Here's How to Paint Your Glass Ornaments to Make Them Look Truly Vintage

This easy painting DIY project gets you gorgeous, vintage-inspired matte ornaments that make leave your tree looking professionally designed.

‘Tis the season for trying out viral holiday hacks, and DIY ornaments are at the top of the list for many. Homemade holiday decor is the way to go if you’re looking to create trendy decorations that won’t break the bank. This easy DIY results in gorgeous, vintage-inspired matte ornaments that will leave your tree looking like it came from the magazine pages of a past decade.

The instructions are easy to follow, and you just need a teaspoon of baking soda, acrylic paint in your color(s) of choice, a paintbrush, and (of course) some clear glass ornaments of any size.

Related: The 29 Best Christmas Ornaments of 2023 to Bring New Life to Your Tree

First, remove the top hooks from the ornaments so they’re ready to paint. From here, you can either cover the ornament with a single layer of acrylic paint before sprinkling it with baking soda, or you can mix the paint with enough baking soda to make it visibly thicker beforehand. Either way, make sure to let the acrylic paint dry completely before adding a second coat of paint—the goal is to make the ornament completely opaque. To give your ornaments space to dry in the most convenient way, Instagram creator @castcasita rests them on the end of her paintbrushes while standing them up in a glass.

And that's all it takes—but you don’t have to stop your decorating there. Creator @theedgewoodhome takes this hack to the next level by buffing out her ornaments after they’ve dried and adding additional texture (gorgeous gold flakes) to her moody ornament set, shown in a video that has over 25,000 likes. Scrape away layers of the exterior paint for added detailing or paint more designs onto the finished ornament.

The matte texture of these ornaments also helps to conceal any awkward brushstrokes and makes the ornaments feel professionally made. Plus, the baking soda is there for more than just giving more texture; it thickens the paint to hide any transparent spots that would usually come with painting an ornament’s glass exterior.

Related: 21 Vintage Christmas Decorating Ideas That Give Us the Holiday Feels

If you’re looking to add a little extra color to your ornament set, creator @saremmy elevates the look of her neutral matte ornaments by dabbing metallic paint onto the finished product. To complete the set, she ties matching velvet ribbon to the top of each ornament.

The best part about this project: how easy it is to transform your ornaments in bulk. If you’re looking to design a matching set to decorate a neutral Christmas tree, create a vintage garland or wreath, or just want to give your holiday decorations more of a cohesive theme, all you need are a few complementary paint colors to make your tree pop.

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