How to Tastefully Decorate Your Home for Fall & Winter
‘Tis the season for home decor!
Whether you’re creating a cozy atmosphere with warm fall colours or bringing the holidays to life in December, the right approach to decor can make all the difference in your home and daily life. While it can be tempting to decorate every inch of your house with seasonal items, there is something to be said about taking a tasteful approach to your seasonal decorating.
In this article, we not only look at the importance of seasonal home decor, but how to tastefully decorate your home for both the fall and winter seasons!
The Importance of Seasonal Home Decor
Your home can provide a place for relaxation, peace and happiness. With the addition of seasonal home decor, you can truly create an environment that is even more welcoming and brings joy to all who enter!
Do you plan on entertaining guests during holidays in the fall and winter, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Years Eve? We can think of no better way to bring warmth to your home and really celebrate the holiday than with seasonal home decor.
Decorating is also a wonderful way to really get into the holiday spirit. Spend time with your family, fuel your creativity and immerse yourself in the joy that is synonymous with the holiday season.
Decorating Your Home for Fall
When it comes to seasonal decorating, the key is to incorporate decor with textures and colours that represent the season. For fall, many of us refer to the colours that come with changing leaves. This can include red, orange, yellow, brown, and other soft neutrals.
While how you decorate your home is completely up to you and dependent on your personal preferences, we can provide you with some inspiration and guidelines to follow along the way.
Especially, if you’re looking to take a more tasteful approach!
What To Do
Add a knit throw pillow to your couch to add both colour and texture
Swap out neutral pieces of artwork for decorative fall pieces
Opt for tea and hand towels that add a pop of colour or pattern
Decorate your porch with mums, lanterns, pumpkins, and more
While decorating your porch, also consider adding a fall welcome mat
While decorating, we encourage you to consider a beautiful fall tablescape! First, lay a runner down the middle of your table. We suggest a neutral colour, such as white, beige or brown. You can also use a burnt orange or mustard yellow to really help it pop! Once you have laid the base for your tablescape, how you choose to decorate it is completely up to you! Some choose a long flower arrangement, while others add small pumpkins, tall candles, vases, and hints of greenery.
Other ways to bring fall tastefully into your home, is through the power of scent! From wall plugs and essential oil diffusers, to candles, simmer pots and more, there are many ways to give your home the welcoming scent of the fall season.
What To Avoid
While shopping for decor, we recommend steering clear of pieces with phrases, sayings or words on them. While these are a fun way to add a flare of fall, they may not hold their value year over year.
We always encourage our clients to avoid overdoing the fall decorations. Too much of a good thing, in this case, is not always a good thing. Not only will you end up with boxes or storage containers full of fall decor while out of season, but the decorations may come across as overdone and not very tasteful. Instead, we suggest adding hints and whispers of fall throughout your home.
While shopping on a budget is always in style, we suggest steering clear of cheaply-made decorations. While it can be tempting to stock up at the dollar store, these decorations are often made from poor-quality materials, which means it’s only a matter of time before they fall apart. Instead, opt for only a few higher-quality pieces each season and slowly build up your collection.
Between fall, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and the soon approaching winter holiday season, it can be tempting to try to decorate for everything at once. Unfortunately, this approach can be messy and conflicting. We suggest choosing one theme and sticking with it!
Decorating Your Home for Winter
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Festive music, the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping, and of course, spending time with loved ones. There are so many things to love and enjoy about this time of year!
To further spread the holiday cheer, many of us choose to decorate our homes during this time of year. Often, these decorations can reflect a holiday that we are celebrating, but they can also be neutral to the season itself!
Whether you’re celebrating a holiday or simply immersing yourself in the winter season, here are some of our guidelines that we follow when it comes to seasonal decorations!
What To Do
Begin with identifying the aesthetic of your home and preference of style for holiday or seasonal decorations. Do you enjoy bright colours, or prefer a neutral colour palette? These are important questions to first ask yourself. Not only will this help you observe a more tasteful approach to your seasonal decor, but it can also help to save you money in the long run.
Similar to fall decorating, we also suggest adding colours and textures to your home that represent the season. This is often done through pieces that are easily swapped in and out, such as tea and hand towels, pillows, throw blankets, artwork, and even bedding!
Research! We cannot stress this enough when decorating your home for a season. Take time to browse ideas and find inspiration before shopping or decorating. Resources such as home magazines, Pinterest, Instagram, and even TikTok can be extremely helpful when looking for ideas to spark your creativity!
Begin your decorating after Remembrance Day. While some may argue that this is an outdated rule to follow, we believe that paying respect and attention to this solemn day is far more important than getting a jump-start on decorating your home for the holiday season.
What To Avoid
One step that many homeowners miss when decorating, is first taking time to clean. Once you have removed certain items to make room for seasonal decor, be sure to give all surfaces a good wipe down and then clean the floors. You may also want to take this opportunity to vacuum your carpets and couches, clean up the front and backyard, and tidy your everyday belongings.
As mentioned earlier, it is so important to find an aesthetic or style that complements your lifestyle. While it’s hard to choose between aesthetics such as modern farmhouse, polar blue, classic gold and white, vintage red, or even the trendy organic modern, crossing over too many aesthetics can be overwhelming and result in conflicting with one another.
After the holiday season is over, don’t take down every piece of decor! In Canada, we have a full season of cold temperatures, fluffy snow and family time ahead of us. Instead, take down pieces that are strictly connected to the holiday season, and leave seasonal decorations out. This may include cedar branches, front porch planters, cozy blankets and pillows, tablescapes, or winter artwork.
Once it’s time for the decor to be put away, it can be tempting to quickly pack everything into storage containers and toss them down the basement stairs. While we understand that it is much more fun to decorate than it is to pack them away, moving too quickly or harshly runs the risk of damage to your belongings. Always take your time during this important step to ensure that all decorations are neatly packed and secured, until they are needed again next year!
Tips & Tricks to Shop for Decor on a Budget
Are you shopping for decorations? Here are some of our favourite tips and tricks to help you save a little money along the way!
End-of-Season Shopping
At the end of the holiday season, many stores are in a hurry to clear their shelves and make way for new inventory. During this time, they are more likely to have end of season sales and many markdown items.
You might just find the next beautiful piece of decor, at an absolute steal of a price!
Buy Second Hand
Second-hand stores, Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji are great places to find some of the most unique pieces of decor for the holiday season. Not only are you more likely to find pieces at a reduced price, but often of better quality, too!
Do keep in mind that this approach may take time. Not every visit to your local second-hand store will be a success, so you may need to make multiple trips!
DIY Your Decorations
Who doesn’t love a good DIY project?
Whether you’re looking to craft a tree topper, put together front porch decor or knit a cozy blanket, most DIY projects can save you money in the long-run. The best part? Many of these projects can be done with family and friends!
So, why not make a day or night of it and spend some time with those who you love most?
Repurpose Existing Decor
While it can be tempting to purchase items specific to a season, some pieces of your everyday decor can absolutely be used during certain seasons and holidays!
For instance, rather than purchasing new throw pillows, why not invest in pillow covers instead? As one season transitions to another, so can your pillows!
Decorating Your Home with Volumes of Space
Did you find the information in this article helpful? You can find a wealth of helpful information about decorating and designing your dream home in our blog! Our team of experts are always here to provide you with guidance, support and information to help make your house a home.
For more information about our process, services and how we can help you, contact us today!
