Holiday Decorating with Architectural Salvage: Creative Christmas Ideas

Looking for unique Christmas decorating ideas? Learn how to decorate with architectural salvage, vintage treasures, old spindles, and collected finds to create a home full of holiday charm and character.

One of my favorite holiday decorating tricks is incorporating architectural salvage into seasonal displays. Vintage spindles, chippy wood pieces, old corbels, and salvaged treasures add character, history, and unexpected charm to holiday decor.

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Holiday Decorating With Architectural Salvage

When most people hear the word gingerbread, they think of cookies and gingerbread houses.

I think of architecture.

In architectural terms, gingerbread refers to the decorative trim and embellishments often found on Victorian-era homes. Having grown up in a late-1800s farmhouse, I’ve always been drawn to those detailed architectural elements and the character they add to a home.

Several years ago, while cleaning out the barn at the family homestead, we discovered several large pieces of gingerbread trim along with a collection of loose spindles. The larger pieces are still waiting for a permanent home, but the salvaged spindles have found a temporary role in my holiday decorating.

Today I’m sharing one of my favorite ways to use them in a Christmas dough bowl arrangement.

A Creative Way to Decorate A Dough Bowl for the Holidays

I love dough bowls and gingerbread so I decided to use them together for this arrangement.

Dough bowls come in many shapes and sizes.  This square one is a reproduction.  I love the hand-hewn look of the inside with the painted outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gather Additional Elements to Use

For this arrangement, I was able to “shop my home” meaning I walked around and gathered some elements that I thought would work together nicely.

This round ball is actually a vintage mistletoe kissing ball that my Mom had.  My Mom was a true collector, some might call her a hoarder but she wasn’t. She just liked her things.  I think she may have passed that trait on to her daughter!

I love this greenery.  It has a bit of sparkle to it and is accented with silver jingle bells.

A selection of pine cones including a few glitter pine cones that were left over from the flower shop days.  I was a florist for a number of years before I bought a pizzeria and went from flowers to flour!  If you are interested in learning more about my background, you can visit this post : Sprout, Grow Bloom 

Place the greenery in the dough bowl to form a base and then layer in the elements.

Finish the arrangement by adding a sparkly silver toned bow and nestle the pine cones around it.

Save This Pin For Later! 

Snowflake Wishes & Gingerbread Kisses

I ordered a few pieces of gingerbread from a vendor on Etsy.  I didn’t read the description and they were much smaller than I anticipated.  That is kind of a bad habit of mine, especially when I am in a hurry.  I need to slow down and pay attention to the dimensions!  While they didn’t work for the project I had in mind, they actually were the perfect size for this 2nd dough bowl arrangement.

To make this one, I used these three candy themed snowflake ornaments.  They do have a gingerbread cookie accent if you look closely.

I had originally planned to use them in these spindles but I couldn’t get them to stand up straight and I was running out of thyme! Update: I did get them to stand up fairly straight.  Although that one on the end does seem to be leaning!  Here is the link to the post: Repurposed Snowflake Spindles for the Holidays

Back to the dough bowl…..

To make the white dough bowl arrangement, I layered some faux greenery in the bottom of the dough bowl and then added three of the small spindles and some pine cones.  I tucked the gingerbread snowflake in and I was done!

More Holiday Decorating With Architectural Salvage 

By standing this piece of gingerbread on its end, it looks like angel wings!  The details about how to make the footed tray it is sitting on as well as how I put the arrangement together can be found here:  Quick & Easy Way to Make A Footed Tray. 

That same small piece of gingerbread also looks so sweet with this snowman!

Coastal Farmhouse Holiday Vignette

A Few More Ways I Use Gingerbread in My Decorating

Decorating with architectural salvage allows me to bring pieces of the past into every season, including Christmas. Whether it’s a vintage spindle tucked into a centerpiece, a salvaged corbel displayed on a mantel, or an old architectural fragment incorporated into a holiday vignette, these timeworn pieces help create a home that feels collected rather than decorated.

Those two matching pieces were originally the end pieces of one of the linear pieces we found in the barn.

I asked my handyman to cut that front piece into three pieces so that I could have the matching pieces and the longer piece.

Another way I used the matching pieces as a backdrop for this vignette

and here they are flanking this pizza sign:

Here is the middle of the piece after the sides were cut off.  It looks like angel wings, doesn’t it?

This is how the display looked once I got it finished.

Originally I was going to keep all the pieces that we found in the barn but I finally decided that I didn’t have room for all of them.  I sold the 2nd linear piece to my cousin’s granddaughter.  She turned it into a headboard.   She & her husband also bought the barn wood that I had.  I “talked” about how she turned it into an accent wall here: From a Pile of Barn Wood to a Beautiful Accent Wall!

Thank you for stopping by today!  I hope you have enjoyed these holiday decorating with architectural salvage ideas!

For More Ways to Incorporate Gingerbread (Architectural Salvage) in to your decor:

Coastal Shabby Chic Office Refreshed for The Holidays

Architectural Salvage Decorating Ideas

 

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