Winter Decorating Ideas: Relax…Renew…Reset
If you recently put away your holiday decorations and are wondering what you can do to add some life back into your home, I have a few after Christmas winter decorating ideas that you can easily implement in your own home.
This time of year in the decorating world it is all about… RENEWING and RESETTING. These two words sum up perfectly what many of us are going through in early January right after putting our Christmas decorations away.
After Christmas Winter Decorating Ideas
I enjoy decorating my house for the holidays and making it festive, but I also enjoy the flip side, taking all the decorations down and getting a clean slate to refresh with a new look for the new year ahead.
This is how my living room looked this morning after taking the holiday decorations down. I left the basics of the room intact. As you can see they are all neutrals.
Instead of looking at it as a bad thing or empty… I find it inspiring to just sit in the room and enjoy the blank slate. It helps me see what is needed to make it decorative with a winter twist.
I like decorating with white as a room base color. It enables me to easily change the color pops seasonally or on a whim.
Even in its blank state, my living room has everything it needs in the way of function and comfort. This is more important than anything I add to make the room look pretty. You can read all about making this happen in this post: Feeling at Home.
The room is simply missing the third part of the decorating equation which of course is personal style… this is what I need to add along with a few pops of color.
After overspending during the holidays, I don’t want to spend any money or buy new stuff to give the house a few winter decorating tweaks.
Winter Decorating Tip: Don’t Buy New
Instead of buying new decor, I shopped my house to find items to decorate for winter. It is my favorite type of decorating… the “use what you have” method. It is fast, simple and allows you to transform a room with things you know you already like.
Don’t just start moving stuff around from room to room. Start out by thinking how you would like the room to look. After some thought, for my living room, I decided to go with a white on white scheme… like a snowy winter’s day and show off a few of the pitchers in my white pitcher collection. In my previous house they were on display in my dining room hutch.
In the lake house I live in now, they are displayed on the open shelves in the kitchen.
Decorating With Candles and Greenery
Candles (I like white, but use your favorite color) are my go-to staple all-year round, but I love them best on a wintery afternoon as the sun goes down.
When decorating with white, I usually like to add a pop of seasonal color as an accent.
For my winter decor I used a color called Greenery as my inspiration.
After placing chunky white candles, my white pitchers and one large white vase on the mantel…
… all I had to do was go outside and cut a few clippings from the evergreen shrubs and trees in my yard. Placed in a pitcher or vase of water you get instant updated style! The clippings will stay green for a few weeks.
Green and white…so fresh and clean.
The wood log slice was previously used on my kitchen table where I used it as a candle holder for my Thanksgiving table setting. It provides texture and visual interest on the mantel while adding height to a pitcher.
The combined items, color and texture adds just enough color and impact to the mantel.
Mixing white candles with greenery on the mantel looks fresh and clean, but adds coziness.
As the room gets darker, the candle glow gets warmer and adds a relaxing ambiance to the room…
…that is best enjoyed with a cozy winter meal of beef stew.
If you don’t have a resource for clipping greenery from your yard, faux plants look just as nice.
On my coffee table, I grouped 3 faux plants on a tray with a collection of bubble glass candle holders.
Use Non-Decor Items to Decorate
Do you have a collection of stamps, matchbooks, corks, pretty stones gathered on a walk? Anything that has another purpose can be repurposed and given a new decorative role.
Pick out a few favorites and place them in a bowl or on a decorative plate from your kitchen. Volia!!! Instant decor. The best part about using non-decor items… you didn’t have to buy anything new..
Decoratively Arrange Fireplace Supplies and Tools
In the winter months, focus on creating cozy in the rooms you spend the most time in. By the fireplace, neatly store wood in a large basket or stack the wood and logs so you can easily create a fire anytime of the day to get warm and cozy.
- Instead of simply placing the kindling sticks on top of the pile of logs, place them vertically in a large vase, crock, or basket.
More Use What You Have Winter Decorating Ideas and Tips
Take a stroll through your house with open eyes to gather up a few items:
- Do what inspires you and what feels good in your home. There are no rules you have to follow to decorate your home for winter. Truly, it’s about doing what makes you feel energized and refreshed for a new year.
- Remove all labels you have for your items. For instance, just because something was made for a bathroom, doesn’t mean it won’t look fabulous in your living room. Look around for objects that may look better placed elsewhere. A mirrored bathroom tray that holds toiletries, can take on a whole new look when it is placed on your coffee table and filled with candles.
- Paint it! Don’t be afraid to change an item. Maybe a yellow chair that was once in your kitchen can be painted navy blue and used as a desk chair in a child’s room.
- Use the items in a different way. For instance, a pitcher becomes a vase, a large frame for a photo can be come a tray to serve steamy mugs of hot chocolate on a cold wintery afternoon.
- Treat all your senses. Diffuse lemon, orange, and peppermint essential oils so the rooms in your home smell fresh and clean.
- A stack of books becomes a way to raise a short lamp.
- Layer lots of velvet pillows and fur throws to cozy up with.
- Large scale: Move a piece of furniture from one room to another to come up with a new furniture arrangement for a room. This sofa was previously backed up against a wall. Move it out into the room and bring in a console table from another room to place behind the sofa to provide a surface to place a lamp, books and favorite decorative accessories.
Decorating Resource: Console Table | Slipcover | How I Tweaked Slipcover
- Small scale: Break up a matching set of lamps. Use one in your living room and the other on a side table in a bedroom.
- Think big… Swap area rugs from room to room. Do the same with window treatments and wall art. Nothing is off limits
Just start experimenting. It doesn’t cost a dime to do so.
Think of the use what you have decorating process as simply moving items from room to room to give them a new life. You may end up liking them even better in their new place than where you originally had them.
Decorating Resource: Gooseneck Lamp
Winter Decorating Ideas: Easy Ways to Add Color
When a room is looking stark in January or anytime of the year, try these no-paint needed decorating ideas to add a pop of color to the rooms in your home without much time or effort.
- Place a few oranges on your kitchen counter. Their happy color will help you forget that is cold and drab outside.
- Buy some fresh herbs at the grocery store and place them by your sink.
Using produce to decorate a room serves a double purpose. You get to enjoy eating your displays or use them to season your meals while getting a little visual color therapy for your eyes.
- Buy a bunch of fresh flowers at the grocery store and place on your desk, kitchen table or where you will be able to enjoy them all day long.
- Line drawers with colorful patterned gift wrap or wall paper in your bedroom dresser…
…as well as the drawers in your kitchen. Seeing the unexpected pops of color will have you forgetting that it is Winter outside the house.
Learn How To: The Easy Trick on How to Line a Drawer
Start refreshing your rooms one at a time and before you know it, the rooms in your home will look comfy, cozy and pretty for the winter months all the way until spring.
Have you taken down your holiday decor yet? How did you refresh the space? Do you have any winter decorating ideas to share?
