Budget Friendly Christmas Decor

I wanted to show you my kids area upstairs, tell you how you can decorate on a budget, and also tell you a fun little secret about how to make these cute little free trees! “Budget friendly” is always a part of my home decor and what better than, FREE!? ? I went to Home Depot the other day to pick up some pine branches that they give away after trimming people’s trees. When I got there, I also saw 4 large buckets of small tree stumps that they had cut off of the trees as well. They were just the right size for what I needed! When the girl said to me to take as many as I wanted, I don’t think she was thinking that I was going to take almost all of them. I piled them up in bags and brought them home with my trimmings.
To make these little trees, I drilled a hole in the top of the stumps, just big enough for each trimming to fit tightly and then pushed the piece of trimming right in. I also tried using faux greenery stems recently and they worked perfect. I love how they turned out. I did mist these in the photo with some white spray paint to make them look more of a faded green. I also found this ornate frame for $3 at a thrift store and it was dark cherry in color with a red and green mat. I painted it white with chalk paint and I also painted my mat white. Did you know you can use chalk paint to paint frame mats? It’s awesome, I do it all the time. I found this picture of Santa from a Norman Rockwell Christmas book that I scored for $1 at a thrift store.

 

I used this Glass Cylinder Vase and added parts of the small tree stumps in the bottom and then put Christmas tree trimmings on top with lights. There are so many things that can be done with these trimmings and stumps. Free decor is the best!

As this is my kids area, I tried to make this space a little more “cute”. I made this large chalkboard on the wall a while ago. I painted Chalkboard Paint directly onto my wall and then framed it out with stained 1×6″ boards, drilled directly into the studs.

All of my furniture up here is second hand. I found this grey Ikea sofa on Craigslist (in perfect condition) and these two cute chairs at a thrift store for $25 a piece! The sofa table behind my sofa was $10 from a garage sale and I added 2 pieces of old barnwood to the top that I found at a thrift store. This sweet sign is from my friend, Sarah. Check out her amazing shop (here).

 

 

I found this tree at a thrift store this year for only $30 and it was already all dressed up with snowy tips. I LOVE it so much. The lights on my tree are outdoor lights that I found last year on clearance at Target. And they are on clearance now too! The rocking horse, I found at a garage sale years ago for $10. The wood stool is from an antique store and it was only $15. The cement pillar I found for $15 on a yard sale site and my buckets are all from thrift stores. This old antique rug I found at a thrift store for $50. What an amazing deal for a gorgeous old faded rug. I just love these old rugs. Anything else that I found for this area at “normal” stores was on clearance such as the antelope head from Target, the poof next to my thrifted chair from Target, and the scarf was a gift from a friend.

 

 

 

I made this banner from an old Courier and Ives book that I found at a thrift store for $1 and the music paper is from a Norman Rockwell Christmas book that I also found for $1. I added a hole punch to the top and then strung them with Burlap (Jute) Twine.

 

Thanks for stopping by! Thrifting often takes patience and lots of digging to find what you are looking for at a budget friendly price, but just know that you can do it. I hope that you can find lots of your own budget friendly decor and that I inspired you to make some free trees! Have a great day my friends!

 

 

 

 

Affiliate links have been used in this post to assist with finding home decor and/or supplies. I only link companies that I trust.