DIY Outdoor Window Garland
I love how this DIY Christmas project turned out! I saw a TikTok where they did a similar garland for an archway inside their house and I knew I had to do my take on this for my front windows.
We live on a pretty popular street that is kind of a local tourist spot - the residents are known for going all out with their seasonal decor. Halloween’s are insane, with massive displays and we easily get over 2000 trick or treaters!
Christmas has become another popular season and we get a lot of cars driving slowly up our street or people bundled up and walking just to admire the decorations.
Trying to go all out at once with the decorations would be crazy expensive and time consuming so over the last 6 years I’ve tried to add at least one main piece each year.
Last year my DIY creation was these window garlands and this year I am hoping to create the word JOY out of pool noodles! (So stay tuned for that post)
To make the garlands I started off by purchasing chicken wire from Home Depot. I decided on the square holes because it looked more sturdy than the one with the hexagon shape. Then I figured out my sizing by measuring the width of my window trim and deciding what height would look best. I did mine at 10 inches and proceeded to cut the shape out.
The chicken wire comes in a roll, so make sure to use heavy objects to hold down each side while you work. Be careful though - I used my son to hold down one end while I was cutting and at one point he let go and the wire shot up and scratched my face. I had a five inch long bloody mark across my cheek and nose for a week!
> I had some old garlands that I purchased from Michael’s a few years ago, but they were a little thin so I took two pieces and combined them to make one fuller looking piece. Then I spread the garland out over the chicken wire and fastened it with pieces of wire.
> I purchased plastic, shatterproof Christmas ornaments from Canadian Tire and made a bunch of groupings of three and wired them on to the chicken wire and garland. Then I filled in any large gaps with single balls or groupings of two.
> Using a third garland, I cut smaller pieces off it and used them to fill in any remaining areas where the chicken wire was still showing. I found that if I stuck the garland through the wire to the back and then again to the front, kind of like you are sewing, the pieces stayed in place well and also filled out the garland well. In the picture below, you can see how the top of the chicken wire was showing. This is where I was taking the extra pieces and filling in.
> Then I flipped the garland over and poked string lights through the squares. Don’t forget to take your outlet placement into consideration when deciding which side you want the string lights to start and end.
> To attached them to my house I used cup hooks and screwed one to each end of my window trim and one in the middle. Every window will be different, but for mine, it look best to set the hook about 3 squares down from the top.
This ended up being a relatively inexpensive project that added a lot of fun and style to our outdoor Christmas decor.
