Simple winter decorating ideas to make your home feel cozy and inviting after Christmas to transition into spring.
January and February are always my most challenging months of the year when I feel myself slipping into seasonal affective disorder.
After the Christmas decorations come down and the cheerful Christmas lights are put away, it can quickly make a home feel lifeless in those long winter months when you need comfort more than ever.
But simple winter seasonal decor touches you make can add so much more than visual interest; they can help give you a positive outlook during those gray cold months!
They can be difficult to get through, but decorating my home the right way always lifts my mood and makes winter, dare I say, enjoyable. (Gasp!)
If winter usually fills you with a sense of dread, try some of these great ideas for decorating in winter. Adding just a few small decor elements to give your home a winter look first thing after Christmas is an easy way to start your new year with the nurturing environment you need to achieve all of your other resolutions.
Using home decor that you love to freshen and brighten up spaces is a simple way to decorate your own home in the winter. If you use these easy ideas, your home’s decor will stretch seamlessly into spring.
Never underestimate the power of an inviting atmosphere to help you achieve a fresh look for the year ahead.
Here are some small changes you can do to decorate your home in winter without breaking the bank or taking much time.
How to Ease Seasonal Depression With Your Home Decor Choices
Seasonal depression a type of depression that happens during a certain season of the year—most often fall and winter. There is no clear cause of SAD. Less sunlight and shorter days are thought to be linked to a chemical change in the brain and may be part of the cause of seasonal affective disorder. (Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine)
According to Everyday Health, these are some ways you can ease seasonal depression symptoms in your home.
- Use aromatherapy in your home
- Let in natural sunlight (open your window blinds, shades, and curtains)
- Use dawn simulators (like a Hatch Restore alarm clock)
Start With a Clean Slate
After you put away the Christmas evergreen trees and before you start busting out the cozy winter decor, take a day (or two) to leave your rooms blank of any seasonal decor.
Remove all cozy blankets, winter greens, decorative pillows, and accents from your surfaces, shelves, and furniture. Now, walk around your home and take some deep breaths. This step is very important.
If you plan to declutter any spaces, now is the perfect time to do that before pulling in any winter decor.
Once you have made a clean slate and done any decluttering on your to-do list, begin adding a few simple winter decorations to make the space feel inviting.
Use Plants Around Your Home
Tip: If you miss your Christmas tree, fill the spot where it used to sit with a large potted plant like a ficus, eucalyptus, or olive tree instead.
Plants are a symbol of life!
During winter, we are often overcome with feelings of sadness or gloom.
The winter blues are real, so livening up a room with live plants is a great way to get yourself through the winter season without feeling like you’re living in a blank, lifeless box. It’s a great time to try your hand at some indoor gardening.
If you don’t have a green thumb, use faux plants to give the appearance of live plants. An easy winter idea is to just reuse some of your faux greenery from Christmas without any red berries to create a more neutral color scheme. Set them on your coffee table or end tables throughout the house.
Plants also look great on raised plant stands in the hallway or near doorways. I love filling extra space with a plant or other natural elements.
(When thrifting, keep an eye out for pretty planters like this brass planter I used to make my fake tree look realistic. If they have a great shape consider spray painting the planters too.)
Set Candles on Coffee Tables and Side Tables
Tip: Walk around your house to see what unique containers you might already own and melt down half used candles to create new, custom candles! (See how I made my own candy dish candles and brass candle holders with thrifted finds.)
Candles add a much needed layer of warmth and light on tabletops. Place candles in mercury glass candle holders, if you like a little extra sparkle.
I like to light one every chance I get for a little aromatherapy and cozy feeling. Our sense of smell does a lot for our mood.
Light a candle on those gloomy winter days when you need a pick-me-up. If you don’t want to worry about an open flame, use flameless candles and essential oil diffusers instead.
Display White Flowers
Tip: Try forcing paperwhite bulbs this time of year in a thrifted bowl with some moss.
With winter comes some pretty dreary days.
Use white flowers (whether they are real or fake) to brighten up any room they are placed in.
I’m a sucker for winter whites if you can’t tell, and white flowers always do the trick.
I have purchased faux flowers from the craft store (and they’re often marked down at a discount in winter).
