Gold Berry Leaves Ornament Makeover

See how to transform a ho-hum metal cluster of leaves into a beautiful gold berry leaves cluster Christmas ornament you can use all over the house for the holiday season. 

You probably are not ready to start decorating your house for Christmas right now, but for all of us who like to do DIY projects, you can never start those projects too early. I finished transforming these gold berry leave cluster ornaments in late September, and still have more DIY projects in process.  

If you wait until December for DIY projects, you may find yourself in a time crunch like my sister-in-law one year. You may find yourself in the bedroom wrapping presents on Christmas Day and handing them out through a partially opened door... one at a time... to give to the recipient to open while she wrapped the next person's present. True story... 

ornament after makeover 

I love how the makeover for a ho-hum ornament turned out. Bright gold berries, white over-sprayed gold leaves, and Noel ribbon turned the ornament into one of my favorites for this coming Christmas. 

G O L D   B E R R Y   L E A V E S 

 O R N A M E N T   M A K E O V E R  

ornament before makeover

Here is what the leaf cluster ornaments looked like when they arrived in a shipment from the wholesaler. 

Hmmmmm.... not much pizazz in that flat, discolored metal. But, there were good qualities beyond the first look. Metal, not plastic. Textured leaf veins. Interesting leaf outlines. Three solid metal berries on individual stems. 

With five easy steps, the ho-hum ornaments were transformed into beautiful ornaments versatile enough to use all over the house.  

reshape the ornament 

The first step was to reshape the ornament by bending the leaves inward with my hands to lift the leaves from the original flat shape. No two ornaments turned out the same.  

reposition the berry stems 

Step two was to reposition the berry stems by bending each one individually, up from the leaves and at varying angles. 

Compare the reshaped leaves and repositioned berry stems with a flat leaf cluster. 

spray the ornament with gold spray paint

Step three was to spray both sides of the leaves and berries with gold spray paint. I allowed the paint to dry thoroughly on one side before painting the other side.   

My favorite gold spray paint is Rustoleum Gold Metallic spray paint in a can. 

Overspray the leaves with white spray paint

Step four was to mist spray just the leaves with white spray paint. Before spraying the leaves, all of the gold berry stems were wrapped with blue painter's tape to protect them from the white paint. 

To get a fine white mist that speckles the leaves and allows the undercoat of gold paint to show through, I held the spray can about 18-24 inches above the leaves. I began spraying the paint off to one side of the leaves and then moved the spray can across the leaves quickly to get just a mist of paint, instead of a solid coat, on the leaves. 

I have used this technique several times in the past and have gotten better at judging how far above an item to hold the spray paint and at judging how quickly to move the spray paint across an item. 

If you try this over-spraying technique and get too much white paint on an item, wait until the white paint dries. Then repaint the items gold and overspray with white paint again. The keys to getting a fine mist of paint are 1) to hold the spray paint a higher distance from the object than the directions say on the paint can and 2) to move the paint across the object quickly. 

add a decorative ribbon 

The fifth and final step was to add a holiday ribbon to the cluster of leaves. Since I love French Country style, I chose a ribbon printed with Noel. 

There are so many places I plan to use these gold berry leaves this Christmas. The first place is around the top of a rustic wire birdcage. 

Here is a quick peek at where the birdcage with leaves ornament will be displayed in my living room. Be sure to check back later this season for a post that shows how I style the birdcage with other Christmas greenery on my coffee table.




With five easy steps a ho-hum flat leaves ornament was transformed into a beautiful gold-berried ornament. So, when you look at lackluster ornaments, think about using a little gold spray paint and a beautiful holiday ribbon to transform them into beautiful ornaments with French Country style. 

Both the gold berry leaves ornament and wire birdcage will be for sale in this year's French Country Christmas Event in my backyard garden shed this December. 

Upcoming Posts 
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Fall Foyer | Third Look  

French Country Blue Toile Chair & Navy Floor Cabinet

We Gather Together Thanksgiving Blog Hop - Tuesday, Nov. 19 

Tips For How NOT To Flock Christmas Trees 

Navy Christmas Laundry Room  

And more ways for using gold berry leaves ornaments to decorate

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