To winter decorate or not to winter decorate…
That was a real question for a while. Traditionally, once Christmas is a wrap, I like to take everything down and pull the decorating back to bare bones to enjoy the empty sparce look for a spell.
However, once I started undecorating the Christmas tree, I stopped.
“Nooo… you wouldn’t….”
“Oh yes I would!”
So I did the unthinkable. I removed the Christmas touches from the room, winterized the mantel…
…and left up the tree.
You read that right.
After taking all the ornaments off from the original Christmas tree HERE, I thought the tree looked like a forest tree.
We have plants indoors, why not trees? Why just for Christmas? Why not for winter too?
I am my own therapy class right here, folks.
Rather gutsy move, but it’s not like my cats will have an issue with it…
As for the Christmas mantel (original HERE), the branches had to go as they were crispy dry. So chiming in with the forest theme once again, some faux trees, firewood and spray snow helped to play up winter well.
I like how the muted tones play off the fireplace rock.
Tiny mini lights were strung through the trees and behind the lantern having it appear to be lit.
I’ll admit though, it was the spray snow that made it all work.
The wooden snowflake was a gift from my dear blogging friend My Altered State with her tutorial HERE.
Tutorial for the deer head is HERE
The Christmas front window changed a little. Any greens were removed, with crisp black, white and wood sealing the wintery details.
I am SO glad I brought this chair inside. It’s a great place to take in the birds each morning along with two chattering cats.
The snowflake pillow (tutorial HERE) was made with the Winter Graphics stencil.
I even have something new to show you!
My dear friend Missy from The Little Green Bean (store HERE) did her magic with the Buffalo Check and Plaid Shirt stencils on her wonderful wooden trees, and sells them ready made in her store.
Aren’t they perfection?!
What I ADORE about Missy’s store items are the fact that they’re seasonal. There is always ALWAYS something different!
She sent me both trees as a gift! Goodness… I adore them so much.
So I placed them inside a two-sided vintage crate to act as a tree skirt of sorts, and screwed them into place.
DARLING. Thank-you Missy, I adore them!
I also love her rustic stencil technique. They truly have such a vintage feel to them.
I love this little spot so much.
Playing up the wood and black theme, I swapped out one green lettered vintage crate for one with black lettering. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for another for the right side. Or make one.
Happy to report, this crazy little pallet TV stand is still going strong.
The little wooden tray on the trunk coffee table got a new woodsy touch too.
Antlers are so simple, but the starkness of them just seems to work.
I’m pretty pleased with the small winter changes. I think it has the room looking fresh without being overdone.
Now the real question is… can I get away with leaving the tree up for spring too? We may have to start calling it a plant pretty quick…
Have you make some winter changes yourself?
Of course the tree can stay up all year, it cleanses the air and who doesn’t love a little piece of Mother Nature in their home 😉
I was happy to read that you kept your tree up. I still have 3 little trees up also. I just love the twinkle lights! Perhaps we can make it a Canadian trend: winter plaid with trees!
My faux tree will be proud to hear it’s faking cleansing the air well! 😀
I did the same thing this year. I purposely decorated with ” winter themes” and touches of Christmas , so when Christmas was over I still had winter decorations in place. My son enjoys his tree with no decorations on it , just lights. I enjoy your ideas! Peggy
I really think winter decorating is the way to go! And agree with the lights, I always miss the evening ambiance once the tree is tucked away once again. This has proven to be a very fun move!
Oh Donna how pretty the winter decor looks. I would say your “stark” tree works just great. I put away all my Christmas and pulled out my Valentine’s Day stuff. I also did some purging of the unused Christmas items and filled five very large moving boxes for donation to Salvation Army. I looked at items that I still thought were cute, but decided that since I hadn’t used them in years, it was time to send them on to another home where they would be loved just as much if not more! LOL! Today it’s on to my workshop area and there’s an empty box with Habitat for Humanity’s name on it to fill up! It does feel good to declutter!!!!
Sharon, good for you on getting a head start on cleaning! I’ve always felt purging is the key, gotta lessen the amount of stuff period.
Valentine’s Day? Oh dear. I best get busy!
