Buying new ornaments can be really expensive. Today I’m showing you an inexpensive way to update dollar store ornaments to match any colour scheme.

I change up the colour scheme of my Christmas tree every year – mainly to provide content for the blog – but also because I think I get a little bit better each year and/or I want to try something new.

This year I’ve gone with a “natural neutrals” tree – browns, beiges, with a hint of lilac.

So you can see that these adorable little dollar store ornaments:

Gold glitter park bench with pinecones and red ribbon

would not fit in at all.

I needed to bring a few more ornaments into my stash to fill out my tree, but I’m cheap and knowing that I won’t likely go brown again next year, I don’t want to spend much.

I came across these adorable park benches for $1.50 each and couldn’t resist!

gold, red and silver park bench ornaments

This post might be a bit unfair to a lot of you…. because I have a stash of spray paint leftover from other projects, so I didn’t have to invest anymore into this project.

BUT, if you don’t have a leftover paint stash, then this can get pricey, especially if you’re only making over a few dollar store ornaments.  I went to the home improvement store the other day and spray paint was $23 CDN per can!  A year ago it was only $12!

Yes, I’m sounding like an old lady.  

BUT 100% inflation?!  I don’t think so – shame on you Home Depot!

Anyways, I had some brown chalk paint that fit the bill for my colour scheme, so I removed the little pine bow cluster and gave the dollar store ornaments 2 coats each.

spray painted dollar store ornament

Wow!  That turned out a lot more bland than I’d hoped?

I Googled photos of park benches to see what I could do to ramp these guys up a bit, and the answer was obvious;  snow!

I had some leftover snow flock that has been sitting in my garage since I flocked my trees years ago (I knew I hung onto it for a reason! 😂)

Mod Podge, snow flock, and brown bench ornaments

I painted a bit of the Mod Podge on the bench arms, feet and a bit in the seat corners, then flocked my dollar store ornaments with a bit of snow.

adding snow flocking to dollar store ornaments

Now it looks like a park bench!

The tiny pine bough is on a wire, so easily removed and easily added back on.

dollar store ornament, bench ornament, updating dollar store ornaments

 

It is SO CUTE!

So, for me (with a ton of leftover crap from other projects) this dollar store ornament update came in at a whopping $4.50 CDN for three bench ornaments.

dollar store ornament, bench ornament, updating dollar store ornaments

Less than what I’d pay for one ornament at most Christmas stores.

Plus it was fun!

So take a second look at Dollar store ornaments; if you like the shape and size, the colour can easily be swapped out to match your theme.

dollar store ornament, bench ornament, updating dollar store ornaments

I write that, but I’m also not going to show you the shit show I made by painting some large dollar store ornaments brown.

Shit show – hah!  (because I painted them brown).

I know, I’m an idiot.

But I’m an idiot with these updated and adorable dollar store ornaments.

Have a great one!