Upcycling and Reusing 2 wreaths to make one beautiful Fall wreath

If you read my Saturday Meanderings last week, I mention my disappointment with two wreaths I ordered online. Not only are they too small, but the quality is not to my standards. One of the challenges of ordering a product online, is that you can’t see and feel it. Photographs can be misleading, and in this case, I totally fell for the pictures depicting these wreaths. But not one to throw things away, parts of the wreaths are worth reusing.

My Typical Fall Wreath

Purchasing an attractive wreath can be a big initial investment, but if stored properly, you can use it year after year, amortizing the cost over time. In 2019, I purchased this wreath from Tanya at TwoInspireYou on Etsy.

Since our front door is wide at 4 feet, I need a substantial wreath and not a common size. Tanya’s wreath selections come in a diameter of 24, 26 and 30 inches. The beautiful wreath I received is a lush 30 inches. You can tell by the photo that the quality of the flowers and leaves are well made and silk. The frame is a substantial grapevine one.

Unfortunate recent purchase

Recently, when scrolling through Pinterest I came upon this ad:

Look how lush and full this wreath is! And the size looks quite large compared to the woman holding it, right?

So I ordered 2 of them, using PayPal since I have never ordered through this company before. I do not get an automatic confirmation of my order, only confirmation from PayPal that payment has been made. After waiting a few days, still no notification of my order.

I google Home Yard Mart and it’s a bit of a sketchy website. I start to worry and do some digging and then send an email to yet another company about my order. Finally I hear back with a tracking code that doesn’t really lead anywhere. At this point I am convinced my money is gone.

Fortunately, I get my two wreaths in the mail, not really packaged as you would expect.

Not only are they horribly small, but have a plastic frame and with exception of a few pieces, everything is reallly inexpensive plastic. Some of the pumpkins and gourds are chipped. The frame is 12″ in diameter so the overall size is probably 14″. Complete and total disappointment, and not really worth my time to initiate a return.

After stewing about it for a few days, I re-read my post on Autumn in August-Fall Wreath Ideas and Inspiration and got to work on how I can dismantle these terrible little wreaths, but utilize the few good parts.

Softening the Glue

The manufacturer did not skimp on glue, as the pieces are unmovable from the cheesy plastic frame. With my trusty hair dryer, set on high, I soften the glue and ease the parts of the wreath from the frame.

I’ve never done this before so a couple of words of caution. A blow dryer in the highest setting gets hot. In addition you now have melted glue that can also get hot. Keep a bowl of ice water nearby in case you need to rescue your fingers from melted glue (a great tip from one of my readers).

Within minutes I am pulling off the few silk roses and pumpkins. I keep a sheet of plastic from the shipping envelope and lay down the miscellaneous wreath parts and their sticky ends to cool. The colors of the peach and orange roses are quite pretty, but most of the foliage is plastic and not useable.

I end up with 12 roses and 6 gourds/pumpkins.

Laying out the Pattern

At this point, I am still not confident I want to add these elements to a wreath that I already love. So I place the roses and gourds on the beautiful original wreath. I like the pop of color that these add to a deeper, garnet and sage flowers/leaves, so I heat up my glue gun.

The orange and green pumpkins add some interest and texture. I try using some of the plastic greenery, but their low quality diminished the elegance of the wreath.

The “New” Fall Wreath

It is so hard to capture the color of the front door as it changes by the hour. This is an early morning shot with the eastern sun behind me. You will see all the color variations. Not sure why this blue is so hard to capture.

Here is a photo from inside the front hall with the door open in the late afternoon. The door almost looks gray.

Before and After

Actually, I love them both for different reasons. It’s hard to capture what the new wreath looks like in person, but I am so drawn to peaches, apricots, cranberry or garnet colors this fall. The good news is that I can add or remove any of the pieces, as I was very careful when affixing that I didn’t ruin the original wreath.

If nothing else, I feel better about that I didn’t completely waste the money spent on the 2 substandard wreaths.

Happy Tuesday to you! I hope you are enjoying decorating for fall. The light is shifting here and the Autumn Equinox is this Thursday, the 22nd.

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