I live on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We keep our trees up and change the decorations to purple, green and gold for Mardi Gras season.
Goodness, I’d bet that looks absolutely gorgeous! My little stint at Disney over Christmas one year had me mesmerized in the New Orleans area. All that colour was so beautiful!
Give it that Scandinavian feel. Great way to ease out of the holidays.
Yes! Love that look and feel. I’m hoping for a flocked tree next Christmas to get there even more so, never had one yet!
Lookin’ good! Like a cabin setting!
Thank-you! And yes, it does feel like that for sure. If I can’t have a lake in my backyard, I can certainly fake one… 😀
Donna,
Your re-decorating turned out beautiful. Also, love the plaid trees and there is nothing wrong with leaving a tree up year around. I have had my tree up year around for many years and change out the decorations as you did. I like the snowflake too. Wish I had seen your post several days ago because I just threw some perfect wood out while cleaning the garage.
Ohhhh… sorry to hear about the loss of that wood but good for you on cleaning! Altered State has a few more tutorials on different wood snowflakes too…
This year I bought my first artificial tree – a bare-branch fake white birch tree, prelit. (Target store) I LOVE it! And I’m keeping it up as a winter tree! After the holidays, I removed the Christmas-y ornaments, leaving only white/silver paper origami balls, a paper chain I made from scrapbooking papers and sheet music, and a flock of white & silver paper birds I made a few years ago. In February, I will remove the white ornaments – perhaps keeping the white “lovebirds” – and turn it into my Valentine tree loaded with hearts!
Funny you should mention a branched bare tree, I had been thinking that needed to be invented. Glad to see it has! Your year around decor sounds wonderful!
i love what you did, Donna! man, i miss those cold PNW days. here in so cal, it’s not cold and there’s no snow or ‘winter’ (tho it is raining today! YAY!) so i couldn’t justify using the flocked white fir tree, wreath, and branches that i have!
after the holiday decor was packed up, i pulled out some crystal resin + glass snowflake ornaments to add to the dining table centerpiece, and wrapped some thrifted glass vases in sweater remnants for a warm look. i added some copper touches (kitchen pieces, a few glass copper ornaments, spray painted a few things) to my neutral palette, along with more clear glass accessories… resulting in a ‘crisp’ and ‘clean’ mood rather than typical ‘winter’.
Sounds beautiful, Deb! And so perfect for where you are.
I can only imagine how my decor would likely change if I lived in a warm region. Christmas Palm Trees, sand snowmen… the more I think of it, the more I like that challenge… 😀
Adorable. It all looks perfectly winter. The snow does add the perfect touch.
Thank-you Katie! It’s been tricky finding faux snow in my area, they now make it with clear plastic. Looked so much better in white!
Just stick in some pussy willow and forsythia branches among the pine boughs about March and you’ll be ready for spring! I still have my winter decor up that I put up before Christmas but I make sure each year it’s just that…winter, not specifically Christmas…so I can do that. I’ll probably start tinkering with it for Valentine’s Day. After all that work I’m not going to take it down right away.
You can decorate with pink hearts for Valentines day, hanging Easter eggs for Easter, spring fling for spring!
So cute and cozy.
Oh Donna, I am so excited. We got our computer fixed and now I can write and my fingers can keep up with my brain. I love typing. I enjoyed your most recent post. Missy gave you a really craft in regards to the buffalo check trees. They are awesome. A pair of them in a larger size would look nice on a front porch for winter. Thank you for keeping the wonderful posts coming. You inspire me so much. And I am trying to learn to do so many things. I even received a dremmel for Christmas. And I learned I am really good at stripping screws and some wood is soooo hard that I have to predrill to get a nail to go through. Editing is also important. And wanted to tell you that your fireplace looks really nice. Take care and have a good and again thanks.
OMG that Wood Candle holder where please? The Birch candle I think I have it! So beautiful! Awesome together! Oh my!!
Hi Rose! I’m afraid I don’t remember where I got the wood candle holder… may have been a thrift store find!
Oh that’s ok, that’s the best kind of find! So beautiful! LOVE your designs, ideas & crafts!