I still haven't gotten around to painting the front door that bright red. I've got the paint, I've got the supplies, I just don't have the "get up and go" to do it. But I'm working on that...
Meanwhile, the old wreath that I got from my mom when it was already old and starting to fall apart has been used on my front door during the spring and summer since 2016 or so. The artificial flowers used on it are so old that they are made out of something that resembles styrofoam, not silk. Every time I touch one of the accidentally, little bits fall off. And like styrofoam, they stick to you like glue and refuse to behave to be cleaned up easily.
I wanted a new wreath. Have you priced beautifully decorated wreaths? Holy Hathor! And so I got the brilliant idea of redoing the wreath myself. The grape vine wreath itself seemed to be in rather good shape, despite its age. Ahem. The original plan was to create a dream of a wreath decorated with black and white ribbons and red flowers, like this one:
In my wildest dreams. Surely, I thought to myself, I can recreate something that at least vaguely resembles that gorgeous wreath using the same colors and similar ribbon! But that plan came to nought when neither the Family Dollar nor the Walgreens nearest me had either nice black ribbon, or nice white ribbon, or black and white polka dots, plaid or striped ribbon, or really - practically any kind of ribbon at all! Nope. It appears these days, everyone is expected to use gift bags that don't require ribbons. Hmmm....
I also couldn't find anything remotely resembling the beautiful red mums or whatever they are, or the gorgeous greenery. Or even the little red daisy-like flowers with the yellow centers. Or the little white flowers - other than the really old and falling apart little white flowers made out of styrofoam already on the wreath I wanted to totally strip down!
So - Plan B. Okay. I had no Plan B.
Then I thought, well - I could try spray painting the wreath, or some fake flowers - or something. Maybe fake birds? Um - I nixed that plan too (thank goodness). The thought of hanging up a spray painted bare naked grape vine wreath on my front door did not appeal.
So, I dug around and dug around in my linen closet, my junk cabinet, the corners of all the closets and underneath the beds and in the drawers, and all the stuff stashed in the basement that I'd never bothered to unpack and voila! I found several rolls of white tulle/fine netting - probably meant for bridal use. I remember buying them at the Dollar Store at the Greenfield Shopping Center some years ago when the Dollar Store still was stocked mostly with things that only cost $1. I also found some slightly used white satin ribbon that I must have taken off of a gift years ago and stashed away, knowing just like my Grandma Newton did during the height of the Great Depression, that someday I might need it! And I found some black wide ribbon-like substance that resembles grosgrain ribbon, but isn't, and some skinny slightly used curling white ribbon along with a partial roll of what was left of the unused curling ribbon. I thought - I've got enough to work with here. I also dug out some white silk daisies that I ended up not using.
Working on the kitchen counter, I started removing the styrofoam flowers. Being a frugal kind of gal, I didn't throw them out like I should have. Nope, I tossed them into a plastic bag for "future use." I'll have to think about that. Here, you can see bare areas where I already picked off or pulled off or cut off the flowers. You can also sort of see the mess they made - little "dots" of white styrofoam and bits of stem all over the place. I was going to go with an entirely bare wreath, but I decided that caution was warranted and I left about 1/5th of the flowers on the wreath.
When I'd finished removing flowers and was satisfied with the styrofoam "beauties" left, I started wrapping the tulle/netting around the wreath:
I used the entire roll and had enough left over to make a "ribbon." Oh brother!
Rather than frighten you half to death, I decided discretion was the better part of wisdom (or whatever) and didn't take pics of my feeble attempts at bow-making. The ones I ended up with are bad enough.
To make matters worse, I made a "bow" out of the slightly used white satin ribbon. Then because it looked so awful I attempted to cover it up with what was left on the roll of tulle. Okay, take a deep breath:
I thought - WAAAAAAAY too much like Maid Marion's wedding wreath plunked on her head at the end of the darker "Robin Hood" movie that came out against the blockbuster "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" movie starring - get ready for it - Kevin Kostner who played the role with no English accent. I liked the darker Robin Hood movie much more, and Maid Marion was played by Uma Thurman in that film, with a bad ass attitude!
So, I wonked up the dangling tails and went with Option #2:
So there you have it, TA DA! Too bad I don't have a close-up of the wreath "before." Oh well. Believe it or not, this is an improvement. Oh - yeah - that's a bright red wreath hanger, that people usually use for Christmas. Since I don't have my red door yet...
