Welcome to our Christmas Porch! It's been decorated all red and aqua with a retro vibe! If you're new here, I'm Jane, and I'm so excited that you are here to visit with us on our front porch.
We live in a small country cottage that has a large screened-in front porch that I love to decorate for the seasons. Because we live in South Carolina, we are fortunate that we can use our porch for at least nine to ten months out of the year. It is the first place that we head out to early in the morning and it is frequently where we end our day, too.
Our dog Lucy joins me in giving you a great big welcome. Our pets enjoy the porch as much as we do. This is the sitting area where we have some real comfy chairs.
And on the other end of the porch we have an eating area. Most of the time here in South Carolina the weather is nice enough for us to eat outside on Christmas Eve when our whole family gathers here. When I decorate the front porch, I treat it like another room in the house because that's how we use it.
This year I've decorated the porch in red and aqua and gave it a vintage vibe by putting the tree in an old wheelbarrow.
The whole color scheme was driven by these adorable vintage blue truck Christmas ornaments that I found back in August or September, I can't remember which! It is a dream of ours to one day have a real vintage truck similar to this!
On the tree I used some red wooden bead garland that I bought at a friend's garage sale a few years ago, but do you see the bubble lights??? Those are new but very retro looking, and I'm obsessed with them. They bring back a lot of memories of when we had bubble lights on our tree when I was young.
I just love the nostalgic glow that they give off at night!
And since we have an abundance of pine cones in our yard, I painted some red and aqua and used them as ornaments on the tree. The tree itself got a little paint job, too. I really like those snowy looking flocked trees, but I don't like the mess that a real flocked tree creates so I just dabbed some white paint on the branches! Voila!
More red bead garland and painted pine cones grace the area around the front door and adorn the lanterns.
In one corner is an old ladder that was taken from the yard, given a new coat of aqua paint, and got decorated for Christmas. The peppermints that are in the watering can, on the table, and on top of the tree were painted and glittered by moi using some round wooden disks found at Hobby Lobby.
Some vintage Santa mugs are on the table along with some peppermint napkins and chair covers that I made. Now that I have a sewing machine, I enjoy whipping out some decorative items myself. Here is the (affiliate link) to the sewing machine that I have in case you want to put one on your wish list!
On each end of the porch I made some red and aqua Christmas bunting to hang.
It is so easy to make these, and I promise I'll give you a tutorial on how to make the bunting, the napkins, and the chair covers soon.
More painted pine cones and a light strand strung with jingle bells and red ticking that I made several years ago. One of my secrets in decorating inexpensively is to just move things around, paint them, or use them in a different way each year.
Speaking of painting things, this wooden bench has been on our back deck for a year or so, but we moved it to the front porch and I painted it to match the wheelbarrow.
The reproduction feather tree that usually resides in our kitchen got spruced up with some painted vintage bulbs.
I love to make old things new again, and you can see how I turned the bulbs into ornaments a little better in this photo.
More vintage Santa mugs along with a pine cone tree rest on an old scale.
I put out my vintage plaid thermos set just in case it gets cold enough for some hot chocolate sippin' on our Christmas porch.
A retro looking wall hanging with a red ticking background found on Amazon fits in one corner.
And an aqua and red wooden snowflake ornament tops a real evergreen tree.
The dancing frogs that are on our porch year round put on their Santa hats for Christmas!
Instead of a wreath, Leo and I made this vintage truck door decoration to complete our retro Christmas porch.
I hope you've enjoyed your tour of our festive front porch, and I hope you've gotten a few ideas to use in your own decorating. Looking for even more porch decorating ideas?
Whether your style is vintage, rustic, farmhouse, French country, traditional or cottage, you'll find lots of inspiration as you deck your halls for the holidays.
Andrea Brankin
Jaw. Dropped!!! The original, handmade, quirky, common-sense, comfortable, inspirational, found-object vibe on your porch is amazing! Yes, all of that and more! So I had to add my kudos to all the others because your porch and the talent and teamwork behind it is truly unique and something special. Would love to sit a spell!
