Stylish Winter Decorating

Dipping temperatures and gray days often mean lots of time spent indoors, which is even more of a reason to make sure your home feels cozy and inviting.

Giving a few rooms a seasonal facelift doesn’t have to take up a lot of your time, either. Check out the following easy-to-implement tips to switch things up—then kick back and relax with a hot cup of cocoa.

1. Change your color palette. Swap out the holiday red and gold décor and tone things down with warm neutrals. Tans, creamy whites and blue-green grays are the perfect welcoming shades for winter. If you’re looking to include pops of color, consider silver accent pieces.
2. Add texture. Short of a roaring fire, nothing ups a room’s snugness like faux fur in blankets and throw rugs. Toss a blanket over a chair, ottoman or bed, and add throw rugs to bare floors or layer over carpeting. (In addition to faux fur, chunky knit, wool and flannel throw blankets work well, too!)
3. Light things up. Twinkle lights and flameless candles are key to creating ambiance and sparkle during these shorter days. Add either—or both—to a fireplace mantle in your living room or to the middle of your dining room table.
4. Incorporate natural materials. Pine cones, evergreen branches, seed pods dried orange slices and cranberries, just to name a few, are perfect for displaying in glass vases or decorative bowls, tucking into door wreaths or for DIY-ing an organic garland or swag.
5. Create a forest. Group plain bottle brush trees made from natural sisal on a side table, bookshelf or mantle, for a wintery accent. You could also dress them up by interspersing flameless candles or white string lights, for soft illumination on cloudy days or at night.
6. Add some blooms. Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the beauty that flowers add to a room. Amaryllis and paperwhites are both good choices for forcing indoors, as you don’t need to chill them before planting, the way you do with other types of bulbs.