My Three-Step Recipe For A Cozy Winter Home
I have a three-step recipe for creating a very cozy home especially during these winter months!
Well…the Christmas holidays are over and all of the decorations are put away – now what??? My home looked so barren and cold to me once all of my Christmas decorations were put away. All of the rooms felt sparse and my home wasn’t welcoming at all!
There’s a part of me that enjoys not being surrounded by so much stuff. A fresh clean slate feels like a new beginning! I guess it is, in a way. But, even though the clean slate has an appeal all its own, I still want (and need) my home to reflect a warm, cozy and welcoming personality. How do I accomplish that? Let me share my easy three step recipe with you!
ADD AND LAYER TEXTILES
The first thing that I do is to make sure to generously layer homespun textiles throughout each room. Things like throws, pillows, rugs, draperies, fabric poufs – basically anything made with some kind of fabric or rug material.
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INCLUDE LOTS OF TEXTURE
I can’t emphasize this one enough! Every room that I’ve ever seen, whether monochromatic or full of color, falls flat without the inclusion of textural items. Things like baskets, trays, nubby fabrics, fur throws or pillows, wreaths, plants and on and on. Even things like shelves and artwork add texture. Texture = Dimension = Good! You get what I mean – right?
MY 2016 WINTER FIREPLACE AND MANTEL
LOOK OUTSIDE YOUR WINDOWS
Take a look at what’s outside this time of year. If you take your cues for indoors from what you see outdoors, you can’t go wrong! In my neck of the woods this time of year, the colors of winter are gray skies, barren brown tree branches, brown pinecones, white snow (if we’re lucky!) and the green of pine boughs and cedar trees. So, I make sure to tuck in lots of faux pine branches and pinecones in all sorts of places, throughout every room.
Dining Room Centerpiece
I’ll give you a little peek-a-boo of the current centerpiece on my kitchen table. You’ll see that I’ve incorporated all of the elements – brown in the dough bowl, faux pine and cedar greenery and white candles with paper cutout snowflakes scattered throughout. (I’ll be sharing more of this super easy centerpiece soon!)
See – easy right? And not quite so hard after all!
TEXTILES + TEXTURE + NATURE = ONE COZY HOME!
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I love using fresh greenery from outside. We have some marvelous evergreens with blue berries that smell delicious and stay looking gorgeous when I put them in water. I have them almost in every room right now. Love your blog and great ideas.
STILL unpacking from our move 2 weeks ago. Learning how to decorate in the southwest. While I don’t have cedar trees, I do have citrus trees and will do some cuttings and bring that indoors !
I love the coziness of the textures and the mix of colors.
Thank-you for the centrepiece idea. I think I may copy.
I love your style and the inspiration you provide. Your mantle and fireplace are beautiful.
LindA
I look forward to your posts each day. I have brought the outdoors in. I have an ironstone white pitcher which I filled with shrubbery greens and red berry stems. I then have a red/green plaid bow on the handle. I also kept my 3 Christmas lanterns and kept the pine trees, faux snow, pine cones, etc. inside them.
I’m still in the organize and pack it away stage and yes everything is very bare!!
I so look forward to your emails! I love the way your decorate your mantle!
I know what you mean by kind of enjoying not having so much stuff around. It seems like from Thanksgiving through the New Year my house is packed to the gills with decorations. And food! We were given so many cookies this year that I had no place to put them all!
Putting everything away has left me with a feeling of calm, but I am loving your centerpiece. And as always, your fireplace is gorgeous.
Beautiful winter decorating. You are so talented.
I like to put out bowls of green and red pears (now in season where I live), and beautiful oranges for a wonderful pop of color on the kitchen island or dining table. I fill in with a few pine clippings to add a lovely fresh scent as well, Another idea is bowls of citrus or pine scented pot pourri placed in unexpected places, i.e., on the fireplace hearth, a book shelf, or on a side tables in one of the main rooms. Scented candles lit for a short time to lend just a hint of pine or citrus scent is very nice for the senses as well during bleak, gray days of winter..
I always enjoy your posts. I love your style!
I could not agree more on your thoughts about our rooms needing different types of textiles. I feel like it is important to decorate all your rooms, not leaving any of them untreated. I love your blog & all y wonderful ideas. Thanks!
Thanks for your great suggestions!
Moving away from Christmas decor into winter is truly challenging because we are soooo ready for the next season and yet many months away from it. I really appreciate your advice to keep things warm and cozy.
Suzy, I really like the way you’ve decorated your table using pinecones in the dough bowl.
Your blog today was just what I needed to warm up our home after putting Christmas away. I have a new terrarium so I must get to work decorating it for winter. Thanks for your input.
Great post! My living room is very bare and sad looking right now. I am going to have to take your tips and bring in some greens and browns. Thanks!
Wow! You are SOOO talented!! I am inspired to design some vignettes for winter now. No way will they be anything like yours but I guess as long as I’m in that direction… 😉
Have always loved your blog.
Taking my cue from looking outside my windows, this is the most colorful and best time of the year! The bougainvillea are in spectacular bloom, the light is brighter than ever and the skies are cloudless and brilliant blue!
Can you guess where I live?
Clue: today we were the only snow-free state out of all 50. No, it isn’t Hawaii, even they had snow-capped mountains today. Guess!
You have given us a place to begin with these great ideas. Lovely!