Preparing Your Home for a Long Winter

Plaid is a seasonal addition to this neutral bedding, giving it a wintry update. Handout/TNS

By Katie Laughridge From Tribune News Service

After the Christmas trees come down, the house always feels a little bare for a week or two, so I like to use this time to incorporate a few additional elements to keep my home feeling cozy all season long. I love these five tips to help you prep your home for a long winter.

Bring in the Light

With winter comes fewer hours of daylight, so it’s important to make sure your space still feels bright and inviting throughout the season. Bring in floor lamps to illuminate dark corners, and place fixtures atop side tables or the mantel.

Welcome New Traditional style into your home with a matching set of table lamps, or bring in a single lamp into an existing tabletop vignette. A showstopping chandelier is another way to add light and personality to a room, if the space can accommodate one.

In the shop, a grouping of chandeliers fills the space at the foot of our grand staircase. We brought the decor up to meet it, with a wintry flocked tree and seasonal decor perched atop the banister.

A trio of chandeliers brings light and mood into this sumptuous space. Handout/TNS

Twin lamps of chinoiserie style are the perfect accompaniment to a sideboard display, where blue and white are the anchor of the design.

Twin lamps frame a sideboard, adding to the blue and white motif. Handout/TNS

Freshen the Fireplace

When cold weather sets in, your focus will naturally shift toward the hearth. Give your fireplace a quick makeover to ensure it’s ready for all that extra attention.

Candles are a timeless addition to a mantelpiece and transition seamlessly from season to season. Using candlesticks of varying heights ensures your eye travels throughout the entire vignette. Don’t forget to make use of your negative space! A spray of pine needles featuring gilded ornaments and rivulets of ribbon captures attention, anchored to a mirror above the fireplace. Woodland creatures, like the stag and rabbit featured in this mantelpiece, and natural elements like the greenery remain relevant beyond the holiday season.

This buffet features a display fit for a show-stopping mantel. Handout/TNS

Cozy Up The Bedroom

Give your bedroom a quick style update and prepare it for the cold-weather season by layering in textured bedding, throws and pillows. It’s a good time to substitute your summer pastels for deeper colors like burgundy, charcoal and caramel. If you’re looking to add a little pattern into your life, plaid is the perfect cozy motif for both fall and winter.

For this particular shop bed we were able to swap out two rows of pillows to add in the red and plaid for a winter update. The plaid is center stage to the stripe and gingham patterns at play in the pillow details, proof that mixing and matching patterns doesn’t have to be scary. A matching blanket adds a preppy detail to this design.

Handout/TNS

Introduce Rich Textures

Winter is the perfect time to curl up in the living room with a good book, and of course, a beautifully textured throw blanket. Layer on the chunky knits, woven afghans and sumptuous throws in your common spaces. Well-placed baskets provide the perfect opportunity to showcase your textiles while also keeping them from piling up on the sofa or being unceremoniously tossed in a heap on a chair.

I recommend using a lidded basket for blankets that are comfy, but maybe not the prettiest to look at. But my favorite way to design a basket is to consider it as a vignette itself. Carefully placed throws and pillows can create a luxurious and inviting stop on your way to the settee. I like to add blankets of varying textures and weights to accommodate different preferences.

Use your pillows as design inspiration when selecting new throws for the space. Handout/TNS

If baskets aren’t your thing, or you’re limited on space, we shared in a previous column how to style your throw. It’s full of great advice on how to add texture to your living space.

Tidy the Table

For me, this is the perfect opportunity to swap the opulence of a holiday tabletop for a fresh and sleek design for the new year. It’s an occasion to pare down. If you’d like to keep things simple but still want to add some winter flair to your tabletop, I recommend introducing some greenery. You can place small clippings, some picks or even a garland around your centerpiece for a wintry touch that lasts all season long. A few candles or a small arrangement of spruce, pine or eucalyptus cuttings in the center adds interest – just make sure you don’t interrupt the sight line of the table to make it easier for guests to chat with one another.

Take cues from nature when finding your wintry color palate, like the red and greens found in the pine cone cluster at each place setting. Handout/TNS

And just because the holidays have passed, that doesn’t mean you have to retire your seasonal red and green. Red accents are the perfect complement to the pops of rouge berries seen in the pine cone clusters found at each place setting. The combination of New Traditional and natural elements in this tablescape are what truly elevates this design.

Adapted from nellhills.com. Katie Laughridge is the owner of Kansas City interior design destination Nell Hill’s. For more information, contact Katie at [email protected]. Copyright 2023 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.