Sometimes just scooping up a bundle of white flowers when I visit the grocery store to stick in a vase to use on the dining table or home office desk helps me feel better in the winter months.
Hang Winter Gear on the Walls
I’ve found snow skis, snowshoes, and ice skates at the thrift store before! I painted these thrifted skis and stuck them right on the wall as some interesting decor for winter.
Pay attention to what outdoor winter gear pops up at the thrift store and get creative with how you can use them as decor around your house instead. If you already own winter gear for recreational purposes, it’s one of the best ways to double it use for decor.
Swap Out Artwork If You Can
After you take down the holiday decorations, you may not feel ready to put up your paintings of spring blooms and green grass.
Find some peaceful winter scenes in neutral paint colors to display in your large frames and hang them up at the beginning of the year until spring comes. Etsy has lots of winter art for around $2-5 for instant downloadable printables.
Or you can grab these free art prints from my library.
Winter Art Printables
Tip: You can also see the trick to display art on any Smart TV here.
Fill Dark Corners with Lamps
Utilizing lamps is one of the easiest winter decor ideas because you probably already have them anyway! Space lamps apart around the room so every dark corner is softly illuminated with balanced light. Interior designers use this trick all the time by balancing light sources around a room using ambient, accent, and task lighting.
I’m one of those people who prefers lamplight instead of overhead lights.
The overhead lights are just too harsh. Lamps with soft white lights give off a glow with just enough lighting to fill a room. I love keeping an eye out at the thrift store for secondhand table lamps to paint. Or update old floor lamps with modern shades for a new look.
Place lamps in small nooks and crannies to create a cozy ambience. We love to display them on shelves, end tables, and even in the kitchen.
Choose living spaces that need more light in the evenings and make sure there is an accessible plug for it.
Tip: If you have one, turn an old vase into a cordless lamp using this puck light trick.
Brighten the Room With White Accessories
A neutral color palette is great to brighten any room year-round. I like to stick to white, ivory, cream, and beige throw pillows with just a pop of one or two colored pillows.
It stretches your dollar that way and saves storage space since you can use most of them year-round.
Consider repurposing old sweaters to make cable knit throw pillows to add some cozy textures. Or toss a chunky knit blanket on a chair.
We always have plenty of pillows on the couches. Grab some white pillows and throws to cheer up a room in winter to create that feeling of cozy warmth.
Include other white accessories white candles, jars, bowls, and anything you can find at the thrift store. These look great on your fireplace mantel too!
Clean Up Your Fireplace
Tip: See how to limewash your brick fireplace in just a few hours.
I limewashed our old brick fireplace in just an afternoon several years ago and have absolutely zero regrets! That one little project brightened up our entire living room. Maybe add some birch logs to the hearth or an accessible large basket with chunky knit throws, but less is more or else it starts to become fireplace clutter.
Keep your mantel and fireplace minimal with decor to allow your focal point to “breathe”.
Sometimes less is more, and in winter, leaning minimal on the fireplace decor creates the feeling of a fresh start. After the busy Christmas decorations on our fireplace, I appreciate a simple winter mantel as a relief from the clutter.
Open the Curtains During the Day
Instead of flipping on all the lights when the sun is shining, try opening the curtains. The sun will peek through and bring you a little joy, as well as warm up your home when it’s chilly.
It’s one of the easiest ways to lighten the room and accent all the rich colors you have throughout. The natural light will lift your mood throughout the day.
Tip: See my favorite budget-friendly Amazon curtains here.
Do you have any other winter home decor ideas you’d add to the list to endure the cold weather months? Whatever helps chase away the winter blues, is a win, right?
I’ll just be over here curling up with a warm blanket, lighting a few candles, and enjoying the chilly weather as best I can all cozied up until spring finally comes back around.
More Winter Decorating Ideas
Frequently Asked Questions
Winter decor usually has a neutral color palette, unlike Christmas which usually has colorful pops of red and green. For winter, it’s a good idea to simplify and only use a few key cozy decorating elements like candles, faux plants, and chunky knit pillow and throws.
– Get rid of red
– Remove decorations that are Christmas-specific
– Declutter your home
– Rely on warm lighting with lamps and candles
– Incorporate texture with soft, warm textiles
– Utilize natural elements, winter greenery, and houseplants
