Gorgeous ideas for a beautifully festive front door

Give your front entrance a Christmas makeover to set the tone for a jolly holiday

A beautifully festive front doorway creates a warm welcome for you and your guests and is simple to create. Just pick the right wreath to complement your door, perhaps some twinkling lights and a few additional rustic accessories.

The most sustainable and weather-proof decorations are natural, of course, so consider creating your own garlands to frame the doorway, porch or canopy around your front door, and entwine with fairy lights, sticking to warm-white outdoor LEDs. Buy bags of pine branches from Christmas tree suppliers, which make an ideal base for your decorations – add eucalyptus, holly with berries, mistletoe, variegated ivy, yew or any evergreen foliage.

If you want to have a go making your own wreath, check out The National Trust’s guide to making a natural wreath. The Danes is a great source for all those special ‘ingredients’ to decorate your evergreen base, from cones and pheasant feathers to the more unusual putka pods. The sustainable kits from Wreath Making Delivered are perfect for busy people who still want a handmade wreath. You can choose from three styles and the kits also come with video instructions.

Check out our gorgeous ideas for a beautifully festive front door.

Nordic greys offer a classic look for town or country. Opt for galvanised tubs to house plants that have a blue tinge to hint at a winter wonderland (even if snow is sparse), such as blue spruce, eucalyptus and trailing variegated ivy. Use a willow basket, perhaps perched on a vintage wooden sledge – or here a rusted old wheelbarrow – to make a display of a stash of boxed ‘presents’ – just make sure it’s not the real thing!

There’s no need to make your decorations compete with an already decorative doorway. Here a neutral-coloured wreath with simple evergreens and dried seed heads complements the entrance painted in Amsterdam Green from Annie Sloan, without dominating the beautiful stained glass behind.

A welcoming porch uses forest finds to decorate. Super-size pine cones are strung at different heights from the ceiling, suspended between a latticework of net lighting from Lights4fun. A miniature Christmas tree is simply lit with plain fairy lights and a vintage apple crate has trimmings of berried holly, while an informal stack of logs hints at cosy fires within.

Ring the changes with a wreath using non-traditional Christmas colours – and plants. The home of Jade Oliver, owner of interiors store Heavenly Homes & Gardens, has a lush wreath made with eucalyptus and asparagus fern stems. Pretty pink pops of helichrysum, rosebuds and berries have been added to tie in with Jade’s vibrant lilac-painted door.

Dried botanicals offer reusable decorations each year, and are perfect for an apartment door where they will be protected from the elements. Ferns, seed heads and pine cones lend faded rustic charm, here glitzed up with the addition of mirror-ball and copper-coloured baubles. Follow our guide to making your own dried flower wreath.

Use the plants already outside the front of your house as part of your seasonal look. Here large burgundy-coloured bows have been tied with wire to a climbing wisteria that grows up the side of the house and drapes over the doorway. Potted topiary gets a holiday makeover too with artificial berries.

A burst of colour creates a joyful contemporary look. Carefully curated, this evergreen wreath has a beautiful selection of different-sized shiny and matt baubles in soft shades of blue, pink and orange, all arranged in a seemingly random fashion. The plain whitewashed door provides the perfect backdrop.

Pared-back evergreens provide a chic muted look with a few additional touches, without the need for full-on glitz. Adorn a plain spruce wreath with a generous-sized satin bow in a rich jewel colour for added luxe. Flickering storm lanterns light the way, as two symmetrical Christmas trees mimic the classic bay trees, flanking the doorway.