Make this Under-$30 Holiday Decor Now, and You Can Use It All Year Long
A wreath on the front door is a beautiful way to welcome guests and set the tone for the rest of your home. Eucalyptus wreaths in particular are a fail-safe option since they’re classically simplistic, and — spoiler alert! — you can make the same one work for every season.
Ready to make this mind-blowingly easy yet stylish decor? Read on to see how to DIY your own faux eucalyptus wreath for under $30, and learn how to use it as a base with seasonal swaps. Once you’re done, you’ll be able to refresh your decor without taking up a ton of precious storage: Instead of storing four separate wreaths, you just need to pack away the smaller add-ons. As for the main wreath? Well, you can keep that one out all year long.
Supplies for the Base Wreath:
- Floral hoop
- Floral stem wire (16 or 18 gauge)
- Floral wire (22, 24, or 26 gauge)
- Floral tape
- Wire cutters (Tip: You can find affordable kits that include wire, tape, and wire cutters all together)
- Hot glue gun
- Faux eucalyptus (I used seeded and silver dollar varieties)
- Seasonal add-ons of your choice
1. Arrange the faux eucalyptus on your floral hoop.
Arrange your eucalyptus stems over the floral hoop. You can bundle sets of stems together with floral tape or floral wire and trim longer stems with wire cutters to achieve your desired layout. Overlap the base of the stems with other leaves.
2. Secure the stems.
Use the floral wire to secure the stems to the floral hoop. Tuck the end of the wire underneath your wrap and pull tightly as you go around the stems and hoop. Protect against sharp ends and finish the wire with a wrap of floral tape.
With this step, you’ve finished your plain wreath! You can end it here, or continue with add-ons that will change up the basic look of your wreath for each season.
Note, too, that if you want to skip straight to the next step, you can also start with a pre-made minimalist eucalyptus wreath.
3. Wire in your seasonal add-ons.
To make the seasonal add-ons reusable year after year, replace their stems with thick gauge, floral stem wire. This will allow you to easily attach and detach them between seasons.
Insert the floral stem wire into the flowers’ or leaves’ bases, adding hot glue first to secure. For most faux florals, you can pop the blooms off their original branch and use the same attachment hole for the floral stem wire. For other items, like faux dried grasses, you can attach the wire to the existing stem.
Secure the wire by tightly wrapping the base of the flower/leaf and the wire in floral tape. Keep the floral stem wire long to wrap around the floral hoop as needed.
If your seasonal attachment does not have a pre-existing hole — such as when you’re using dried mushroom or florals — you can either hot glue the floral stem wire behind larger pieces or hide the wire in a bundle.
When you’re ready to attach the seasonal add-ons to the main eucalyptus wreath, simply wrap their new floral stem wires around the floral hoop, hiding it behind the eucalyptus leaves.
For winter, try evergreens accents.
The spiky texture of faux evergreen branches against the smooth eucalyptus already pulls a design punch. Add a little color contrast with pinecones and pull the whole wreath together with jingle bells and a glittery, festive ribbon.
For spring, try adding flowers.
Florals for spring? Groundbreaking. Add interest by mixing assorted sizes within a similar color palette and using one larger bloom as an asymmetric centerpiece.
For summer, try succulents.
To keep summer distinct from spring, steer away from florals and instead use faux succulents and ferns to introduce playful colors and bold leaf shapes. This arrangement keeps the visual weight evenly dispersed instead of creating a center focal point.
For autumn, try dried leaves.
Lean into fall’s subdued color palette with browns, golds, oranges, and reds. Dried berries, preserved mushrooms, and bunny tails have beautifully contrasting textures while playing in to a familiar fall color palette.