In the past couple of years we have seen a huge spike in the DIY chicken wire Christmas decorations, with this inexpensive and easy-to-use gardening staple proving an essential component in creating stylish holiday decor.
The simple premise is to attach chicken wire to the surround of a front door, a mantel or even lay along a table, which acts as a super-effective base for securing scented foliage and classic holiday decorations. If you haven’t already started seeing demo videos all over your social media, it won’t be long before you spot them. Why? I’m a trained floral designer, and I can tell you with certainty that chicken wire is the best material out there for creating professional-grade foliage decor in and outside your home.
Part of my former job was creating these installations professionally for hotels and wedding clients. Here I talk about why this mechanic beats anything else, and show you exactly how to get the look to elevate your DIY Christmas decor ideas.
Why chicken wire Christmas decorations are here to stay
In the professional floristry world, almost all the extravagant Christmas decorating ideas you see around doorways, along mantlepieces and even as table runners are made with chicken wire as the base mechanic.
It’s low cost - this roll of chicken wire from Walmart, for example (which even comes with bonus gloves and zip ties) is great value - it’s reusable, it doesn’t harm the environment, and it provides a solid grid structure within which to design.
It’s a lightweight material, meaning with the right kit it is easy to attach to a wall or structure, and will stay put.
Chicken wire is also very simple to manipulate, whether that's into a curved section, a hanging cloud, or a column shape.
And the best thing about chicken wire? Its small, grid-like structure provides the perfect foundation to hold lots of greenery, flower stems, and wired decorations. It makes designing your own Christmas decorations so simple. To illustrate, I've shown below how you can create your own festive arch design above a doorway. These steps can be used to create all kinds of Christmas foliage installations using chicken wire.
How to create your own chicken wire Christmas arch in 4 simple steps
My top tip for this creative project is to wear good-quality gardening gloves, such as these leather gloves from Amazon when manipulating your chicken wire into the shape you want, as the sharp edges can cut your hands.
Also, angle the chicken wire towards the ground when cutting it, to make sure tiny pieces of wire don’t fly up towards your face and eyes.
Step 1: Measure and create the shape you want
The first step to creating a professional-looking chicken wire Christmas arch is to measure the area you wish to decorate.
Once you have your measurements, use wire snips to cut your chicken wire to size. I have these snips from Amazon in my tool kit which I use solely for wire cutting.
When creating your base, rather than attaching a flat piece of chicken wire to your wall or door surround, you need to create a 3D structure for that professional finish.
Bend your piece of chicken wire in half to create a 3D cylinder shape, and twist the ends back onto each other to secure. The aim is to create a sort of pillow effect, which can be manipulated as required.
Bear in mind that you can create individual sections of chicken wire to attach at various intervals if working with one long piece proves difficult. And you won't need to cover the entire space. Leave some space at either end free, as your longer foliage stems will cover this.
Step 2: Attach the chicken wire securely
It's really important to know how you are going to attach your chicken wire arch base, so that it will be secure and won't fall and risk injuring anyone.
Look for existing hooks, nails or frames first to see if there is anything you can use as anchors. The best thing you can use to keep your chicken wire arch base in place is zip ties - I would not be without a pack of these long green zip ties, available from Amazon, in my floristry tool kit. Thread them through multiple holes in the chicken wire and around your hook or frame to secure them in several places.
If you don't have any existing hooks or fixtures to attach your chicken wire to, you can either use heavy-duty masonry staples, available from Walmart, or hammer some small u-shaped nails (from Walmart), or screw hooks, such as these from Amazon, to fix the chicken wire into your wall or woodwork.
Step 3: Create your foliage design
Now you're ready to feed in a variety of elegant, freshly scented foliage branches into your chicken wire. Opt for evergreen foliage if you want a fresh arch, as these will last the season and will smell fragrant as you pass under and through your arch.
I was able to forage a variety from my backyard, and used pine, conifer, berried ivy, Japanese laurel, and berried cotoneaster branches in my design. Other great options include eucalyptus, balsam fir, larch, spruce and bay.
Keep the stems as long as you can, and cut them down as needed. Layer different varieties of greenery on top of each other, and put them in at various angles, with some branches coming out of the design horizontally to create depth and texture.
Top tip: You can fill some or all of your chicken wire structure with moss (securing with zip ties) if you want to create an even more solid structure within which to design. Plus, the moisture in the moss will help to keep your foliage stems hydrated and looking fresh.
Step 4: Add velvet bows and other decorations
Finally, you can add your choice of festive decorations to finish your chicken wire Christmas arch design. I made some velvet ribbon bows in shades of red and blush to add to my design, as you can see in the image above.
You could attach all sorts of elegant decorations, from baubles, candy canes and fairy lights, to pine cones and bunches of dried flowers or seed heads, depending on the style of arch you want to create.
For berries and dried flowers, you can poke these stems directly into the chicken wire grid and they will hold.
For everything else, you'll need to wind a wire around your stems or choice of decoration to create a false stem, and use this to anchor them into the chicken wire These floristry wires from Amazon are an essential in my tool kit.
By using chicken wire as a base and following these simple, pro design tips, you'll be surprised at how simple it is to create your own festive creations to enjoy all season long.
If you want to gather more inspiration before you get started with your chicken wire Christmas decorations, you might find the best foliage for Christmas decor and Christmas foliage ideas spark some new ideas.
