3 Ways to Give Plain Ornaments a Stylish, Scandi Makeover

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If you’ve ever been inspired by try a whole new color scheme or style in your Christmas decor, you may have been deterred by the fact that you’d have to replace all of the ornaments you already have. But with a little paint, you can give your ornaments a makeover, saving cash and keeping your old decor out of the landfill. Here’s how I gave some glass bulbs a new look, three different ways. 

Although I did this project with clear glass bulbs,  you could easily substitute solid-colored glass or plastic bulbs by painting the exterior with white craft paint or spray paint. 

Materials

• Bulb ornaments
• Acrylic craft paint in white
• Acrylic craft paint in metallic gold
• Black paint pen
• Small paint brush

Step

If you’re using clear glass bulb ornaments, take the metal end off of the ornaments, squirt in white paint, and rotate the bulb around until the interior is coated with paint. You’ll probably need to add more white paint than you think (I did). 

Step

Replace the end caps of the ornaments. With the paint pen, draw simple black stars randomly on the exterior of the bulb.

Step

To make the gold splatter-painted ornaments, hang up an ornament in a spot you won’t mind getting paint. Load up a brush with gold metallic paint, and flick it onto the ornament. You might want to practice your flicking technique first on a piece of paper. I found that it worked well to hold the brush with one hand, and hit the end of that brush with my other hand. Rotate the bulb to cover the whole exterior. Let the paint dry when you’re satisfied with your splatters.

Step

Pick a word or phrase, and use the paint pen to write it on the ornament. 

Though the black, white, and gold color palette of these ornaments lends them a Scandinavian look, you could easily swap in your favorite colors for a totally different vibe.