Christmas and Winter Home Decor with Nesting Baskets

Earlier this year, long before I was even THINKING about holiday projects, I found this set of nesting baskets that looked like Christmas trees. As I mulled over different makeover ideas, I realized they could be used as Christmas decor in December, but continue on into the New Year as winter home decor, as well.

Not sure what I mean? Well, they were this great burnished gold color and could stand on their own. But, what if I painted one a dark green, painted one a bright white, and left one as-is?

That way, I could temporarily decorate them as Christmas trees but also use them as elusive winter decor in January and February. Because a lot of us struggle with winter decorating ideas!

Either way, I decided that it was worth an experiment!

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Transforming the Nesting Baskets for Winter Home Decor

First, I set up my spray painting station outside so that I could spray paint my Christmas tree baskets, starting with the smallest one.

I elected to transform him into a snowy white tree.

Next, I spray painted the largest tree a dark forest-y green.

To be honest, I wasn’t thrilled with the green spray paint- so I touched up the largest basket with some evergreen craft paint.

NOW I was happy- and my nesting baskets were done!

I know I’m getting ahead of myself here, but this is how they’ll look AFTER the holidays, as winter trees decor.

But let’s back up a moment and focus on Christmas decor, since that comes first on the calendar.

How to Make Miniature Ornament Hooks

There are lots of ways to decorate my Christmas tree baskets for the holidays- tiny LED lights, metallic braided cord for garland. But all I wanted to do was hang my tiniest vintage Shiny Brite ornaments on the ‘front’ of my tree.

However, I faced a conundrum- my daintiest Shiny Brites are ¼” to ½” in diameter but all I had were standard sized ornament hooks. That just would NOT work well- the ornaments would hang too long and the hooks would be way too visible.

So, I nabbed my jewelry-making tools (namely a small wire cutter and round-nosed pliers) and created two mini ornament hooks from a single standard ornament hook!

I simply snipped the hook in half with my wire cutters and curled the straight ends under with the pliers, creating tight curly-q’s for miniature ornament hooks.

And let me tell you- that worked PERFECTLY!! I made dozens of tiny ornament hooks that I’ll just keep in the same box as my tiny ornaments. Here’s an entire post dedicated to making mini ornament hooks with additional photos of the process.

Green hooks for the green tree and silver hooks for the white tree!

Just like that, the larger of my painted Christmas tree baskets was decorated for Christmas! Adorable and ready to be used as tabletop holiday decor.

Christmas and Winter Home Decor with Nesting Baskets

Don’t they look festive? I could have decorated the middle gold Christmas tree basket but elected to just go with the two.

And just like that, my Christmas tree baskets can be used for several months. First as tabletop Christmas trees and later on as winter home decor.

Gotta love the easy decor transition, right?

If you enjoyed this upcycling idea for tabletop Christmas trees, then you’ll love this Nordic Christmas tree that I made from a coffee cup tree!

Plus, don’t forget that my first book, “Crafting with Flannel”, has an entire chapter dedicated to Christmas projects! You can purchase it online from Amazon, Target, Barnes & Noble, and Walmart.

Craft on!

S

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