How To Update Old Christmas Decor With Easy DIY Updates
December 03, 2025
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Add some glam to your Christmas decorations with spray paint and Rub 'n Buff!
The holidays are the perfect time to pull out the spray paint! It's such an
easy way to update tired or worn Christmas decor with very little effort or
money.
After I finish decorating the house every holiday season, I turn to smaller
touches -- like adding ribbon here or there and doing small crafty/DIY
projects to update the decor.
Adding those sweet details are my favorite part of the Christmas decorating process!
I'm sharing a few of my favorite recent projects, one on new items and the
rest on older decor we've had for years. I added a little dimension with Rub
'n Buff wax on a couple as well.
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I love traditional decor this time of year, but I also enjoy utilizing items
that don't scream Christmas...they just
whisper it. 😂 So a few months
ago I picked up
these faux pomegranates, knowing I was going to give them a spray paint makeover:
They are great by themselves, but I was using some expensive metal
pomegranates I saw online as my inspiration.
A few years ago I shared a
test of brass and gold spray paints to determine which ones give the most
realistic finish and look. I used my favorite --
metallic warm gold spray paint
as a primer to cover up the deep red color (see the two on the top
left):
Usually spray primer is bright white, so by using a similar color I
didn't have to use as many coats of the final spray paint (the rest of the
fruits pictured).
After that first coat dried, I sprayed a couple coats of the lovely Rust-Oleum spray paint called Metallic Gold. It covers so beautifully and is a nice shiny gold -- exactly what
I was going for!
They looked great, but I wanted to add a bit more dimension to make the
decor look more like metal.
Once dry, I grabbed my Rub n Buff waxes and started experimenting with
different finishes. The combo I ended up with was the dark Spanish Copper
and the lighter European Gold:
The photo I took of this process didn't turn out well, but I'll show you
exactly what I did on another piece here in a minute.
I rubbed a small amount of the dark copper color along the sides of the
pomegranates (keep in mind a little bit of this wax goes a very long
way!) and then blended that with the gold color on the top.
It gave them some dimension -- just what I was looking for!:
My next project was on some wood holiday decor. I have a few of these
wooden Christmas bells from Walmart from years ago:
I love the sizes and shape, but wanted to glam them up a little bit.
This was the same process as before -- once the spray pain dried (an hour or
so in the cold garage), I used the same copper wax and rubbed it in here and
there first:
And then did a wash of the gold Rub 'n Buff wax over the top to tone it
down:
I recommend using gloves when applying Rub n Buff. That stuff adheres really well to anything, including skin! :)
If you're new to using these waxes, check out my
detailed post on how to use Rub n Buff products. I like
this kit of eight different colors, but you can also buy them individually.
The bells turned out just as I had hoped!:
My final spray paint project of the day was a quick one! I LOVE our
battery-operated Christmas tree candles, but the white sleeves were so glaring against our jewel-toned tree
decorations:
Sooooo, I gave them a couple quick coats of the same gold spray paint. I
should have used the method I used to
paint our kitchen hardware:
Those candles slipped and rolled all over the place! I wasn't too picky about
getting them perfectly sprayed though -- a little bit of irregular coverage
adds some character. :)
The gold was perfect!:
By the way, those candles come with suction cups so you can use them in
windows as well. (There's a remote with timer for easy operation.)
I considered adding a bit of that copper wax to the drippy details on the
plastic, but I liked them as they were. You could easily make them look
vintage with some dark Rub n Buff!
I absolutely LOVE how all of these projects turned out!
Here are some quick spray painting tips:
- Clean your item well before spraying -- usually I use a wet rag, but if the item is especially dirty or greasy you'll want to remove any residue. Let dry completely.
- Use short, light bursts of paint instead of long heavy ones. More light coats will always turn out better than fewer heavy ones! The light coats dry much faster as well.
- Spray painted items will need some time to cure, like any paint. They are fine to touch shortly after (sometimes even around ten minutes or so), but I wouldn't want to put them through any wear and tear for a good week or two. Decorative items like these can be handled right away, since they aren't touched constantly.
- Spray paint in a well ventilated area and/or use a respirator mask like this one. That is helpful to have if you do any wood staining/rehab projects as well.
I hope you enjoyed these easy Christmas decor transformations! Simple DIY
updates like these can completely transform your old holiday
decorations.
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