Porch Light Decor on the Cheap!

Finding an inexpensive but elegant way to decorate the five light fixtures on the front of the house is always a challenge!


Last year I saw a great tutorial over at one of my favorite blogs: In My Own Style.  Diane uses the nifty trick to create full looking swags for the lights and hanging them with coat hangers.  Check out her tutorial here.


The only problem was.....she uses a whole brick of floral foam....and the $3 + times 5 still seemed like a bit spendy for me....


I got the idea to use chicken wire for the form instead of the floral foam....


And....for some reason the shape of our fixtures won't allow for the hanger to work....


 I enlisted the help....and errand running skills of Mr. S to get this project done!

Off he went to the hardware store to get me my supplies...and to the basement to get me the "proper" cutting tool....what a guy!



This roll of chicken wire was less than $6 for a 25 foot roll that is 2 feet wide....
The tool is a WISS All Purpose Metal Snip Pliers (who knew we had one....but.....it WAS the perfect tool)
I also needed some heavy duty leather gloves to protect my hands!

I cut a piece of chicken wire about 18 inches wide and bent the edges on each side in.  Then I rolled it into a column....this gave lots of places to tuck in the greenery!

About that greenery!

Look at the big pile of greens that came from the woods during deer hunting!

And....the free stuff scored from the leftover bins at Home Depot...

REALLY they just let you take home whole carts for FREE! 

So....I had lots of pretty greens to make my swags!

 I scrunched up the chicken wire (the gloves came in handy)

....and stuck the branches in every which way!

I left some chicken wire exposed at the top.....so that after I put the bow on, I could add some greens around it to finish off the look!

I used some really bright red ribbon and made really big full bows...

I used more ribbon on the back to use as ties to go around the sconces....

Looking pretty festive don't you think!!!

And....considering that I have lots of chicken wire left over....

And....most of the roll of red ribbon.....

Each swag probably only cost a dollar!!!

Now....what can I do with that leftover chicken wire?  Any ideas?

Have a Great Day!

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