Rustic & Modern Farmhouse Christmas Tree Ideas: 9 Years of Inspiration

Can you believe that December of 2026 will mark 10 years of celebrating Christmas at The Ponds Farmhouse? In anticipation of that huge milestone, I thought we’d take a walk down memory lane for this year’s Christmas in July.

Today, I’m sharing the last 9 years of farmhouse Christmas tree inspiration! From our humble beginnings to a magazine cover, and looking at how our holiday style has evolved over the years, there is so much decorating inspiration packed into this tour.

Grab a cozy drink, and let me take you on a nostalgic look back at nearly a decade of Christmas celebrations.

When we decided to downsize and move to the farmhouse, it was all about simplicity. We moved into The Ponds in September of 2016, and by that first Christmas, we were just settling into our new lifestyle. I started sharing parts of our journey on Instagram, which eventually led me to start the blog and share how I had come full circle.

I immediately embraced the old-fashioned farmhouse feel by using a live cedar tree that first Christmas. I placed the decorated tree in our loft and used two small bare trees downstairs on the entry table.

By December of 2017, I was fully back in decorating mode. Although I still wanted to maintain that simple, cozy style, my creative ideas were back at the forefront. Looking back at those early years, it’s amazing to see how that foundation of simplicity evolved into the look we love today.

I once again used a live cedar tree but added it to the entry table downstairs in 2017. I apologize for the poor quality of these early images. But I wanted to share the images that caught the eye of a national magazine.

Christmas 2018 – Preparing for Magazine Photo Shoot

In 2018, we were inspired to up our Christmas decorating game because professional photographers were arriving to capture images of our farmhouse for the holidays. As you can imagine, we were very excited but nervous at the same time. I didn’t feel that the Christmas trees of the past two years would be magazine-worthy. So I purchased this Alpine Balsam Fir Sparse Tree from Balsam Hill. I had just purchased a vintage European Hod and had been collecting vintage shiny bright ornaments.

The vintage-inspired Christmas tree filled the corner where my desk had previously been. The whole corner vignette came together with an old wooden chest filled with more vintage Christmas decor.

The Farmhouse Style Christmas Magazine hit the stores on October 1, 2019. The local newspaper and magazine wanted to print an article about our farmhouse being featured in a national magazine. So here we were once again in a decorating frenzy to get ready for another photo shoot.

Not wanting to move my desk out of the house again, we relocated the tree to the other corner of our entry area. I used many of the same decorations as I did the previous year. This image of the tree went viral on Instagram and Pinterest. I still see it shared over and over.

The success of the 2019 Christmas Tree led Balsam Hill to send me another tree to share. This time it is the same tree but lightly frosted with faux snow. I wanted to create a new look from the previous two years, so I went with all red and white ornaments for a snowy Christmas theme.

Over the summer of 2021, I had an abundance of hydrangea blooms and decided to dry as many as possible to preserve them. As a result, I used these gorgeous blooms to create a new-style Christmas tree for that year.

The blue and rust tones of the dried hydrangeas inspired me to use my blue shiny brites mixed with green and gold. See more details at “How To Decorate A Tree With Dried Hydrangeas”.

That same year, I was asked to promote woodland-themed ornaments for Belk. Since I had already planned my Hydrangea-themed tree, I decided to use the frosted tree in the loft. Since I only had one antique container, we built a DIY faux galvanized tree container to look similar for the second tree.

With so many woodland decorations, I decided to pull a switcheroo in 2022. I created a woodland theme for our downstairs tree with pheasant feathers for a topper and a dried orange garland.

Then the tree upstairs was filled with vintage gold shiny brites and these wooden ornaments made with hot glue.

Feeling that everyone was getting tired of my tree container, I opted for a new copper cauldron pot that we found while thrifting. It was an opportunity to give the same tree a fresh new feel.

I loaded the tree with colorful vintage ornaments and wooden garlands.

In summer 2024, I found some architectural salvage spindles and vintage crystals while thrifting at Legacy Salvage in Wilmington, NC. I knew I wanted to make these ornaments for my 2024 Christmas tree. The simple tree holds the DIY ornaments along with gold and silver vintage ornaments. I also made the metal bow tree topper to complete this year’s theme.

Last year’s tree was filled with all things pinecone. In fact, my whole house was decorated with pinecones. From the pinecone stem tree topper to oversized faux pinecones, the tree was filled with them. I also used berry stems and oversized leaf stems to add substance to the sparse tree.

In addition to the pinecones, I filled the tree with these adorable DIY Snow Globe Ornaments that I filled with reindeer, birds, and snowmen.

I have to share my Shiplap Christmas Tree because it has been displayed on our screened porch since that first year. Brad built the tree using some salvaged shiplap from my dad’s storage building. You can see all the details at “How to Build A Rustic Shiplap Tree”.

Another area I love to decorate is the Greenhouse. Since we built it in 2020, I’ve added a Christmas tree to the space. The tree sits in an old wooden crate and is surrounded by these rustic DIY birdhouses.

Pin It To Remember It

Did you find some great ideas you’d like to save for future reference? To save, hover over the images and pin to your favorite Pinterest Boards when you see the PIN button in the upper left-hand corner.