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Design 101
Rustic Christmas Decorations
December 05, 2024
Bring the charming and inviting rustic style into your home this holiday season. Rustic Christmas decorations bring the outdoors inside (without any of the chill), incorporate vintage elements, and create a warm and cozy ambiance that’s perfect for the wintertime.
Committing to a rustic Christmas aesthetic also gives you a chance to tap into your creative side, making wreaths, garlands, ornaments, wrapping paper, and other decor by hand.
Rustic Christmas Decoration Ideas
Rustic Christmas decorations evoke a feeling of nostalgia, welcoming family and friends into a space full of woodsy, natural charm. Decorating for Christmas in a rustic or country style leans into an organic, authentic feel rather than the shine and sparkle associated with more modern Christmas decor.
Elements of Rustic or Country Christmas Decorations
Elements of rustic, country Christmas decorations come together to create a welcoming, laid-back atmosphere that’s bound to put your guests at ease. Here are some common elements of rustic design style.
Rustic Christmas colors
Country decorating ideas for Christmas incorporate rustic color themes with warm, neutral colors. Whites tend to be creamy or distressed, like white chalk paint and whitewashed looks. Earthy browns, black, and amber colors can take center stage. They can also serve as backdrop colors for deep reds and forest greens. Gold accents brighten the color palette in the form of jingle bells, brass adornments, and the warm glow of soft yellow lights.
Rustic Christmas Trees
A few simple country decorating ideas for Christmas trees can transform your tree into a nostalgic focal point for your holiday celebrations. Stencil Christmas sayings on a wooden crate and use it as your tree stand. Surround the crate with a tree skirt made of sheepskin or another rustic fabric that works with your Christmas tree color scheme. Add warm white or soft yellow twinkle lights and decorate your Christmas tree with handmade ornaments using berries, pinecones, and other natural elements from the outdoors, antique wooden toys, and bows made from burlap.
How To Decorate a Rustic Christmas Tree
You don’t have to spend hours carefully arranging ornaments to design a rustic Christmas tree. In fact, that’s the opposite of what you should do. This laidback style is all about embracing natural elements with all their quirks and imperfections.
Every rustic Christmas tree needs cozy lighting. Choose warm white or yellow lights for an inviting glow and nestle them into the branches at different depths. This relaxed approach highlights the tree’s natural shape instead of trying to force the branches into a perfect arrangement.
Rustic Christmas tree ornaments made from organic materials will create a charming and homey vibe. Look for simple wooden decorations with a handcrafted appearance. These are preferably ones that look a little distressed or weathered, as though they’ve been passed down for generations.
For instance, you could opt for a carved wooden reindeer, miniature birdhouses, and delicate stars. These charming ornaments will add personality and a sense of history to your Christmas tree.
Mix and match textures by layering your tree with other natural decorations, such as:
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Acorns
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Pine cones
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Cinnamon sticks
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Ornaments made from soft cotton, linen, or wool
These unrefined yet beautiful materials will make you feel as though you’ve stumbled across your rustic Christmas tree in the heart of a winter wonderland.
Decorating a Rustic Christmas Table
Nothing brings the family together like food. Set the stage for a festive and rustic gathering in your dining room with these simple country decorating ideas for your Christmas table.
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Fabrics: Add a rustic feel with a deep red and black buffalo-checkered table runner and alternating black and deep red napkins tied with twine. Place a piece of burlap under the centerpiece to give it a neutral backdrop or use pieces of burlap as your placemats.
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Centerpiece vessels: Stencil a Christmas greeting or winter images like ice skates on a wooden box. Or use a centerpiece vessel that evokes nostalgia, like a galvanized bucket or some mason jars.
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Centerpiece decor: Fill your centerpiece with evergreen sprigs, berries, pinecones, and other greenery. Or showcase vintage items, like antique ornaments, within your centerpiece. Add warmth with candles or antique lanterns.
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Dinnerware: Set your table with vintage glassware, dishes, and flatware or crockery made from pottery or stone. At a rustic table, vintage pieces can complement each other without matching, allowing for a unique table setting.
Farmhouse Style Wreaths and Garland
No holiday decoration fits the rustic design better than wreaths and garlands. Place a rustic wreath on your front door, above windows outdoors, or indoors as wall decor. String garlands along railings, down posts, around windows and frames, and, most importantly, above the Christmas stockings on the mantel.
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Base: Create your wreath or garland with grapevine, evergreen sprigs, or other winter foliage as the base. Cotton piping or other rustic fabrics like flannel and burlap serve well as a base.
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Lights: Add warm white or soft yellow twinkle lights to rustic wreaths and garlands to incorporate the warm glow of a rustic Christmas.
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Binding: Tie pieces together and attach accent elements with twine, bits of leather, or ribbon made with rustic fabric.
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Accents: Decorate with accent pieces from nature, like pinecones, cinnamon sticks, and berries, or vintage elements like mason jar lids, wooden beads, or brass jingle bells.
Rustic Christmas Decorations for Outside
While many outdoor Christmas decorations are bright, large, and flashy, rustic outdoor Christmas decorations have a more subtle approach. Put up handcrafted decorations in the shape of Christmas trees, snowmen, angels, and other Christmas and winter themes made from outdoor elements like grapevine and evergreen branches.
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Lighting: Fairy lights on outdoor trees and bushes and along the roofline of your home glow in warm whites or soft yellows. Vintage lanterns add a nostalgic feel
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Winter plants: Outdoor winter foliage sits in wooden crates, galvanized buckets, or vintage crockery
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Signs: Wooden signs made of reclaimed wood or pallets with hand-stenciled Christmas greetings and welcome visitors
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Seating: Outdoor seating areas feature throw pillows and blankets in plaid flannel or other rustic patterns and fabrics
Rustic Christmas Present Wrapping
Even your carefully chosen gifts under the tree can be a part of your rustic Christmas decorations. To carry on the handmade element, consider making your own gift bags or gift wrap by stenciling images on brown paper bags or craft paper. Tie packages with twine and decorate with pinecones, cinnamon sticks, and jingle bells. For a unique touch, turn circular Christmas tree scrap wood into gift tags that can be reused as ornaments.
If you’re not the crafty type, you can still partake in rustic Christmas gift wrapping with:
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Vintage patterned wrapping paper
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Rustic-patterned wrapping paper, like stripes, checks, and plaid
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Wrapping paper in caramel brown or earthy browns, deep red, and forest green
Rustic Holiday Decor
Keep the rustic holiday look all winter long regardless of which winter holidays you celebrate. Light up your home inside and out with warm white or soft yellow twinkle lights, mason jars with battery-operated candles, or galvanized metal lanterns. Lean a pair of vintage wooden skis up against the side of the house. Fill a wooden crate with winter foliage, berries, and pinecones. Stencil warm winter greetings on reclaimed wood to welcome visitors inside and outside of your home.
Lift Your Spirits This Winter With Nostalgic Rustic Decor
As the holidays approach this winter, it’s time to start writing your holiday hosting checklist and checking it twice. Keep the warm glow of a rustic Christmas alive with country decorating ideas for Christmas and beyond.
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