Winter Decor: How to Decorate after Christmas

Let me show you how to decorate after Christmas by adding some fun winter pieces to your decor for the remainder of the cold season and to carry you through the new year with a fresh start!

So you’re ready to say goodbye to Santa and the big tree, but don’t want to lose the coziness of your home, right? The “Best Time of Year” has come and gone once again,*insert long dramatic sigh*. Taking your Christmas decor down can leave your home feeling empty and maybe even a little sad. Well, why not decorate for winter using some of your favorite pieces? This is the first year I decorated for winter and I am excited to take you along to show you what I did. I have a lot of Christmas decorations and I was ready to minimize but didn’t want to lose the coziness of winter. I was surprised by how little it takes to truly decorate for winter. Our place went from a gingerbread house to more of a cozy winter cabin. I had a great time figuring out what to do with our space after the busy holiday season! I think this is a new tradition for us!

This post is all about how to decorate after Christmas!

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How to Decorate after Christmas

Where to Start??

I started by taking my main family room Christmas tree down first to get it out of the way and then moved on to the rest of my decor. When undecorating from a holiday, I like to pile all my holiday decorations up on our kitchen table first and then pack it all away in totes. This year, I put the more neutral and winter whites pieces aside. Basically, all my red pieces got packed into totes and my more natural-looking pieces were left out. Unlike my everyday neutral color palette decor style, my Christmas style is a very classic red and green color scheme, so I didn’t have a ton of “wintery” pieces, but I was okay with that. I didn’t want a ton left out. However, if you want to keep a little color, you can leave out your red berries, colorful plaids, red ribbon, candles, greenery and even some Christmas wreaths to help create a cohesive look.

What Christmas Decor should I keep out for Winter?

Trees

Let’s talk about trees, shall we? I love them! Besides our main Christmas tree, I have a small tree everywhere you look during the holidays! Some trees with natural-looking branches, bare branches, cone trees and others are made of glass or wood which are all great options. Trees happen to be a very easy way to transition your decor from Christmas to winter! Remove the ribbon and ornaments so you are left with a bare tree and now you have a perfect wintery piece to add to your everyday decor during the winter! You can even leave your white lights or twinkle lights too!

Pinecones

Pinecones will add the perfect wintery touch to your home for winter! They are the perfect filler too! I use a lot of red and green ornaments to fill different lanterns, baskets and my dough bowl and small pine cones are the perfect replacement after the Christmas season. I loaded up the tray on my dining room table and I just love how they look! They would look pretty displayed in a cool bowl on a coffee table if your dining table is full!

Depending where you live, you might have the luxury of collecting a few pinecones during a nice walk outside.. for free!

If you do snag your pinecones from the great outdoors, be sure to bake them in the oven at 200 F for about 30 minutes to get rid of any critters and help them open up a bit. However, learn from my mistake and use tinfoil on your baking sheets!! Pinecone sap is no joke and I think I may have ruined two of my baking sheets.

Buffalo Plaid

Buffalo plaid pairs perfectly with other wintery textures and pieces, so be sure to leave out any buffalo plaid when packing away your Christmas décor. Really any plaid is perfect for winter and it pretty much screams cozy! I left a few cozy blankets on our blanket ladder and made sure to include a plaid one. Blanket ladders scream cozy cabin, btw! I left out our buffalo plaid pillow covers to layer with other throw pillows in our living room. A little buffalo plaid goes a long way, but it’s the perfect time for it!

Sticks or Logs

Like pinecones, sticks, small logs or other natural elements are a great way to incorporate a woodsy and wintery vibe to your space during the winter months. Birch logs fill my Pinterest and IG feed around this time of year. As you can see, I took a walk to the woodshed to fill my cute little white hyacinth basket ($10 score from Home Goods). The logs made for a great replacement filler once I packed my ornaments away. This setup would be cute below your fireplace mantle too!

Villages or Wooden Houses

I just love my little houses and villages. If you snagged these wooden houses from Target’s dollar spot last year, feel free to leave them out for the winter. The wood texture looks great with my wintery pieces too!

Use My Free Winter Printables

I feel like a legitimate blogger now that I have printables! Didn’t they turn out cute? These winter images are a fun way to add some homey vibes to your space this winter season. They look good together as a set or you can use just one or two. As you can see I used two of them in our entryway and I am loving the layered framed look!

Click here to get my Free Winter Printables!

Feeling up for a Winter DIY or 2?

Winter Wreath DIY

This wintery wreath is a great way to warm up your space after taking down your Christmas decor. It won’t cost you an arm and a leg to make either! This wreath cost me less than $20 to make, which is 1/3 of the cost to similar wreaths being sold online. Why are wreaths so expensive? I have a hard time paying full price for a decoration I could be potentially using outside. So let me help you create something beautiful for your own home, for a lot less than what you can buy it for!

Click here for the full Winter Wreath Tutorial

Hat Garland DIY

Not only is this DIY hat garland perfect for Christmas, it works great as a wintery piece too! I love being able to utilize decor for multiple seasons… especially when they are DIY pieces! Toss it over a mirror or maybe a picture frame to let it continue bringing the ultimate cozy winter vibes this winter season!

Click here for the full DIY hat garland Tutorial

Share how you Decorate after Christmas

As always, thank you for following along with me in my creative journey. Be sure to tag me and use #meagannicholedotcom when sharing how you decorate after Christmas! Thanks for stopping by MeaganNichole.com

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