Rosemary In Texas
Who makes the gardening Santa and the little red wagon on your porch?
Amy @ Stow and Tell U
Wow, your porch is just fabulous! The way you've woven together the red and aqua with a vintage cottage Christmas touch. I love ever little detail and that fact that the aqua furniture and accents will look amazing all year round.
graciesgigi
I love everything about your porch! Just want to get a book and my cup of cocoa and never leave! Thanks for sharing!
Rondell Konat
What a fabulous porch for Christmas, I love it and the colors too! The little ladder is so cute with the lights strung on it and and also love the painted pinecones!
virginia
Love all the touches....you are so creative and so kind to share.
The wheelbarrow stole the show!
congrats on the magazine feature...well deserved.
Courtney @ Charity Sparrow
This is adorable, absolutely love your color scheme and the attention to detail!
Jean Windham
Il love your attention to detail. The pine cones are pretty painted and are perfect for the porch. I think my favorite is the blue painted truck and the wagon. This is a must see post! Jean
Larissa ~ Prodigal Pieces
You have an amaaaazing porch! Love those fun colors.
Kerryanne @ Shabby Art Boutique
The perfect cottage porch Jane. Love it... pinning and sharing 🙂
Paula
Your porch looks so pretty decked out for Christmas! I so much enjoyed looking at all of your decor. Enjoy that pretty space every day this month, it's too inviting not to spend time out there!
Dawn
Jane the porch is darling. All the pretty colors remind me of a candy store. The mason jar tree topper is brilliant 🙂
Mary
Jane, I saw this yesterday when I was scrolling through Pinterest on my phone! I ADORE all your cheery aqua and red accents from your cute wellies to your adorable trucks! Your tree in the wheelbarrow steals the show. I wish Santa would bring me a wheelbarrow for Christmas 🙂
deb
Love it all!
Anika
I am totally crushing over everything! It is so gorgeous! I can't decide what is my favorite part but I think I am going to go with that wagon.
AnnMarie
I just love EVERYTHING about your porch, especially the colors! I have an aqua and red bathroom so they are favorite colors of mine. You have mixed the two colors so perfectly on your porch. All your hand made items and painted items are just perfect. I am in awe....I would love to see it in person!
Daune | Cottage in the Oaks
This is so fun, Jane! It looks like a wonderland! xoxoxoxo
Nancy
Your porch is adorable. Love the colors.
Christy @ Our Southern Home
I am absolutely blown away! That tree in the wheelbarrow has my heart!
Atta Girl Amy
Jane, it is stunning and so much fun. I have to say, I love all the aqua touches, especially that wheelbarrow. I need to find me one of those!
As always, you knocked it out of the park with your porch!
Jean Windham
I love the new color combinations Jane. The porch is festive and I can see lots of new items painted. Great job and lovely combination of blue and red. Jean
MADELINE NEWTON
i just love your front porch ,so inviting ...i bet your enjoying the porch all year long ...so would love to have a large porch ...had tried to convince my husband to make ours larger ...my grandma's house had a porch like yours ..this brings back wonderful memories...thank you for sharing with all of us..
Pam Kessler
That's just about the cutest porch I've ever seen. Love the aqua! And love how your thermos case came out for a visit 🙂
Melanie
So very charming!! Loved looking at the pics and reading about it!
Angie @ Postcards from the Ridge
Your porch is adorable and is so cozy. I can see why you and Leo and Lucy spend lots of time there. I would too! I love the old wheelbarrow with the tree. So clever!
Marilyn Soto
Where in the world did you find the red gingham boots???? The porch is so sweet and Inviting -
Helen
LOVE your color scheme! I painted similar Christmas cards ... Red truck carryong Christmas tree! Check them out on my Facebook page. Helen Riley Sturgeon Watercolor
Linda
Your porch looks very comfy and inviting! I love Lucy !
Cheryl
Love, love, love the aqua and red!! I'm buying some aqua paint today!!