Make creative Christmas wreaths using tube brushes!
There’s something so charming about a holiday wreath. I’m not sure why so many of us love making wreaths and hanging them on our doors, but I’m thankful for it.
Christmas wreaths and creative decorations make cold morning walks around my town more special because I get the opportunity to admire the art and enjoy the personality of the homeowners who live in my little town.
I’ve made wreaths for almost every holiday and have used a lot of nontraditional materials, like candy, clothes pins and plastic spiders. So when I was browsing my local Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Philadelphia and spotted tube brushes, I was inspired to repurpose them into my next Christmas wreaths.
Since I’ve never used brushes to make art, I gathered several paint colors, pliers, ribbons, and other odds-and-ends before I started experimenting. I usually walk around my workshop with a basket or bin, collecting all of the supplies so they are at arm’s reach while I work.
The first challenge was to figure out how to attach the brushes and mold them into a round shape. The key to solving this challenge is the ring at the end of each tube brush. I squished the ring with pliers to elongate it into an oval shape, so it could be thread through another brush’s ring.
Then I twisted the brushes around each other. Repeating this process many times over, the wreath was born.
All of the brushes have black bristles, a sure give-away that these are brushes. After experimenting with a few different spray paint colors to see how the color appeared on the black plastic bristles, I landed on a recipe. The first two coats are brown, then a light coat of gold and finally a dusting of silver.
To make it more festive, I tied a few gold and silver ornaments to the wreath with ribbon.
Now I’m inspired to go back to Habitat ReStore to look around for a Valentine’s Day wreath inspiration. Wish me luck.
Happy Holidays from the Habitat ReStore family! If you’ve created your own unique decorations, tell us about them in the comments below.
Theresa co-hosts the MyFixitUpLife talk show with her husband Mark, who is her partner at work and at home. She is the designer for Food Network’s ‘Save My Bakery,’ and designed for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. She is a licensed contractor, certified color consultant, and certified aging-in-place specialist with a focus on Alzheimer’s. She is an author of Do-It-Yourself Home Improvement, DIY Quick Fix, and Complete Guide to Shelves & Built-Ins.