post is it shows some decor WITHOUT white walls.  And of course, I love the old book!

And here are even more examples:

• No-Sew Burlap Christmas Tree Skirt
• DIY Burlap Table Runner with Tassels
• How to Print on Burlap (make your own pillow!)

White Lights and Candles

White lights are simple and elegant.  They don’t distract from your other ornaments.    We have white lights and colored lights.  Every few years we pull out the colored lights but I love the peaceful look of the white.  Remember farmhouse is about keeping it simple!

Here’s an example of not-so-plain white lights on a farmhouse Christmas tree.

Shiny Brite Ornaments

A mix of all your favorite ornaments makes a perfect casual farmhouse look.  Not too overdone.  Then fill in all the blank spots with vintage Shiny Brite!  You can also fill bowls and jars with glass ball ornaments, too.  These (or another brand) are usually pretty easy to find at thrift stores.

Take a look at this living room… vases filled with ornaments and pine cones and in the background, a tree on a galvanized bucket.  Yes, ON not IN.  Click over to Kristi’s blog.  She’s got a crate in her decorations, too!  (And a good example of using colored lights on a Christmas tree!)

Plaid

Most of the plaids I see in farmhouse decor are either black and white or red and white.  Again, simple.  When you start adding a third color, for example, red/green/white, it gets a little busy.  Stick with two-color plaids.

I was pretty impressed at how Doreen covered her dining room chairs for Christmas with a $5.00 tablecloth!  Love how that red pops with a basic black and white room.  (Notice more greenery, too!)

Chalkboard

I love this “Tidings of Great Joy” chalkboard art that Kristen did over on Ella Claire.

If you want to improve your chalkboard art, get a copy of The Complete Book of Chalk Lettering.  My favorite lettering book and super helpful!  It even has a fold out chalkboard IN the book!

Vintage Collections as Decorations

This is where you can let your individuality shine!!!  Whatever you collect — old toys, games, puzzles, books, etc — can be used as Christmas decorations.  Turn them into ornaments, display them under the tree, or make cute vignettes around your home like this one.   Think outside the box!

• Vintage Salt Shaker Ornaments
• Vintage Children’s Puzzle Ornaments
• How to Decorate Vintage Toy Trucks

OK, here’s a test… how many of these do you see in Sarah’s kitchen?

And another… Katie got at least FIVE out of ten in this ONE vignette!

Thanks for reading through this really long post.  Please leave a comment and let me know if you still have any questions.  I hope this helped.  And please tag me in your pictures on Facebook and Instagram if you try any of these!

‘Til the next project,

 Ann @ Duct Tape and Denim

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