It took me about 10 years of living in my own home to get a wreath on the door. TEN! In 2015, I had a goal to get something on my door for every season. In June 2016, we moved to a new house. At Christmas of that year, I finally made a snowflake door hanger. I made an “everyday” wreath for the door somewhere in the middle of 2017. Once I had something on the door though, there hasn’t been a season that it’s been bare. Part of that is because I discovered I really enjoyed making wreaths – so much so that I began selling them and hosting wreath parties. But it was also because I found out what apparently so many of you already know. Having something on the door drastically changes the look of your porch. It honestly makes me happy when I come home to see our door decor. I usually make burlap wreaths, but this spring I decided I’d try my hand at a DIY floral grapevine wreath.
*This post contains affiliate links. That means if you make a purchase after clicking one of my links here, I’ll receive a small commission – at no extra charge to you! Read my full statement here!
Floral Grapevine Wreath DIY Supplies
The supplies here cost roughly $10 – if you even need to purchase all of it. I already had the spool of floral wire on hand, but you can buy a small pack of pre-cut floral wire pieces for $1. The grapevine wreath was under $5 at Wal-Mart (or get some friends together for a DIY party, and let Amazon send you a pack!), and the flowers were $0.97 per bunch! If I had a Hobby Lobby or Michael’s in a convenient location, I’d maybe use a coupon and spring for some more realistic looking or different style flowers. But to be honest I liked the colors of these anyway!
I decided to wire my flowers in for two reasons:
- I want the option of reusing my grapevine wreath frame.
- I’m not super confident in my floral arrangement abilities – so non-permanence is a must for me + flowers.
If you’re not concerned about those things or want to save on time, then by all means, bust out the hot glue and stick those suckers on! But know that wiring them is not hard – just a little bit more time consuming than gluing.
Step 1: Whitewash the Grapevine Wreath
The term “whitewash” technically refers to a specific mixture of substances. All I wanted was a whitewash look, so I just mixed white acrylic paint with water to get a less opaque, thinner mixture. I did not want my wreath to be stark white, so thinning the paint helps with that. I don’t have a magic ratio, but I can tell you my cup had more water than paint. It was at least 2:1, but probably more like 3:1. Squeeze some white paint into a disposable cup, add about a half inch to an inch of water, and mix. If you’re concerned – start slow. You can add more water easily – it’s a little more of a hassle and wasteful to have to deal with thickening the mixture! Your mixture should look like white water. It does not take much just to do one wreath!
If you are working indoors or on a surface you care about, be sure to cover your surface with some sort of paper! There will be splatter! I used a 2″ foam brush, but you could use any size that will fit in your cup. Before you paint, press the brush against the side of the cup to drain the excess. Then just paint it on. Try to get into the crevies & spaces, and rotate your wreath a few times so you can see how it looks from different angles! Here’s mine when I was finished!
Step 2: Attach the Wires
If you’re hot gluing – obviously you’ll skip this step! Your wreath will dry pretty quickly, so now will be a good time to trim your stems to a length that will stick into the grapevine and play around with some arrangements. If you’re wiring, here we go! I’m not a florist and have very limited knowledge of what is proper when it comes to floral tape. BUT. I know that my flowers are hangin’ in there, so if nothing else, this method works!
- Trim your flowers to each have a stem about 2-3″ using wire cutters. (You don’t want them all in a big bunch.) Floral tape is self adhering, so it sticks to itself when you press it. Pull out a length of tape, and wrap it around the top of the stem once or twice to get it adhered/started.
- Cut a length of floral wire about 8-10″ long, and fold it in half.
- a) If your flower looks like this, with several little stems/gaps immediately below the flower, then feed the wire through the gaps:
b) If your flower looks like this, with just a solid stem, then flower:
then open your floral wire back straight and lay it parallel to the stem with the half-way fold in the wire at the top of the floral tape. Wrap the tape around the wire once, then fold the wire back down like this:
Step 3: Keep Wrapping!
- Start wrapping the floral tape around the wire and stem while pressing it into itself. You’ll want to move down the flower’s stem as you go, being sure to overlap with the previous wrap. Keep going for about an inch or so, and stop. *I have found it easier to twist/spin the flower than wrap the tape around making a tangled mess. Try some things and find what works for you!
- Clip your stem (below where you’ve wrapped), but not the floral wires! Continue wrapping just the wires until you reach the end of the wire/get a length long enough to reach all the way through your wreath with some excess length for securing. If you feel like stopping before your wire ends, just clip the wire when you feel like you’ve gone long enough. Do 1 more wrap past the wire’s end to close up the end of the new stem.
Step 4: Attach your Flowers
Stick your new stem through the grapevine wreath, then wrap it around a grapevine on the back side to secure it.
Repeat with all of your flowers! Here’s what mine looked like after attaching my whole group of flowers.
I think if you are going for a minimalist wreath this is fine how it is! You could also add more flowers than I did if you do not want to add a sign or letter. I had a letter that I had painted and used on an old wreath (that has since faded and been thrown away, RIP) so I stopped with just those! (And let’s face it – I was kind of tired of the floral tape!)
If you try this wreath, please click “tried it” on the original Pinterest pin & show me your picture. I’d love to see what you come up with & hear how it worked for you!! If you’re revamping your whole porch, try out my summer doormat DIY too! The fun doormats popping up everywhere are so cute and really easy to make.
To get my DIY’s straight to your inbox, be sure to sign up for my mailing list! Good luck on your project!!