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A Unique DIY Christmas Wall Decoration and Pretty Botanical Art

Inside: A DIY Christmas wall decoration tutorial from an upcycled cabinet door and printable Christmas botanicals.

About five years ago, I visited my friend’s newly installed kitchen. Then randomly, she handed me one of the old cabinet doors as she was sure I could upcycle it into something! At the time, I wasn’t inspired and just stuck it in my shed.

I came across that old kitchen cupboard door a couple of weeks ago and had a eureka moment. I could use it to make a unique Christmas wall decoration.

I’m always looking for new ways to display this site’s beautiful vintage botanicals. And that door would make a perfect Christmas picture frame.

I’ve even picked out a collection of eight vintage Christmas botanical prints, especially for this upcycled picture frame.

You will find these at the end, where you can download and print them for free. They are all in the Public Domain.

DIY Christmas Wall Decoration

The old cabinet door was long and thin, with eight glass panels. You might find something similar in a thrift store or junker’s yard. An old French window would work just as well too.

Old kitchen cabinet door

What else I used to upcycle the cabinet door:

  • Chalk paint in two tones of green – Lime green for the undercoat and dark green for the top coat.
  • Masking tape, sandpaper and Vaseline
  • Clear furniture wax
  • Double-sided sticky tape and velvet ribbon
  • Mini baubles for hanging decoration (optional)
  • Vintage Christmas botanicals – see at the end of the post.
  • Printable watercolour paper
Green paints used

Step1: First I gave the old cabinet door a good clean and masked off the windows with tape.

Masking tape the windows.

Painting The Cabinet Door

I wanted the DIY Christmas frame to have an antique look, so I gave it a chipped paint finish.

Step 2: I wanted small bits of the original wood to be visible after painting, as I was going for a chippy look. So before painting, I dabbed small bits of vaseline on the frame at the places I wanted the wood to show.

The vaseline stops the paint sticking to the wood.

Dbbing vaseline

Step 3: I painted the frame in an undercoat of lime green paint. I added a top coat of dark green chalk paint when that had dried.

Painting Christmas wall decoration
Dark green paint Christmas wall decoration picture frame.

Step 4: I waxed the paint when it was dry. I then got a piece of folded sandpaper to chip the paint. Sometimes the chips would reveal the original wood or the lime green undercoat. I focused on chipping the corners and edges.

The aim is to give the frame an aged and worn look. After chipping the paint, finish with another coat of clear furniture wax. Rub the wax into the upcycled picture frame with a lint-free cloth, wiping away any excess.

Chipping paint on upcycled Christmas picture frame
upcycled cabinet door for a DIY christmas wall decoratin

Adding The Christmas Botanical Prints

Step 5: I printed the eight Christmas botanicals on watercolour paper. They were postcard size, so two prints fit on a page. To download these resized prints, click on the title.

(The original larger prints and details about their origin are at the end of the post).

I have a whole post on printing on watercolour paper.

Vintage botanicals on watercolour paper

Step 6: I wanted the botanical prints for this DIY Christmas wall decoration to have rough edges. So I wet the watercolour paper and carefully tore the borders off each postcard print, using a metal rule to ensure a straight edge.

Christmas botanical Nordman Fir print for a DIY Christmas wall decoration

Step 7: To easily change the botanical prints from holiday to holiday, I used tape to stick them to the glass. The upcycled picture frame wasn’t just a Christmas wall decoration.

I wanted the tape to look festive, so I used double-sided sticky tape and velvet ribbon.

Mounting the Christmas botanical prints onto the Christmas picture frame

Step 8: A strip of double-sided tape was placed across the top of the print to hold it onto the frame. The protective paper was removed from the tape and replaced with a velvet ribbon.

Adding the velvet ribbon

Step 9: Stick a botanical print on each of the panes of glass. You may want to play around with the order.

Upcycled DIY Chrismas wall decoration from a cupboard door

Making The Hanging Decoration

Step 10: The cupboard door still had its original knob on it. I made this an added feature of the upcycled wall decoration by using it to hang a Christmas decoration. Which also made the window look more festive.

