From elaborate floral garlands to simple but elegant wreaths, when it holiday décor for the front door, style matters.
Jeld-Wen, the world’s leading manufacturer of reliable windows and doors, offers expert holiday décor advice and suggests some creative floral designs for a variety of the company’s most popular door styles. The designs show how attention to detail can make a big difference in holiday curb appeal and overall delight.
“To make a memorable first impression when welcoming guests, color, size, shape and the door’s architectural style should all be considered,” said Elizabeth Souders, Jeld-Wen’s door marketing manager.
Some of the floral designs suggested by Jeld-Wen include unique touches like toile ribbons, small potted plants and sprigs of holly from the homeowner’s yard. These creations play up each door’s color and character, making the whole front entry festive.
Additionally, when holiday decorations go up around a home, a little cleaning often is in order, especially when it comes to front door maintenance. “Holiday time is the perfect season for inspecting entry doors to make sure they are in good repair for the cold winter months and look their best when guests arrive for family festivities,” Souders said. “Small touch-ups go a long way toward ensuring that the life of a door is extended for many years.” See the sidebar at left for tips on making sure your clients’ front doors look their best. Here are some door décor ideas you can use in your own designs.
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OLD WORLD STYLE. Old World style is new again with this design. The garland emphasizes this door’s radius top, whereas a wreath would appear unbalanced, especially with the speakeasy grille on this particular door. Europen elements, fruit and garland materials that may have been traditional hundreds of years ago perfectly match the Old World style.
Décor Idea: The beautiful greenery and scents of Pacific Northwest forests come through with European-style garland, generous in size and studed with salal, eucalyptus, hemlock, Japanese pine, lotus pods, dried moss balls and dried seed pods.
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GRAND STYLE DOUBLE DOORS. Jeld-Wen’s answer to embellishing this massive European-style entry is three wreaths for each door. The wreaths, stepping up in size, emphasize the graceful curve of the door’s top and vertical window panels.
Décor Idea: The wreaths are interwoven with fresh fruits, juniper berries and boxwood and are laced together with black and white toile ribbons. “With doors this grand, we wanted to do something that makes a statement and looks European but quite beautiful in a 21st century style,” Souders said.
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DRESSING TALL DOORS. Tall doors are in style, but to create balance, you need just the right wreath to set off a strikingly handsome and rich-looking door.
Décor Idea: Jeld-Wen fashioned a wreath layered with many varieties of dried natural products, including blue hydrangeas, seeded eucalyptus, hawthorn berries and pinecones. All are attached to a base of mixed greenery and entwined with fine French ribbons.
“A return to classic door designs with tall proportions, panels and dark wood tones calls for a bold statement, like this wreath filled with contrasting colors and textures.” Souders said.
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ADDING COLOR & CULTURE. This door’s traditional design is accented by a charming swag with Scandinavian undertones. This cheerful creation draws the eye pleasingly from the leaded glass eyebrow window to the garland’s teardrop shape. A round wreath on this door would have resulted in a tight knot of design elements, but a vertical garland provides more visual balance. Sometimes contrasting colors work well for door décor, but in this example, the yellow lemons only serve to brighten the door’s existing color.
Décor Idea: A raffia rope base anchors lemons, along with princess pine, pepper berries, seeded eucalyptus, pinecones and small terracotta flower pots holding sprigs of lavendar. Tiny lady apples have been sprayed with lacquer for a Dresden finish.
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ENHANCING CRAFTSMAN STYLES. This swag is deceptively elaborate, yet simple to create using commonly available materials. The hanging shape reinforces the vertical art glass design. Rustic flora, red and gold tones harmonize with the irregular surface of this solid wood door.
Décor Idea: Pinecone rosettes and fresh holly sprigs from the front yard make this design unique to the home. Touches of festive color include red felt ribbon and gold-painted rattan stars.
“This swag was made on a standard base commonly available at any floral shop or tree stand during the holidays,” Souders said. “What makes it highlight the wood Craftsman door are the color choices and rustic materials selected right from the front yard.”