Genius front door decor ideas for the holidays

Genius front door decor ideas for the holidays

If you’re like us here at Roost, you love the holidays, love decorating for the holidays, love going to holiday parties, love, well, you get the point. And this year, we’re taking our holiday love and wrapping it around our apartment front doors. Apartment front door decor can be tricky sometimes with limited space, lack of outlets, and landlords that don’t appreciate nails or permanent damage to their property.

So we’ve come up with these genius, if we do say so ourselves, ideas to festive up your front door and make a welcoming home sweet holiday feeling for you and your guests.

Great front door decor ideas

1. Cover your door in wrapping paper or removable wallpaper

Wrapping up your front door like a Christmas present is one of the most popular Christmas door decorating ideas. And why shouldn’t it be when it’s one of the easiest ways to shout out your holiday spirit without putting a dent in your holiday budget. It’s also ideal for apartment doors that don’t have any wriggle room for much more.

Wrap the front of your door just like you would a present, making sure to cut holes for door knobs, locks, and peepholes, and use two-sided scotch tape.

Want to add a little extra pizzazz to your wrapped up front door? Tape a giant ribbon or bow across to make it look like a big holiday package. Or, make a giant gift tag out of construction paper and write something fun on it like “To Me from Santa” or “From The North Pole”.

2. Holiday door decal decorations

Door decal stickers are another great way to wrap up your whole front door in one beautiful holiday scene. They are generally made with self-adhesive stickers that are easy to install and easier to remove. This one works great for inside or outside your apartment.

Red telephone both with holiday scene  

Happy Hanukkah door decoration  

3. Frosty the snowman door decoration

We love this one and it’s great if you’re feeling crafty. 

Using heavy craft paper or felt (if your door is exposed to the elements, a more hardy material might be better) cut out the shapes you need and tape them to the door, tape or tie a large ribbon for his scarf, and if there’s room, top him off with a hat. Add some twinkle lights around the frame to set him a glow for those holiday evenings. 

4. Holiday door decorating with accent lighting 

Lighting is one of our favorite ways to decorate doors for the holidays. It adds ambiance, extra security outside and lifts your spirits as we head into long hours of winter darkness.

The great thing about lighting is that it can stand alone as your decoration or it can enhance and bring together all of your holiday door decorating ideas. And it’s easy to find plenty of decorations that come with lighting such as wreaths, garlands, fake plants and trees, ornaments — you name it, you can probably find a version of whatever you want with lights.

There are two challenges to adding lights to apartment doors — most of us don’t have electrical outlets around our front doors, and nails are not an option for hanging.

Luckily, there are a lot of battery-operated lights available. Problem 1 solved. 

Problem 2, how to hang them? The easiest way is to find nooks and crannies that you can tuck the light strand around. Another option, if you have a railing that leads up to your apartment door, you can wrap the lighting around that. 

Option 3, use Command hooks. Command hooks won’t stick to every surface, so this may not work for everyone. These particular Command hooks are made for hanging outdoor lights.

5. Decorate your front door with wreaths and doormats

Don’t have a lot of time to wrap or hang lights? Or maybe you like things less busy and understated. A wreath and/or a holiday doormat fulfil all these needs or can serve as the finishing touches to a bigger project and there are plenty to choose from.   

We couldn’t resist sharing this Grinch floor mat. It’s simple, inexpensive and completely fun!

How to decorate your apartment door

1. Clean the door. Cleaning up is always an essential first step before you start decorating. This will help any adhesives that you need to use, as well as ensure that your art project looks its best!
2. Hang up your basic decor. Whether you’re wrapping your door up or making a Frosty the snowman door – always start with your main project.
3. Add some extra pizazz! Once you’re done designing, add some light. Snowflake lights, for instance, would be a great accent with your Frosty.
4. Don’t forget the doormat. Find a doormat that compliments the theme of your design.
5. The little extras. Little things like a small planter or a doorknob hanger will really pull your finished decorations all together and make for the most festive door in your apartment complex!

Make a path to your holiday door decorations

Suppose you have a pathway, stairs, or railings leading up to your decorated front door, consider lighting it up with some outdoor decorative lighting.   We love Candy cane lights — especially if you have a walkway or path nearby.  Or, try a Christmas snowflake projector lights. Warning.  This might drive your fellow renters a bit crazy, so use your discretion.

Some of our favorite Christmas door decorations

Best snowman door

Coolest wreath made out of balls of yarn

Best grinch door decoration

Grinch Christmas wreath 

Best decorated door

Renter-friendly tips to decorate your front door

All this holiday fun is getting us in the holiday spirit, but before you start getting creative with your front door decorations, you’ll want to double-check on the rules of your apartment complex about what you can and can’t do.

• Check your lease –  you may need permission to have decorations along walkways or other exterior spaces
• If there is an exterior electrical outlet be sure to ask your landlord for permission before plugging in
• Avoid permanent lasting marks or holes
• Don’t hammer into the door
• Careful with the door hangers as they can chip the paint (and sometimes can make your door hard to close).  Try using command strip hooks as an alternative.
• If space is tight around your door, avoid putting decorations on the ground that might become a tripping hazard
• You might also want to consider non-toxic items in case you have a dog or cat.
• Probably best to avoid noisy decorations that might irritate your close by neighbors
• Once the holidays are over, it’s a good neighbor policy to have decorations down within a week or so

Happy holidays from our decorated apartment door to yours

We hope this has given you some inspiration for decorating your front door. Whether you try out one of these ideas or use this as a jumping-off point for your own decorating ideas, we wish you happy holidays and a fabulous new year!