Skip Traditional Wreaths: This Pro Gardener's Gorgeous Alternative Works For Any Season

Nearly everyone and their grandma has a spruce or floral wreath on their front door. Of course, there's no harm in pursuing the traditional route, but sometimes you need to shake up the classics with an unexpected twist. Crafter Garden Answer makes the case for replacing your green wreath with an orange one, quite literally. Using dried citrus slices, she creates an arrangement that can make a statement year-round — "It all depends on the ribbon you choose," she says. 

Like Martha Stewart's coffee filter wreath, this simple yet sweet accent can stay on display 24/7, 365. For the winter holidays, pair it with a rich green or red velvet bow, and switch to a blue and white gingham ribbon when the weather heats up. It's a straightforward, sustainable, and rustic DIY that mostly uses materials from your fruit bowl. 

As versatile as the style is throughout the year, it's equally universal throughout the house, too; it can complement mirrors, hang on cabinet doors, and, of course, welcome guests inside from the front door. To bring this DIY minimalist wreath to life, make sure to have about two to three oranges on hand, as well as a knife and cutting board to slice them. Craft the wreath's silhouette from a piece of cardboard, and make sure to have a pen, scissors, a blade, and your glue gun on hand.

To get started, make sure you're slicing all of the oranges evenly so that they'll dry in the oven or dehydrator at the same speed. Once you're done making cuts, you'll place them evenly on a tray and leave them in for approximately eight hours at 135 degrees Fahrenheit in the dehydrator or 200 degrees Fahrenheit in the oven for about two to three hours. Be sure to check on the oranges regularly, as all appliances work differently and your slices may dry quicker or slower than others. To take this part of the process out of the equation, you can also snag a few bags of Aotrytion's Dried Sliced Oranges from Amazon to speed things up. 

Set your citrus aside and use a large bowl to trace the outline of your wreath on your cardboard cutout, utilizing scissors to cut the frame and a blade to take out the smaller circle at the center. The option is yours, but you can also paint the cardboard if you'd like to add an extra element of flair. However, you'll be layering your slices closely on top of one another, hot gluing them together to add dimension, so the cardboard likely won't show through. Once the wreath is dry, use your hot glue gun to fasten a delicate bow at its center and one to hang the piece. 

While an all-orange wreath makes for great everyday decor, you can add slices of lemon, grapefruit, or lime as well, should you want to differentiate the look. You can add greenery (the faux variety would work best for longevity — even evergreen branches can dry and shed quickly) amongst the slices for another fun nod to nature. Consider making more slices than needed, as you don't want to end up with a sparse orange wreath. You can accentuate presents with dried orange gift toppers or add a few pieces of produce to your Christmas tree. Just make a small hole in your orange slice, cut a piece of jute twine, tie it through, and you're left with a sweet DIY Christmas ornament.