15 Tips For Decorating Your Home For Winter Without Being Christmas-Y

Candy cane stripes, red and green bows, Santas, elves, and mistletoe! With so many options for Christmas decor, decorating your home for winter can feel a little uninspiring. It might seem impossible to capture a distinct winter vibe without all the decor revolving around Christmas. A few choice elements, however, can work wonders to give your interiors a little bit of a refresh after the chaotic transition into the holiday season. And make sure to decorate for winter with an eye for longevity. You want to feel comfortable in your home for the long winter months and enjoy the decor. Broadly, focus on ways to embrace the relaxing beauty of the season while crafting a warm, inviting home interior for you and your family.

Some of the best advice to for making your Christmas decor less Christmas-y includes removing ornament baubles and too much red, green, and gold from your design scheme. But when you set out to decorate for winter, try these tips to make it a smoother process. For example, plain greenery still has its place in a winter scene as long as it's devoid of bows and berries. Whether you don't celebrate the Christmas holiday or you want your decor to easily extend into the new year, there are many ways to decorate for winter.

Bells, especially classic ones with a brass finish, add a bright look to seasonal decor even after the holidays are over. Hang them in a bunch beside an entryway or across a mantel with some greenery. Vintage brass bells make the best choice if they have a lovely patina. Allow a trendy new take on cottagecore decor that lets your vintage pieces shine, called "vintage prep," to be an inspiration for using old brass bells and other vintage metal decor items. Pair brass bells with brass candlesticks for a simple, yet bold, winter arrangement.

The holiday season doesn't have a monopoly on winter's fragrant scents. Add another sensory element to your decor with fresh winter scents like pine, cinnamon, and vanilla. Candles invite warmth into your interior and add soothing smells, but diffusers provide a flameless option. Try to pair scents with the overall theme of your space. For example, a rustic design with lots of greenery can be elevated with a pine or cedar scent, while a home decorated in austere whites could appear fuller with something like the Winter Woods & Frosted Ivy Air Wick Vibrant Plug-In.

Whether you save up odds and ends from your yard to turn into handmade wreaths and seasonal bundles, or you purchase life-like faux garlands, greenery is the ideal winter decor. The winter season, if you live in a cold climate, can feel endless and pale. Decorating the home with spruce, pine, fir, and other natural elements can help you escape for a time. Plain greenery is best without berries or red bows. If you want to add a little something, consider pinecones or dried citrus rounds for a spark of color.

If you would prefer to match the barren scenes outside your window, a color palette of plain white, natural brown, and beige is a good bet. Create monochromatic villages with simple white house figurines. Or you can layer different shades of white and brown together, combining a pure white fur rug with cream-colored decorative potpourri in a glass bowl. When decorating with neutral tones, woven baskets make excellent pieces. You can hand-embroider snowflakes or trees on thrifted baskets with chunky white yarn.

Capture the magic of winter inside your home using plenty of snowflakes throughout your decor. A snowflake motif can be easily added to any space. Use paper cutouts for a classic, old-school garland to hang from cabinets. Take the theme even further by DIYing icy tree branches to bring ethereal winter wonderland magic into your home, using real tree branches, Mod Podge, and glitter, placed in a vase with a pretty ribbon. Add icicle-themed decor, like Acrylic Clear Icicle Ornaments hung from a tree, fireplace mantel, or window.

Without the ornaments, a simple tree can be a beautiful statement piece for the winter — think trees with flocking and twinkle lights for a pleasant, cozy effect. At Home Depot, pick up a Nearly Natural 2-foot Norfolk Pine if you don't relish watering a real tree. You can also find a real Norfolk pine tree at many outdoor centers in the winter. An undecorated tree brings the refreshing feel of a snowy forest into your home. If you select a real tree, it even brings a clean scent to freshen the air.

Woodland creatures, especially deer, can be an excellent way to bring your winter decor to life. When choosing deer decor pieces, look out for bold, modern designs that highlight their grace and beauty. Deer decor can be functional, like a candleholder shaped like a deer with antlers, or purely decorative, like the popular Bronze Sculpted Reindeer from Pottery Barn. Whether you go for highly realistic, detailed designs or decide on a more modern, geometric, or figural piece, deer make iconic winter decor.

With the shorter days of wintertime, focus on amplifying the light inside your home. A tip for winter decorating is to opt for a soft, inviting glow, like strands of twinkle lights or lanterns placed on tabletops. Candles also provide cozy vibes to a winterscape. There are many beautiful ways to decorate your home with candles, but focus on adding just a few for a sweet glow that doesn't dominate the interior. Flameless candles can also turn decorative lanterns into a warm lighting option that can be set anywhere you'd like.

Instead of elves, decorate with cute and grumpy-looking gnomes. You might be more used to seeing gnomes dotting a garden scene rather than an interior. However, with their big hats, bushy beards, and big button noses, distinctive gnomes make ideal winter decor. Make your own DIY gnome out of a pair of socks and other supplies for a fully customized character. A bunch of little gnomes around your dining room table or entryway shelves gives your space a sentimental, homemade feel.

Bundle up for the winter with extra-cozy textures throughout your home. Grab big, chunky-knit blankets to drape upon couches or over blanket ladders. Place extra cushy knit pillows on couches instead of holiday ones. But if you really want ways to maximize hygge this winter, focus on layering different textures. If you have a knit blanket in a space, add a velvet floor pillow or two. Or bring out a faux fur accent rug to warm your feet on chilly hardwood floors.

When it comes to popular color palettes for winter, many turn to white and neutral browns. But instead of leaning towards subdued colors, consider using deep blue as a cool, icy contrast to austere white outside. In living rooms, add a blue vase, or fill a clear glass vase with reflective Premium Blue DomeStar Aquarium Rocks in vibrant blue and teal colors. For a kitchen, add in blue towels and curtains for a cool theme.

Antique pieces can tell a story in your interior spaces. For winter decor, turn to popular outdoor winter activities like skating and skiing. Hang a pair of old ice skates on your front door or above the fireplace. If you have old skis, lean them against an accent wall. Also look out for snowshoes, ski poles, and sleds at antique shops and secondhand stores. The right mixture of objects, perhaps with additional ribbon or lighting, can give a space the feel of someone just coming in from the snow outside.

Switch from the richness and fullness of the holiday season to the calmness and serenity of winter by ditching the greenery. Instead of bold wreaths and swaths of garland, utilize real wood elements. Cross sections of wood serve as unique charger plates, and branches make great filler for vases. Find easy and affordable Dollar Tree DIYs that will add a rustic touch to your home, like a faux arched window frame. For a more natural look, collect branches or twigs to DIY centerpieces that highlight the texture of rough tree bark.

Give your winter decor some cuteness with a few snowmen and snow-women. Snowman figures make for classic winter decor, and you can decorate using them anywhere in your home. Set a few ceramic snowmen on the kitchen counter or add a plush one in your entryway to greet guests at the door. Or try crafting a minimalist snowman to hang on a door with items from outside. Snowmen are distinctive winter figures, plus you can design them to match your overall winter aesthetic. 

Plaid patterns, including tartan and buffalo plaid, make excellent selections for winter decorating. If you are looking to switch up your indoor fabrics to something cozy and welcoming, consider finding a plaid blanket or pillow to match the rest of your room's decor. Different plaid can change a space's atmosphere. A red-and-black buffalo plaid has an old-time, nostalgic vibe that is ideal for long winters. A tartan gives off a more traditional, storied feel to an interior. No matter which plaid style you use, however, your home will feel cozier and livelier.