The hustle and bustle of the holiday season has passed and many of us have packed up our trees, lights, stocking holders, red and green decor and ornaments. I love the feeling of taking down all of my Christmas decor but often look around to a house that feels empty and not warm and inviting like it felt by the light of a dimly lit Christmas tree.
January is that weird month in Ohio where we are over the crowded holiday decor but not ready to decorate for spring quite yet due to the frigid cold temperatures outside and the gloomy skies outside. It can be hard to know how to make our homes cozy and inviting during a season that seems quite the opposite.
I am a big advocate for shopping your home as well as incorporating thrifted items. I have a space in my basement with three shelves all full and organized with thrifted or secondhand treasures that I like to decorate with. I have shelves filled with picture frames, vases, faux greenery, candle holders, baskets, jars and crocks. I also recently cleaned, decluttered and organized my basement and have totes labeled “Spring/Summer”, “Fall”, “Winter” and “Christmas” decor so I can easily access things I like to decorate with and not have to search all over my house for things.
Things that I reach for during January and February are winter animals, the colors white, blue, black and green, faux and real plants, wooden items, gold and silver. I leave some pine for my Winter decor but also will switch it out for eucalyptus and lambs ear and neutral dried florals. I usually keep all of my real plants in my bedroom during the holiday season so it feels refreshing and clean when I bring them back out to our main living areas.
Here are some ways that I style and decorate my home for winter and some things to keep an eye out for when thrifting. These are things that I pulled from my totes and what I shopped for from my basement inventory. Most things are thrifted, a few were deep discounted clearance items and some are from my grandfather who passed a few years ago and have such a special meaning to me.
Shelves
I do not have a lot of shelving in my home, but I do have two small floating shelves in my kitchen that I love to decorate for the season. I traded out bottle brush trees, nutcrackers, red and green candles and holiday art for my little collection of birds (a cutting board, a set of three black wooden birds and a brass swan), greenery, white and blue candles and natural textures. When decorating a shelf, I like to start with things that bring height and layer those in the back (the cutting board and baskets), I like to see what different textures and metals I have and also coordinate colors of flower pots, vases and books. I add dimension by bringing some things forward and placing other items behind and layer frames and baskets. Even if you have one shelf, play around with layering; building dimension and height with the items you have so not everything is the same height or level. Do not be afraid to be bold with color or patterns and feel free to mix patterns! Cut out beautiful pictures or quotes from magazines, books or postcards and put them in empty frames, propagate plants you already have to make more plants and use dishes you already have for height.
Mantles
I love our custom mantle so much, but we do have a large TV right above it and our ceilings are not very high. This can be a challenge to decorate my mantle but I have to play around with what I have. If you have an empty space you can add frames and mirrors to add some height and make your space feel bigger. If you have limited space like me, I like to add books, candles, plants, and small frames to fill the space on the mantle.
For Winter, I chose some stamped books (you can also tear the pages off of books you do not read or thrift soft cover books or you could chalk paint book spines to make them look neutral). I love a minimal mantle in the winter after Christmas and this year I chose to decorate using white and neutral colors. I gathered all of the big, chunky white candles I had (these you can easily find thrifted or get some from the dollar store). I also added some touches of faux greenery and some little deer. I took a white vase and filled it with some dried florals I had.
Another fun little hack that I love, is that if you want a frame TV look but do not want to pay the price, you can make your smart TV look like a piece of art for free! You can go to Youtube and search “Winter Screensaver” and they have beautiful art that will rotate for hours to look like a painted winter scene. It makes your space feel so much more cozy and changes up the look of your mantle area. I do this with each season/holiday.
Tabletops
I have two side tables in my living room and love to switch out pine trees and Christmas decor with coordinating colors on my shelves and mantle. I collect linen back books so I found some blue and green ones and topped them with a little clock, wooden bead garland, a faux plant and a gold candle holder with a green taper candle. My other table top I did very minimally and placed a wooden sign with a mini faux succulent. My dining room table was replaced with a little tray, a thrifted pair of wooden salt and pepper shakers, a candle, a faux succulent and the word “Hygge” spelled out with thrifted scrabble letters.
Wall Art
I replaced some framed Christmas carols and Christmas art on my living room gallery wall with a Winter painting that was my grandpa’s and one of my favorite framed pieces with a snow-covered mountain in the background. You could add some framed art with a saying on it that has to do with winter, winter scenes or stick with the colors and metals you have chosen to decorate in other areas of your home to bring cohesiveness.
I hope that during this time of year when it is cold, gloomy, gray and snowy that you get a little inspiration to see what you already have to decorate with for this season to make your home feel warm and cozy and also have some things to add to your thrifting wishlist that you can add to your decor not only this year but many Winter seasons to come.
Happy Thrifting
Erin