House of Hawthornes

Vintage. Thrifting. Gardening.

My Holiday Front Porch

By

I kept going back and forth on whether I was going to use blow molds on my front porch this year or not. On one hand, they are fun and vintage looking. On the other hand, they can be a tad bit tacky if not done correctly.

Originally, I was thinking of the big old candles, one on each side of the door, but then thought they’d be hard to keep standing in the wind tunnel called my front porch. Decision made. No blow molds would grace my porch.

Two days after I had decided that I was definitely, under no circumstance, putting blow molds on the porch, I ran across jolly old Saint Nick here at an antique store and sort of fell in love with him.


Blow molds back on.

MY LATEST VIDEOS

I could not find a manufacturer or date on him, but he was in an antique store, so my assumption was he was, well, an antique. After I got him home and gave him a little sponge bath (Santa was quite shy and refused to remove clothing for the bath), I noticed that he did indeed have writing on his feet and turns out that Santa is a 1990 Union Products blow mold.

Since when is 1990 antique? Or vintage for that matter? I figure if I still have clothes in my closet from that year, then it’s not vintage. Or I’m not very stylishly dressed. You could argue both points.

Regardless of his young age or how he finagled his way into an antique store, I put him on the front porch.

The other big piece of my porch project was this NOEL sign that I made. It was inspired by a very distressed JOY sign that I saw on Pinterest, but I was having second thoughts about distressing mine since I had just spent all that time painting it in the first place. I figure Mother Nature will do the distressing for me.

I decided to beef up my anemic Bed Bath and Beyond lighted garland with some live bunting this year – I believe it is White Pine. My driveway is lined with overgrown White Pines, so I probably could have made it myself if I was feeling all Martha Stewart-ish. I was not.

Prior to adding Santa, I was going for a rustic, natural theme with lots of pine cones.

I put a tiny pine tree in a sap bucket on the baby sled.

And had Mr. Deer and the kids standing guard over the front door.

And then Santa arrived and became the icing on the cake called my front porch. I think he announces the tone of what’s to come once you step inside my house.

Or he says a serious person does not live here. Run for your life.

So what do you think? Blow molds, yes or no?

If you want to see more of my 2012 holiday decor you can check out:

Home Tour Part 1 – The Kitchen can be found HERE
Home Tour Part 2 – The Dining Room can be found HERE
Home Tour Part 3 – The Living Room can be found HERE

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Yes!
    Your porch looks wonderful!! I’ve been meaning to ask about your ‘noel’ sign – love it!!! I may have to make one myself. OK. Not. lol. I do love yours!

  2. I love your porch. Last weekend I found a toy soilder at Goodwill and a plastic sign that lights up and says Merry Christmas. Also, found some old plastic candy canes for the front porch. Fun.

  6. I have never had the urge to use them, but I can say yours, being offset with a vintage inspired NOEL sign, pulls together nicely and seems North Pole-y to me without being over done. I say he stays!! It’s just enough punch of red to add holiday cheer to the door step.

  8. Your porch looks great. I love your old Santa. I have one blow mold that I use every year-it is a Folk art style Santa from the late 70’s. I have had him since my kids were little. I also have two candy canes that flank the entrance to the playhouse. Blessings- xo Diana

  11. You know I love blow molds. I’m slightly addicted to them. Your Santa is just charming with your sled. So far, our candle blow molds haven’t blow away on our front porch.

    PS. Love your new chalk board blog header.

  12. Yep. I think he’s very cute, and should stay on the porch.
    You’ve done a great job of making the porch look welcoming, and festive, in a classy way 🙂

  13. Great job on your winter porch! The santa blow mold fits in perfectly~ funny I just picked up what I thought was a vintage blow mold and it turns out it is marked 1990 as well! I suppose that’s retro??

  14. Your Santa looks great on your porch with the cute little sled. I think that the deer are adorable. Love that the little ones have antlers, too. Somewhere in my basement I have a snowman blowmold. I think he must be from the late 70’s or early 80’s. I may put him in the yard this year. He hasn’t been out of the basement for years.

  15. I love your whimsical porch, Pam! The Santa is wonderful, and your sign is so great! I was going to put a pair of old choirboy molds in our yard, when my husband knocked one over and the head broke into pieces (so fragile over time)! I debated having a headless choirboy in the year, but thought that might have to wait for Halloween lol!

  18. I think he looks great on your front porch!! I don’t have any blow molds…but I did use a photo I took of my kiddos standing in a “sea” of Santa’s at Menards for my Christmas cards a couple of years ago 🙂 LOVE your sign too!!

  19. Love it!!! My oldest daughter bought a “vintage” blow mold Santa for their front porch when we were shopping together. When her husband saw it, he said, “I didn’t know that was the look we were going for.” :@

  21. I really like the idea of adding live greenery to the artificial. I have fresh garland around our front door, but artificial wreaths on the trellises flanking the front steps. It’s just too pricey to buy big fresh wreaths every year. But if I stick in some fresh greenery . . .

  23. Blow molds the way you have done it, absolutely. En masse in the middle of the front yard, not so much. Your Santa looks vintage, even if he was born in 1990. I love your front porch!

  24. LOL. My kids and I were having a debate about them last night when we were out driving around looking at lights. In years past I haven’t been a big fan, but for some reason this year I’m liking the look and want to find a snowman.

    I think your santa looks right at home on your lovely porch. vintage or no, he is a keeper.