Inspiration & Tips ·Nov 09, 2022

Create Your Own Natural Festive Wreath

by Laura Jones

Half wreath on red front door with antique door fittings

If you’re looking for an easy and sustainable way to add a festive touch to the outside of your house this season, look no further! A wreath provides a warm welcome for all who visit your home, and hints at the festivities taking place inside. While there are plenty of gorgeous designs available to buy, why not try making your own?

Creating your own wreath is surprisingly simple, and makes for a lovely festive activity to share with friends or family.

A round, wire ring is easy to find in most DIY or craft shops and with this base you can create a variety of styles depending on your taste, door colour and style. We love using foliage foraged near our homes and adding some lights for an extra touch of warmth on frosty nights.

Read on as we walk you through four wreaths to suit any style:

HEATHER WREATH

Traditional heather wreath on front door surrounding door knocker

This is a full wreath in a traditional style, and due to the evergreen foliage as the base it will last for a good while on your door, especially in the cold air! Adding heather as an accent gives a gorgeous depth.

For this wreath we used Leylandii as a base as it dries well and doesn’t require any water, but youcan use any leaf or foliage that will last out of water.

You will need:

Wire wreath frame/hoop
Evergreen foliage that dries well and lasts out of water
Wire
Snips
Ribbon
Drawing pin

Start by making small bunches out of sprigs 15-20cm in length, wiring these together with a couple of sprigs of heather.

Once you’ve made enough bunches to fill the ring, wrap additional wire around each bunch and attach these to the frame, overlapping as you go to create a full base and avoid any gaps.

Once the frame is full, hang it up to see how the foliage settles. Add in extra pieces of heather to fill any gaps and balance out the wreath so that it looks even and full.

To add further dimension to the wreath, add some battery powered lights – we chose our Teardrop Lights in pink as these look beautiful turned on and off. You can simply wrap these around the wreath or use wire to secure to the foliage.

Adding velvet ribbon to a heather door wreath

Finish off the wreath by adding some ribbon, and then attach it to your door. You can tie the wreath onto your door knocker if you have one, or for wooden doors you can secure the ribbon with a drawing pin in the top edge of the door.

GARLAND

You can also use the technique above to make a garland, by replacing the wire frame with a length of rope. Just remember that if you’re hanging the garland over a fireplace with length hanging
down on either side, you’ll need to attach the foliage the right way up on each side so that the bunches lay flat.
We recommend marking the centre point on the rope, and then working inwards from each end, towards the centre. Once both sides are complete you can fill out the flat area in the centre with more foliage so that the garland looks continuous. We recommend doing the same for a table garland, but for a stair garland you can lay the foliage all one way.

HALF WREATH

A half wreath has a more modern appearance but still lots of room for personality. Keep the hoop minimal with pared-back foliage or go for something wilder and embrace an off-centre design.

As this wreath is slightly more minimal, this is a great option for inside your home as well as on your front door.

For our half wreath we used Pittosporum in two different colours for added visual interest, and decided to add more layers.

You will need:

Wire wreath frame/hoop
Evergreen foliage that dries well and lasts out of water
Wire
Snips
Ribbon (optional)
Drawing pin

Start by making small bunches of each type of leaf, wrapping these with wire to secure.

Starting from a centre point on the wreath, attach the sprigs in one direction, working away from the centre.

Attaching foliage to a wire wreath hoop

Once you’ve completed one side, start back at the centre and work outwards the other way, attaching the sprigs in the opposite direction.

You can keep your wreath symmetrical by filling evenly in both directions, or make one side longer for an asymmetrical design.

Working in this way will leave a flatter area at the centre point, so you can add a ribbon here if you like, or attach more foliage to make the greenery look continuous. Feel free to add in some accent foliage – dried bracken would look beautiful on this style of wreath.

Attaching accent found foliage to modern wreath design

The wire frame we used here has a little loop at the top so can be secured to the door using a small nail or screw. For composite doors, we recommend attaching a sticky hook to the inside of the door, and then draping a ribbon over the top of the door and attaching to the wreath.

METAL LIGHT UP WREATH

This beautiful star wreath has built in LED lights, so we simply used little sprigs of heather to weave in and out of the metal stars to add some softness and depth. This easy project would be great to do with children, and the contrast of the greenery against the rustic stars looked just beautiful!

Detail of metal star wreath with foliage

HOOP-LESS WREATH

Bunch of foliage on red door

While this isn’t technically a wreath, this suggestion has you covered if you aren’t able to nip out to the craft shop for a metal wreath frame/hoop.
This is also a great way to use up any leftover foliage you might have from making your traditional wreath.

You will need:

Foliage
Ribbon
Nail or drawing pin

Simply gather your foliage, tie together with a ribbon and hang!

This beautifully simple idea can still pack a visual punch and we love the versatility of these giant sprigs.

We used a bundle of Bottlebrush Tree as the decorative seed pods work beautifully, but you could use any evergreen branches or a cluster of fir cones on the end of a ribbon.
This can be hung from your door knocker, or from a small nail in hallways to bring a subtle touch of festive cheer to your entrance.

This works on any scale you could create a tiny sprig using rosemary and attach this to your front door handle.