DECORATING FOR THE SEASON, NOT JUST FOR SANTA

The holiday season is upon us. Time to get out your collections of Santas, Dickens Village, nutcrackers, holiday themed hand towels and more, right? Not necessarily! For those of us who don’t have the time to deck out our house with Santas and true “holiday only” decorations only to take take it all down again just a few short weeks later, there is a another option.  It’s called decorating for the winter season. It’s all about cozy, or as the Danes say: hygge. What does that mean? It means enjoying life’s simple pleasures: family, friends, a warm fire and a hot toddy. The Danish winters are long and cold, so finding joy in the every day and creating a cozy place to wait out the cold is a major part of Danish culture, one that we should all embrace!

How can you incorporate some ‘hygge’ into your winter décor? There are so many elegant and tasteful ways. Here are just a handful:

Keep the hearth fires burning

If you have a fireplace, mantlepiece, whether wood burning or not, make it the focal point of the room! Even if it doesn’t work and you don’t have a gas or electric insert, you can still decorate it with logs and pine boughs, maybe a fake candle or two (to avoid any chance of logs catching fire!), adding elegance and warmth to the room.

Pump up the luxury

Faux fur throws, jewel toned velvet window treatments to replace the airy summer ones, or how about luxurious velvet pillows? Add warm wall color and texture with easy to install wall panels from Vänt and then keep going! It’s all about adding glamor to make your home feel like a castle. Shimmering crystal and glass should be included and don’t forget your hardwood floors! A gorgeous, thick rug will add a lot of warmth to any room. Baskets of blankets or throws draped over chairs and couches sit at the ready, waiting for you to cozy up with one of them and a cup of tea.

Rustic decorations

If the luxury look isn’t quite your thing, another option is to go completely rustic: mason jars with tea lights, old wine bottle crates for storage, enamel basins filled with pine cones… like transplanting an old time general store into your living room, with all the little details that go with that.

Wall art galore

Adding wall art is a quick and easy way to add a dash of the season without going overboard. Framed images of sayings that refer to winter, and not the holidays… Such as?“When the weather outside is frightful…” Or how about adding more family photos of your family in a winter setting: skiing, skating, or building a snowman! If you have too much in the way of bare walls that seem cold and uninviting, consider adding some Vänt wall panels. They will warm up the space to no end, without committing to colors and styles that will be ‘out’ come March.

Bring in a little nature

You don’t have to add a Christmas tree necessarily but instead, decorate with silver birch logs and twigs, pine boughs and so on. There’s no need to add Christmas-y accents to these either. Instead, white lights and a few berries go a long way. And if you still prefer a natural wreath on the front door, there is an easy solution! A twig wreath spray painted silver and white or white and gold will carry you through the season!

The power of scent and color

Cinnamon, clove, pine needles and ginger: the scents of the season are a great way to bring together the whole décor without overdoing the Christmas motif. If you’re using a lot of white, which can look a little spare, you can add pops of color to draw the eye: either traditional cranberry red set against more natural greens and whites, or go completely different and choose warm shades of orange, yellow and burgundies for accessories including pillows and throw blankets.

Let there be light

Nothing says winter dreariness like dark, poky rooms, so let in the light. Use furniture and accents with glass and mirrors, which reflect natural light or the glow from your mason jar tea lights! Darker evenings can make a space seem closed in, but with the right glow from lights or that brand new chandelier you’ve been coveting, you can take your space from dreary to delightful throughout the longer winter months. Strands of lights once only reserved for lighting up Christmas trees have found a new home on mantles and inside glass canisters and are a great way to add some ambiance to your space.

So get your ‘hygge’ on and give your home some seasonal updates that even Mrs. Clause would approve of!

Bio:
Bee Heinemann is the Interior Decorating Expert at Vänt Wall Panels. Vänt Wall Panels completely transform a room in just minutes. Inspired spaces make for inspired living. It’s the most innovative, cost and user-friendly wall décor system ever created. They’re perfect for every room in the house from the kitchen and bedroom to the living room and office. Learn more at https://www.vantpanels.com/. You can follow them Instagram, Facebook,Twitter, Pinterest.