Cozy winter decor ideas for after Christmas

Do you struggle with how to decorate your home after Christmas? The home can feel so empty after the presents and abundance of Christmas are gone. This year, I decided to really embrace the winter look and create a look reminiscent of a wintery hike through the woods. In my post, Cozy Winter Decor Ideas for after Christmas, I share how to build your winter decor in steps. I started with little pieces of inspiration from Pinterest and recreate them in my home. Then, I grouped them together to create a cohesive look. You can add and subtract depending on your level of comfort with “things”. I typically prefer a spare and uncluttered look, but I went with a lusher look this year. I’m loving the cozy vibes!

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The Naked Tree

Rather than removing your Christmas tree on January first, why not just remove the ornaments and leave the tree naked. Most of the work in putting the tree away is painstakingly removing and wrapping each ornament, so packing up a naked tree later in the month should be easy. Removing the ornaments will give your tree a whole new look that is fresh and uncluttered. It’s reminiscent of a beautiful forest in winter.

I chose to remove every ornament, leaving on the tree collar as a simple adornment. I recommend leaving the tree lights on if they are white lights. Sources of light, including tree lights, twinkle lights, lamplight, and candlelight, are all welcome during the winter season when daylight is scarce. We live up in Ottawa, Canada, so it starts getting dark around 4:00 or 4:30 pm in early January.

Pinterest Strategy

Before I started my winter decorating, I scoured Pinterest for ideas. I created a new board with ideas for little vignettes that I thought I could recreate. For example, I saw an image of a lantern filled with twinkle lights and a big bow tied to the top. Well, I didn’t have a lantern quite like the one in the image and I didn’t want a big bow so I adapted and came up with a simple whitewashed lantern filled with twinkle lights with a spruce bough and velvet ribbon hanging from the top.

I also saw a basket with a pillow and birch logs, so I cut down some birch logs into 24″ piece and put them in a basket I had along with a ticking stripe pillow. I love ticking stripe in winter because it adds a freshness and can readily be found in neutral tones. Even just a couple of pieces of birch logs hint at the wintery outdoors or the comfort of a fire. To create the vignette in this photo, I combined the lantern, a neutral chair, the basket, and two blanket ladders with simple throws. Click here for my easy blanket ladder tutorial.

Adding Winter Style to a Piano

For the Christmas season, I had adorned our piano with a simple greenery garland and that would be fine to leave up at this time of year. However, I wanted to add a little something more to the piano.

Winter Pot Arrangements

I painted four terra cotta pots with Fusion Mineral Paint in Raw Silk (same colour as piano). I like to buy my paint from HomeworksEtc. Then I filled them with fresh spruce branches harvested from our large tree, cotton branches, and piano scroll rolls. To make the scrolls, I removed pages from an old piano book, rolled them around a pencil to get a tight roll, then tied them with twine. It’s kind of like a little winter garden on top of my piano!

For contrast, I alternated the white pots with some grey concrete pots filled with succulents. I also added a couple of candles to add a little glow.

Knitted Wreath

Knitted textiles are one of my go-to items for winter decor. This knitted wreath adds the perfect touch to the piano with its tone-on-tone colour and textural interest. If you subscribe to my blog, this easy wreath pattern is yours instantly. The completed wreath is also available in my Etsy shop Willow Bloom Wreaths.

Winter Box Arrangement

I made this weathered white box (hope to share these in a tutorial soon) and filled it with spruce branches, cotton boll branches, white leaves and berries, and a glittery garland. I placed it on top of my piano bench cozied up with a faux fur throw rug. This would make a pretty and simple winter table arrangement.

Coffee Table Decor

My coffee table is where I kind of went crazy with ideas from Pinterest. Three of my little arrangements here were inspired by Pinterest images. First, I placed some willow branches with twinkle lights in a white vase. I placed this in the center of the coffee table.

Next, I made some cotton rope balls and placed them in a metal basket with a chalkboard sign that reads “Snow Balls 10₵”. These decorative rope balls are available in my Etsy shop. I love that it makes me think of good old-fashioned snowball fights.

I made this simple potted arrangement of spruce branches and pinecones in a pretty ceramic plant pot. I think these pinecones would stand out more with a little white paint and glitter on their tips. I love the simplicity of it though.

I filled in the table with a pair of ceramic white doves, a trio of chunky candle pillars, and a whitewashed box with faux lamb’s ear stems. Somehow it doesn’t seem like too much because the colour palette is cohesive.

Large Basket Arrangement

I found a large metal storage basket and filled it with a simple cotton blanket, more spruce branches, 20″ birchbark logs, a galvanized metal sign, and some fuzzy snowball ornaments.

Sofa Decor Ideas

I adorned the sofa with cream cable knit pillows and a cable sweater I got for Christmas. I also added a bamboo basket with yarn and a letterboard. In winter, I always keep a basket of yarn and needles handy.

Summary

I hope you have enjoyed my cozy winter decor ideas. By keeping things neutral, you can incorporate many different textures and design elements to achieve a layered, cozy look.