I used a box of 20 mini-coloured baubles and twine to decorate my hanging.

mini baubles for a hanging decoration

The baubles were strung onto a long piece of gold twine one by one to form a garland.

Bauble garland for Christmas wall decoration

Step 11: The bauble garland hung from the knob on the upcycled cupboard door.

Ucycled cabinet door into Holiday Wall decoration

The Finished Picture Frame

Botanical upcyced picture frame window.
Upcycled DIY Christmas Wall Deor

Sadly my friend is no longer with us, but I know she would have loved this Christmas picture frame decoration. But even more, she was right about me finding something to make from her old kitchen cupboard door.

And I love it because it now reminds me of her!

If you want more thrifty wall decoration ideas, check out the gallery wall I made from old picture frames and the rainbow fish display.

This Christmas picture frame would also work well with these antique Swedish Christmas Cards, Christmas patents, vintage snowflake drawings and Holiday decorative type prints. Or how about a picture frame of old maps or reindeer drawings for animal lovers?

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DIY Christmas Wall Decoration

The Christmas Botanical Prints

To download a higher-resolution print, click on the title above. The image will open in a new window in your browser, and you can save or print it. All the prints are copy-right free.

Nordmann Fir

The original image is from “Neerland’s Plantentuin : Afbeeldingen en beschrijvingen van sierplanten voor tuin en kamer ” (Neerland’s Botanic Garden : Pictures and descriptions of ornamental plants for garden and room), 1865.

Check out these other woodland botanical prints and pine cone drawings on Pictureboxblue.

Nordman Fir

Mistletoe

Print from “Atlas de poche des plantes des champs, des prairies et des bois : a l’usage des promeneurs et des excursionnistes“, (Pocket atlas of plants in fields, meadows and woods: for the use of walkers and excursionists), R. Siélain.  1895.

Mistletoe

Holly

A botanical illustration is from the pocketbook “Wayside and woodland blossoms: a pocket guide to British wild-flowers for the country rambler“, by Edward Step,1895.

Check out this collection of holly illustrations.

Holly illustration

Amaryllis

From Curtis’s Botanical Magazine 1830 and described as Amaryllis aulica.

Don’t forget to check out the site’s many other vintage flower prints.

Amaryllis Curtis;s Botanical magazine

Common Ivy

From “Die Giftpflanzen Deutschlands“, (The Poisinous Plants of Germany), Peter Esser, 1910.

common ivy

Christmas Rose

Christmas rose print from “The Botanical Magazine“, 1787.

Christmas rose

Ponsettia

Print from “Les plantes a feuillage coloré“, (Plants with Colourful Foilage), W. Howard 1867.

Check out these other poinsettia prints.

Ponsettia

Christmas Cactus

Christmas cactus print from “Favourite Flowers of Garden and Greenhouse” by Edward Step, 1897.

Check out these other cactus paintings.

Christmas cactus

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Chistmas Botanical Prints

Check out these other botanical craft ideas.

Bev

Monday 11th of September 2023

Such beautiful images and love your project. It turned out beautifully. :)

claire

Tuesday 12th of September 2023

Thank you so much, I did enjoy making it.

vicki

Sunday 15th of January 2023

I love how you turn a plain window into a focal point. really like the prints you chose

claire

Monday 16th of January 2023

Thank you so much. I had fun finding the right images.

Cecilia

Sunday 15th of January 2023

Congratulations, Claire! Your beautiful Christmas botanical wall decor was selected as the Vintage Charm 2022 Feature of the Year! Please contact me so I can confirm your preferred email for your gift card prize. Cecilia @My Thrift Store Addiction

claire

Monday 16th of January 2023

That is awesome news and a wonderful start to the New Year. Thank you so much, and thanks for hosting!

Bertha

Saturday 10th of December 2022

Wow, this turned out beautiful - good job 👏

claire

Sunday 11th of December 2022

Thank you so much 😊

Niki | Life as a LEO Wife

Thursday 10th of November 2022

This is so pretty! I'll be featuring your post on tomorrow's Crafty Creators. Thanks for sharing!

claire

Thursday 10th of November 2022

Aww, thank you so much, I look forward to seeing it.