I really loved my Christmas decorating last year, so I will probably do something very similar this year. It felt classic and beautiful, and looking back over the pictures makes me excited to pull out the bins and deck the halls. Well, almost. But, while I’m thinking about it and while you might be planning and shopping, and before everything Christmas is sold out, I wanted to share my favorite realistic faux evergreens for Christmas and winter decorating.
Years ago, I purged any artificial greens we had and only used live greenery and trees for several years. But after a couple of trees dried out and died before Christmas (ugh), and we then moved to a house with forced-air heat (that dried live greens to a crisp), I was forced to revisit them. While I don’t love storing more Christmas decor in more bins, it is nice to make the investment once and reuse it year after year.
After more than eight years of using faux evergreens, these are my favorites…
(As a disclaimer, I have collected these pieces over several years, bought most of them when they were on sale, and only added a few each season to spread out the cost.)
For the mantel last year, I put the faux evergreens on full display, and I love how luxurious and simple they looked. I will definitely be repeating this look, but I’ll probably arrange less on the mantel shelf.
two deluxe Norfolk pine garlands | two eucalyptus garlands
I’ve swagged two Norfolk pine garlands on the kitchen window over the past two years, and I intend to use them again this year. I tied in a few dried orange slices, dried limes, and juniper sprigs to add variety in texture and color. It frames the window so well.
The swags under the sconces are part of a Norfolk pine garland I dismantled.
two Norfolk pine garlands | sprigs of faux juniper
Over the past couple of years, I picked up a few Norfolk Pine branches to put over pictures, in vases, and other places where I wanted to add a touch of greenery. Two different garlands, linked below, are wrapped around the large antique chinoiserie bowl.
Norfolk pine garland | eucalyptus garland | Norfolk pine branches
Norfolk pine garland | eucalyptus garland | Norfolk pine branches
I used faux Norfolk pine, juniper, and cedar to dress the dining room candelier and table.
Norfolk pine branches | cedar picks | juniper sprigs
Norfolk pine branches | cedar picks | juniper sprigs | eucalyptus garland
Norfolk pine branches | cedar picks | juniper sprigs
In the kitchen, I hung a customized Norfolk pine wreath on the range hood (you can see how we made that HERE) with a Command Hook.
Norfolk pine wreath | juniper sprigs
You can find more details on how I made this wreath HERE. I often get tired of my wreaths year-to-year and end up dismantling them and putting them back together with different elements, but I’ve used this wreath for two years, and I still love it. I haven’t pulled it out of storage to see if it needs any sprucing, yet, but I’ll probably keep it the same this year, too.
Norfolk pine wreath | juniper sprigs | green berry picks | green velvet ribbon
For many years, I’ve loved putting a little evergreen tree in a crock or bucket in rooms where we don’t have a large Christmas tree. A couple of years ago, I put this one by the door. I’m not sure yet where it will end up this year. It’s a great little faux tree, though.
While Norfolk pine has been a favorite the past few years, I still mix in a few cedar garlands. It’s nice to beef up the garlands and mix two types of greens.
cedar garland | Norfolk pine garland | Norfolk pine branches
Here is a cedar garland on its own, wrapped around the oval portrait.
This is my mantel from two years ago, with a mix of faux greenery, juniper, green berry bunches.
cedar garland | Norfolk pine garland | juniper sprigs | green berry picks | chunky knit stockings
Right now, all Norfolk pine pieces are 15% off and $50 off $200+ purchases HERE. The cedar garland is 25% off HERE.
If you need more Christmas inspiration, you can find my favorite handmade garlands HERE and my top 15 Christmas crafts HERE.
5 Responses
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…!!! The small garland on top of the painting of the boy in the dining room gives a 3D vibe…like the branch is coming out of the tree!!!! I love the mural in the dining room and I hope you never change it.
Darby Creek Trading also has wonderfully realistic greenery. I bought garlands and a wreath and love them!
I just loved your post and U think I may start decorating before Thanksgiving for the first time! On the new way you hung the garland on the mantel, did you literally hammer in three big nails? I can’t hammer in anything to our mantel and what would you suggest I use to keep that garland like yours? I LOVE that look!!! Thank you always for such lovely ideas!
Everything looks so lovely…just you!
🙂
Faux greenery has really come a long way in the last few years and with such realistic looks I wouldn’t think of going back to live greenery that dries out in a week or less. I bought a faux cedar wreath last year for our front door and when my mother came over, I saw her in ring camera feeling it to see if it was real. The point being is that she couldn’t tell the difference without touching it. All your greenery looks so beautiful and is an inspiration for the decorating season.