For vintage, cosy Christmas wall decor, rely on natural materials and old-fashioned colours: fir branches, kraft paper, velvet ribbons, Christmas cards, soft lights and a winter poster. The wall becomes the backdrop of your celebrations, without cluttering the living room. 🎄
Here are the colours of a vintage Christmas and 12 ideas to dress your walls, whether you have a large living room or a studio with no room for a tree.
Why decorate your walls at Christmas?
The tree takes up one corner of the room, but the walls often stay bare. Decorating them creates a festive mood throughout the room, saves space in a small home and shows off what matters: the cards you receive, winter memories, family decorations.
- In a small home: a wall tree or a decorated branch replaces a tree on the floor.
- In a living room: the wall above the sofa or the fireplace becomes the focal point.
- In a hallway: a wreath and a poster welcome guests as soon as they step in.
What colours suit vintage Christmas decor?
| Colour | The spirit | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Faded red | Old-fashioned ribbons and baubles | Velvet ribbons, bows, ornaments |
| Fir green | Fresh branches | Garlands, wreaths, wall tree |
| Cream | Old paper and snow | Cards, paper stars, frame mounts |
| Antique gold | Brass and blown glass ornaments | Small touches: a star, a bell, a frame |
| Kraft | Hand-tied parcels | Advent calendar bags, gift tags |
Avoid neon colours and shiny plastic: vintage Christmas decor is recognisable by its slightly faded tones and natural materials.
12 Christmas wall decor ideas
A poster of a Christmas town
A poster of a Christmas town is enough to bring the festive mood into a living room. Ours of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, in Germany, shows what is in our eyes the most romantic town on the Romantic Road, with its half-timbered houses and its Christmas market, one of the oldest in Germany.
Make it yourself rather than buying it all
Colmar, in Alsace, is a true Christmas town, with large shops devoted entirely to the festive season. The displays are magnificent, but mostly you find the same decorations as in garden centres, at five times the price, as we tell in our visit to Colmar on Rolling Trippers. Our advice: go for the visual delight, then head home to make your wall decorations with branches, paper and string.
A wreath on the wall, not just on the door
An Advent wreath does not belong only on the front door. Hung above a sideboard, in the middle of a gallery wall or in front of a mirror with a red velvet ribbon, it becomes the heart of the decoration. Fir branches, eucalyptus, pine cones and a few berries are all you need.
A wall tree made of branches
No room for a tree? Fix branches of decreasing length to the wall, from the longest at the bottom to the shortest at the top, with masking tape or string. Add a string of lights and a few wooden ornaments: it is a two-dimensional tree that takes up no floor space at all.
A garland of Christmas cards
Stretch a length of jute twine across a wall and hang the cards you receive with small wooden clothes pegs. At Santa Claus’s Post Office in Rovaniemi, in Lapland, we sent ourselves a postcard to get the official Arctic Circle postmark, which you can only get there, as we tell in our stay in Rovaniemi on Rolling Trippers. A card like that deserves a place on the garland. ✉️
A vintage Christmas illustration
Belle Époque magazine covers are a wonderful source of Christmas imagery. For the 1896-1897 Christmas issue of L’Illustration, Alfons Mucha drew a crowned figure under a starry sky, framed by a border of fir branches. Mucha died in 1939: his works are now in the public domain.
A wall Advent calendar
A piece of driftwood hung horizontally, twenty-four small kraft paper bags numbered by hand, a few clothes pegs: the Advent calendar becomes a wall decoration in its own right. Fill the bags with chocolates, little notes or ideas for family outings.
Paper stars
In the Nordic countries, people hang paper stars in their windows during Advent. Folded from cream or kraft paper and hung at different heights in front of a window or on a wall, they give off a soft glow when a bulb is placed inside. In Germany, the Herrnhut star was born in the mid-19th century in a boarding school in this small Saxon town: a teacher had his pupils build it to teach them geometry. It is still made in the Herrnhut manufactory.
Switch to a winter poster
Just as you change your throws, you can change your posters with the seasons. From December to February, swap the summer landscape for a winter scene: the Northern Lights, reindeer on a road in Lapland, a snowy old town. The poster stays after the holidays, once the garlands are put away.
Winter posters to keep until spring
Branches above your frames
Lay a garland of fir, eucalyptus or cedar branches along the top of your frames, or let it trail along a shelf. Add dried orange slices and a few cinnamon sticks: the decoration smells lovely and lasts several weeks if the branches are not near a radiator.
Frames hung from a ribbon
For the holidays, hang one or two frames from a wide red or green velvet ribbon tied at the top, as in old-fashioned interiors. The ribbon hides the nail and instantly gives a vintage Christmas look, without changing the poster.
Ornaments hung from a branch
A beautiful branch picked up in the woods, fixed to the wall or hung from the ceiling in front of a bare wall, becomes a stand for old ornaments: blown glass baubles found at flea markets, straw stars, wooden figures. It is the chance to bring out the family decorations you no longer dare put on the tree.
How do you plan a Christmas wall?
To avoid a cluttered look, choose a single wall per room and one main element: a poster, a wreath or a wall tree. The other decorations then gather around it.
| Room | Main element | What to add around it |
|---|---|---|
| Hallway | A wreath | A Christmas town poster in A4 (€19) |
| Living room | A winter poster in A3 (€24) | Branch garland, lights, Christmas cards |
| Dining room | A garland of Christmas cards | Paper stars in the window |
| Bedroom | A Northern Lights poster | A soft string of lights |
| Studio | A wall tree made of branches | A wall Advent calendar |
Our posters come in A5 (14.8 x 21 cm), A4 (21 x 29.7 cm) and A3 (29.5 x 41.9 cm). To hang them right, follow our guide on how to hang a picture frame at the right height.
More posters for a winter wall
What mistakes should you avoid with Christmas wall decor?
- Covering everything: garlands, stickers and decals on every wall tire the eye. One decorated wall per room is enough.
- Drilling for one month: use string, adhesive hooks, masking tape or the nails already in place.
- Mixing too many styles: a vintage Christmas and a neon Christmas do not go together. Choose a palette and stick to it.
- Forgetting about after the holidays: a winter poster keeps a cosy mood in January, when everything else is packed away.
Frequently asked questions
How do you decorate a wall for Christmas without drilling?
Use string stretched between two adhesive hooks for Christmas cards, masking tape for a branch wall tree, and hang wreaths and frames from the nails already in place with a velvet ribbon. A branch garland can also simply rest on top of your frames.
What are the colours of vintage Christmas decor?
Vintage Christmas decor is built on faded red, fir green, cream and antique gold, completed by the kraft of wrapping paper. Natural materials (branches, wood, paper, velvet, blown glass) matter as much as the colours.
How do you decorate a small flat for Christmas?
Decorate the walls rather than the floor: a branch wall tree, a hanging Advent calendar, a garland of Christmas cards and a winter poster create the mood without taking up space.
What should you put on the wall after Christmas?
Keep a winter poster until spring: the Northern Lights, a snowy landscape, a mountain village or an old Nordic town. It carries the cosy feel of the holidays through January and February, without looking out of date once the garlands are put away.
A Christmas told on the wall
Great Christmas wall decor needs neither a big budget nor special equipment: a few branches, some paper, a ribbon, cards from the people you love and a winter poster are enough. If you are also looking for presents, here are our Christmas gift ideas for her. And discover our Christmas poster and our mountain posters for your winter wall.
