10 tips for winterizing your décor
story by Judy Ross
photography by Christa GALLOWAY
As we pack up the patio furniture, put away the garden tools and bid farewell to the breezy days of summer, it’s time to also look inward and rethink our décor. Living as we do in a four-season part of the world it’s difficult to have a style that works both summer and winter. By making a few subtle updates we can cosy up our home and be ready for the colder days and longer nights ahead.
For some homeowners, a complete transformation takes place and storage lockers are used to contain the off-season inventory. Cotton slipcovers are removed from upholstered pieces, area carpets put down to brighten bare floors, and summery blinds exchanged for heavier draperies. However, such dramatic measures are not necessary. After discussions with decorators and home interior store owners, we have come up with their top 10 ideas for switching your summer look into something that will make you feel snugly ‘at home’ all winter long. And these are ideas that don’t require storage lockers … just a keen eye and a wish for change.
1. Change Your Accessories
Reaccessorizing is a simple and inexpensive way to redecorate. Summer vases of freshly cut perennials can be replaced with fall berries, pine branches and stalks of coloured leaves. Check out the Kuwa African Willow branches at At Home Interiors in Collingwood. These come in bright red, turquoise, black, brown and bleached. Fill a tall urn and use the branch colour as a starting point for a grouping. Colour blocking or clustering will give the eye something to focus on.
2. Replace Your Scented Soaps And Candles
In summer a fresh flower-scented breeze blowing through the house may be all you need to keep the air fresh, but in the fall you can create a homey atmosphere by choosing potpourri, soaps or scented candles that infuse the house with subtle hints of cranberry, pine or apple.
3. Create A Feeling Of Cosiness
Fill your sofa with plump accent pillows covered in knit textures and blanket prints. It’s easier if you start with neutral upholstery on your principal pieces. Change the accent colours to deeper hues. Use luxurious throws – a soft cable knit throw draped across the chair arm is an invitation to curl up with a book. Look for floor cushions like the popular kilim-covered cubes that add extra seating and can be grouped around the fireplace or coffee table.
4. Add A Shaggy Rug
Shag carpets are popular again (or retro if you remember the ’70s) because they add instant warmth and texture. Sometimes a new area carpet can be the starting point for your winter colour scheme. Terase Art and Home in Thornbury carries a good selection of area carpets in a range of sizes, prices and colours.
5. Inject A Wintry Feel With Some Deeper Colours
One easy way is with new placemats, napkins and candles on your dining table. Start with a richly coloured fall/winter centerpiece (densely packed with evergreen, pinecones, berries, dried hydrangeas) and use that to pick up the accent colours for your tableware.
6. Use Lots Of Candles And Candlesticks
The reflective quality of crystal, silver, mercury or glass candlesticks add a welcome shimmer of light when the weather outside is dark and nasty. Invest in some of the new and improved battery-operated candles that are so realistic they flicker like flames caught in a breeze. Choose ones with timers, arrange them in groupings of different sizes (on the mantel for instance) and set them to come on at dusk.
7. Change Your Bedding
Keep complete summer and winter sets for your bedroom since there is no easier way to change the mood. In summer use light coloured matelasse coverlets and white or cream sheets. For winter, add colour and layer the bed with extra plush blankets or cable-knit throws. Farrow Arcaro Design (FAD) in Collingwood has a full-size bed set up for display and plenty of sample swatches so you can mix and match sheets, duvet covers, toss cushions, and blankets.
8. Move Your Art
Sometimes a painting has been hanging on the same wall for so long you forget it’s there. Your eye just glazes over it. If you’re shuffling things around to get ready for winter, try making changes with your art … it can give you a whole new appreciation for what you already have.
9. Provide A Wintry Welcome
Welcome mats and door wreaths are the first things your visitors see when they enter your home. Change these to reflect the season. You can also create your own season-appropriate wreath at one of Panache Design’s workshops.
10. Transform The Powder Room
Switch up the look by changing dishes of seashells for pinecones and berries, change hand towels to darker colours and use soaps that have wintry scents like cinnamon and orange.
By making simple and inexpensive changes like these, you can warm up your home’s décor for the chilly months to come. ❧
