Nothing brings a smile to my face like driving up to our home at night and seeing all the beautiful Christmas lights lighting up our front porch. Main street in Versailles is lined with all kinds of lights and decorations and it even extends down to the homes past downtown where our home sits. Everyone seems to go all out with their decorations and I love seeing all the historic homes decorated in their own unique way.

I still have to pinch myself when it comes to decorating our front porch, because I just can't get used to having SO much great space to deck out! We lined the roof lines on the front of our house with lights as well as the columns and staircase on our porch. My favorite element of the porch is the collection of trees and lanterns on each side of the front door. I clustered lots of different sized twig trees, placing some in old buckets or baskets. The trees I used were all pre-lit and came in a 3-pack from Big Lots (all slightly different heights). These were on sale for only $25 for the set of 3 on Black Friday, so I purchased two sets for the porch. Big Lots always seems to have great deals on basics like this for Christmas decorating on Black Friday and these are some of my favorite finds ever from there. I will be able to use them for years to come inside or out. I also used lots of various gold lanterns that I had been collecting from Homegoods + Target throughout the year (and usually used on our side porch) filled with battery-powered twinkle lights for some extra sparkle.

On the front door I layered my favorite gold leaf wreath over a fresh boxwood wreath from Trader Joe's. Layering wreaths is one of my favorite tricks for creating more of a custom look without spending a lot of time or money. I used fresh garland to drape around the door and staircase leading up to the porch too. On each window, I hung a simple fresh wreath too from Home Depot (these go on sale every year on Black Friday, so I always stock up then). I added some holiday cheer to our bench with some Christmas quote pillows from our shop and a bright vintage plaid blanket. I love how a mini fresh Christmas tree looks nestled inside a vintage basket, especially tucked behind a vintage twig reindeer (below).

I always use my barnwood "JOY" sign on the porch too for Christmas. It is double sided with "FALL" written on the other side so that I can use it throughout both seasons. In front of it I placed a giant wooden trough filled with magnolia branches, fresh greenery, and sticks. I used this same wooden trough for my fall porch too but filled with pumpkins and gourds instead. On the other side of the porch I also added a vintage sleigh and ice skates leaning beside the trees. Vintage sleighs are something that is super easy to find while thrifting or at antique shops, and are perfect for decorating inside or outside your home (and they can stay out all winter even past Christmas!).

I hope you enjoyed following along with my first holiday home tour in our new fixer upper! You can find the rest of the rooms from my tour here, and as always I've linked up all my sources for you to shop at the end of this post!

xoxo

Emily