The week after Christmas involves a lot of mixed feelings. It is a time period that is best described as “bittersweet” – Bitter because you hate to see the most wonderful time of the year go, but sweet because it brings with it a refreshing amount of hope and excitement for the new year! During this transitional period, most people fall into one of two categories: 1) the person who tears down the Christmas tree on December 27th because looking at it with it’s empty base is depressing. And 2) the person who leaves the decorations up until February because she just loves it that much, is lazy (??), or frankly just doesn’t know how else to decorate for winter months that are non-holiday inspired.
I have found myself in both of these categories over the years and now fall somewhere in between. My “take down the Christmas Decor” day is always New Years Day and it is one of my favorite ways to refresh my mindset for the new year. As much as I love the holidays, post-holiday home decor brings a clean and empty slate that I crave after Christmas time! Read on to see my 4 Post-Holiday Home Style Tips to bring a refreshing and tranquil feel to your home this new year!
While January & February might be some of the most motivational months throughout the year (check out my tips to maintaining a healthy and balanced lifestyle this year), they prove to be the most awkward when it comes to decorating your home. Name any other month  and you can immediately identify a “theme” that is associated with the season and serves as inspiration for home styling, but January and February are those 2 months that really don’t have their own identity. Yes, they are “winter-y” months but the task of decorating for winter without giving your home an excessive “Christmas” feel can be difficult to accomplish. (For those of you who consider Valentine’s Day a Season, I applaud your ability to decorate you home in this theme – teach me your ways of doing this without looking tacky!) As for me, when I think of the vibes I want my home to inspire in January, the following adjectives come to mind:
- Clean & Crisp
- RefreshingÂÂ
- Simple
- Warm
My style throughout the year is one I would consider to be “French country/Farmhouse” due to my affinity with woods, greens, and traditional white accents. For my particular style preferences, January actually proves to be the MOST conducive! Nothing feels better after taking down all that “Christmas clutter” than to simplify my home with woods, whites, and crisp new plants. Adding plants in place of Christmas decorations literally brings “new life” to any space (and with it comes the added bonus of cleaning up the air during months when “getting fresh air” isn’t much of an option)! To provide you with a bit of inspiration for decorating after Christmas this winter, here are my 4 styling tips accompanied by photos of my home.
**It was difficult to capture my home in photos that came from my iPhone (I’m no professional photographer), so I have created an “instagram home tour story” to accompany this blog post. The home tour video is saved onto my “story highlights” on my instagram page for you to get a better idea & more inclusive view of my home styling tips!**1. Clean & Crisp with White Accents: January and February are Winter months, and the first months of the new year. These months bring with them a blank slate, and using your home decor to accentuate these qualities can bring you a renewed sense of hope and joy! When I think of these adjectives, the first color that comes to mind is white. White is the perfect accent color for your home in these months because it is clean, wintery, and best of all… BLANK! The best way to incorporate simple pops of white into your home is through throws (pillows and blankets). I love to cozy up my couches with big fluffy cable knit and faux fur white throws in those chilly late winter months.
(Want to make chairs like the ones seen here ??????? Check out my easy and budget friendly chair renovation tutorial!)
2. Refreshing your Space with Houseplants: When I hear this word in correspondence with decor, I think “new life”. When I think of refreshing my home, I think: PLANTS ??. New life in your house is just about as “refreshing” as you can get after Christmas! I once heard a statistic that it takes about 7 house plants in a 2,000 square foot home to optimize air quality and I have never let myself fall short of this number since. Plants bring warmth and tranquility – something that I want my home to embody in those chilly winter months! Also, it is nice to see some green in a time where plant life is scarce! ??? QUESTION: How many plants can you spot in my living room from the photos above?!
3. Simple Decor (Less is More): When thinking of Christmas decor, “simple” is often the last descriptor to come to mind. While Christmas decor is gorgeous (and SO dreamy), it is often a bit cluttered and chunky. I crave simplicity in January after having an overbearing amount of Christmas decor fill my home in the months prior. For this reason, January & February are usually the only months out of the year that I do not set my table for decorative purposes. I typically love to mirror my tablescape to seasonal themes, but in January my “theme” is a “lack there-of” and as such, my table reflects this. I love the clean slate that an empty table inspires. While decorating my home after Christmas, the rule I abide by is “less is more”.
4. Warm Up Your Space with Woods: Want to add instant warmth to your home? Add wood. Woods, just like plants, are natural elements that bring a coziness to your space like nothing else can. Woods reminds us of fire, cabins, trees, nature, all those “comfort factors” that we love to daydream about when entering our homes. I have always loved the contrast that white brings to dark woods and my love for this cozy contrast has inspired my home decor style for years. My dining table set is a refurbished antique table from my papa (grandfather) and I love using this piece to reflect my favorite combination of elements. From the wooden ladder that holds my cozy blankets in the corner to the barnwood industrial swivel stools that sit under my kitchen island, I do my best to incorporate corresponding woods as much as possible in my home. Scroll through the photos to see how I utilize the wood/white contrast to tie my spaces together (which is difficult to do with the open floor plan we have).
You may have noticed that all of the above photos come only from the main living space in my home (and are pretty raw representations of them – I usually have “Friends” playing on repeat and this can be seen on my TV ?). I plan to share with you my bedroom style in an entirely different post at a later time, and my guest room can be seen on my instagram home tour. My home style indicates the vibes I’m feeling in that particular season of life and I love to see this change as the months and years pass. I am eager to share more of my home and the projects I’ve completed/plan to take on in the future! Summer is always my big “home renovation” time as I am given more freedom and space to experiment. Check out a few of my favorite budget & time friendly home projects that I completed last Summer – all of which are doable over the weekend with nothing but a few simple tools and your own two hands!
I hope the remaining winter months bring joy, peace, hope, and warmth to your home and family! Wishing you all a happy and healthy new year! Kelsie ?
