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Tis the seasoning: DIY Christmas themed salt and pepper grinders

26 Nov 2025

Add a dash of Christmas cheer to your table with these cute DIY salt and pepper grinders. You can transform old ones you have at home, or pick up some inexpensive ones from your second-hand store or Kmart. Follow along below to make the same as ours, or get creative and make them as fun as you like!

You will need:

Step 1: Start by washing your salt and pepper grinders in hot soapy water to remove any kitchen grease and grime. Once dry, sand them with a medium grit sandpaper. Wipe away the dust with a soft cloth. 

If your grinders are made from glass, plastic, metal or ceramic, you’ll need to prime them with a coat of Resene Sureseal. If they are made from wood, prime them with Resene Quick Dry. 

Step 2: Once the primer is dry, paint them in your chosen Resene colours. Fleur used two coats of Resene Double Villa White for the angels and two coats of Resene Red Berry for the Santas.

Step 3: Use a thin craft paintbrush to paint on the faces. For these details, Fleur used Resene Rice Cake, Resene Black and Resene Glamour Puss.

Step 4: If you like, give the grinders a distressed look by painting on some Resene Black around the contours.

Step 5: Add your finishing touches. Fleur finished the angels by tying a bow in a length of white gauze ribbon for the wings and attaching this to the back with some hot glue (ribbon that has wire edging in it is great for making the wings stay in shape). She also coiled some gold ribbon and hot glued this on top of the head for the halo.

For the Santas, Fleur made a pointed hat out of some red felt fabric and hot glued this to the head, and trimmed this by hot gluing some white velvet ribbon around the hat.

Wall painted in Resene Element.

project and images Fleur Thorpe

Published: 26 Nov 2025