Happy 2021 everyone! We made it through all the craziness that was 2020 (celebratory distanced high fives to all of you)! I hope everyone had a peaceful, healthy Christmas. We sure did, it was a little quieter than usual but I was totally ok with that.
This blog post went live this morning but I quickly realized all the amazon product links at the bottom were not working (mostly because I only sort of know what I’m doing) haha. So posting again, and fingers crossed that they work this time.
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I always have huge plans to get my Christmas decorations up, the house tidied and cleaned, all before the end of November, with hopes of sharing my decorations with you! But, sigh…. I can never get my act together quick enough and end up not posting anything but some pictures on my Facebook page. However, I did manage to post some pictures of my Christmas decor on Facebook on Christmas Eve. Haha, big help if anyone was looking for ideas for their own homes. So I will try again for Christmas 2021 ;). Part of my resolutions for 2021 is to post more on here (I’m going to try really hard)!
Even though the holidays are over, I thought today that I would share a few simple ways that I decorate after Christmas. I try to keep a bit of a “wintery” look without feeling too much like Christmas. Choosing a few of my favorite items from my Christmas decor then looking for new areas of our home to display them. Adding a bit of warmth to get us through the next month or so, at least until it’s time to dig out the Spring decor 😉
My decorations usually come down around December 31st or January 1st, for no other reason really than to start the new year off with a clean slate. I enjoy the coziness so much that all the trees and twinkle lights bring. In the past I’ve left the flocked tree up in our bedroom as well as some twinkle lights sprinkled throughout the house. Once the holidays were over and the New Year had rolled around I found I seldom turned them on. So this year I took most everything down.
The Christmas decorations are down and have been in the basement for 14 days already ;), they are waiting for me to sort them into the correct bins. I’ve also been going through the items and taking out some of the decorations that I haven’t used in the past few years. I plan to donate those. I’m also vacuuming out the bins before putting everything back into them.
I bought some new items this year so I needed to reorganize some things in order to have everything fit. Haha. Last year I shared a blog post about how I organized all the Christmas decor, you can read that here….. https://oursimplegracioushome.com/organized-christmas-decorations/
I particularly liked the dried oranges I made this year that I hung on the Christmas tree and in a garland around the kitchen window. I wasn’t quite ready to put them away yet, so this is what the table looks like now.
Quick changes I made for the table centerpiece:
(The before photo is the first one at the top of this post)
- Swapped out the ribbon candy in the glass jar for the dried oranges
- Took out the “Merry and Bright” wooden sign
- Added a scented candle with scents of cinnamon.
My flocked tree I’ve had for a few years now. The sign between the windows was a new purchase from Birch Studios, so pretty in person.
This is how it looks today. Not quite as cozy but a nice spot to curl up with a book.
Love all the twinkle lights.
We still haven’t eaten all the treats that were in that tin can above 😉
Changes to the coffee table decor
- Took away all the items that looked like Christmas 🙁
- Left the dark wood tray
- Stack a few books, magazines would work too
- Added texture with the wooden beads and dried oranges as well as with the texture on the vase
- Added the snow covered branch
- A candle adds evening glow
At the bottom of the post I’ve included some links to some of the items in the photos.
I took these photos on one of the only sunny days we have had in what feels like weeks. 😉
I didn’t buy anything new after Christmas, I just “shopped” through my own pragmatik slot house looking for items that had some texture, thicker fabrics like the fuzzy blanket on the couch and the velvet like pillows on the couch and the bed.
Frosted, snowy branches are also one of my favorites. They look like winter to me, I can picture cuddling up with a good book and a cup of coffee on a snowy day 🙂
Those items paired with some items that add texture and warmth, like the wooden beads, fuzzy throw blanket, book, candle and darker wood tray in the living room also don’t scream “holiday” but they don’t quite look like spring or summer decor either.
With a 3M hook on either side of the mantle, the garland hangs perfectly. This garland is from Canadian Tire. The centre portion has a garland added to it so it looks thicker. I will see if that same garland is still in stock at Canadian tire and add it to the links below.
*The prelit eucalyptus garland from Canadian Tire is not currently available but I included the link for future reference.
My battery operated (timer) candlesticks on the mantle are a few years old and I forget where I bought them, I did find some cool remote ones that I’ve linked below as well.
Still thinking of ways to decorate the mantle for the winter months. It may just stay bare because it will probably be Spring by the time I decide Haha. I find this a hard area as there isn’t much room between the mantle and the tv.
My snake plant is doing well. During the holidays I moved it to the office. It was in a similarly lit window so it did well in there until I was able to take it back out again.
What do you do with your house plants during the holidays?
I took almost all of the decor down that was in our bedroom. The cozy flocked tree is gone…sigh…. so are the snowy wreaths. I decided to keep a potted tree and the velvety pillow coverings I bought just before Christmas. I already had the pillows on the bed, they just had more summery type pillow coverings on them in blue and gray. Changing them out to these velvet ones brings some warmth to the bedroom for the cold winter months, along with the soft throw blanket at the foot of the bed.
You can see how I decorated our bedroom for Christmas 2019 in this post…https://oursimplegracioushome.com/its-beginning-to-look-a-little-like-christmas/
If you scroll to the bottom of this post you’ll find the links to some of the items in the photos. Our headboard is from Home Sense but the one linked below is similar. The green pillows are size 24×24, the cream colored ones are 20×20, (our bed is a queen size, for reference). They are on the bed all year, I just swapped out the coverings.
Aren’t those cream pillows with the pom poms cute?!
Our homes tend to look so bare after the holiday decor comes down. So here are some easy ways to keep a bit of Christmas decor and that cozy feel through the winter.
Easy ways to add texture and decorate for Winter in your home :
- Leave out a couple of your favorite elements of your Christmas decor and find ways to incorporate it with your everyday decor. If it’s lights, add lights to a plant or shelf in your home. If it’s some of your favorite ornaments place them in a bowl on the coffee table.
- Add layers of texture. Use heavier fabrics than you would use in the summer, on pillows and for throw blankets.
- Leave out a small stack of books on the coffee table for curling up with on snowy days.
- Have scented candles or diffusers throughout your home with scents that remind you of the holidays like pine, cinnamon, vanilla, orange.
Just a couple of notes, the round wooden tray on the coffee table was smaller than I anticipated, I should have measured before ordering, but I still thought it was cute 🙂 I purchased the pillow coverings only and covered the pillows that I already had on the bed. The vase on the coffee table is similar, mine is a few years old from Prestige Kitchens.
You might have noticed my favorite candles in the photos 😉 So I thought I would include the link for those as well. They are a US company, so unless you’re candle crazy like myself, I’d suggest purchasing one of the bundles that are offered on the website. It’s cheaper that way and then orders over $85 are shipped free to Canada, and you could pair up with a friend to share the cost. 😉 https://antiquecandleco.com/
There are some posts I have planned for the coming months. I’m also interested in the kinds of things you would like to read about. What kinds of posts would you like to see in 2021? You can leave a comment below. I have a few projects that I want to try and accomplish over the year as well so I hope to have some small reno ideas as well.
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Thanks so much for sharing your time with me 🙂
