Every year when I take down my Christmas decorations, usually the weekend after New Years Day, I am very ready to put them away and start the year off with pared-down, clean and fresh decor. Not so much this year. As I started to undeck my halls, I felt strongly that I had to add back in some “winter decor” to keep the doldrums away. Since I didn’t have any strictly “winter decor,” I knew I’d need to repurpose a few of my Christmas decorations.

As I’ve mentioned before, the fireplace is the focal point of our family room, so I knew I wanted to decorate the mantle. I love the way my mantle looks at Christmastime. It sparkles with lots of lights and shiny red ornaments. However, after the holidays, it had to go. While the long swagged garland seemed way too much for after Christmas, I knew I still wanted the warmth that some greenery would bring to the mantlepiece. 

In order to achieve the look I wanted, I utilized a very old unlit scotch pine garland (which adorns the top of my dining room hutch at Christmas).

as well as several different evergreen picks to create a lush piney base for my winter mantel.

Flameless candles, various sized pine cones, and a string of fairy lights add texture and sparkle to the mantel. I kept the pots of preserved cypress topiaries and added pairs of black candlesticks to provide height to the composition.

I brought the design of the mantle decor down to the hearth with a couple of lanterns, more jumbo pine cones, and an additional evergreen spray.

I think the overall design is nicely balanced and evokes a lush winter forest typical of the Carolina’s (no snow!).

To keep the theme going on my coffee table, I switched out the red poinsettia for white cyclamen. I also replaced the other red elements with black and white objects.

The other area I focused on was the kitchen dining area. On the table, again, I simply switched out the red poinsettias for white cyclamen in the planter and the red plaid table runner for a graphic black and white runner.

 

On the buffet, I put away the reindeer, the wreaths on the sconces, and the red plates. I kept the live potted miniature pine trees and the lanterns. For some sparkle, I added a lighted silver dollar branch to a glass vase filled with curly willow and faux greenery.

 

I haven’t decorated after Christmas before this fun COVID year. But seeing how easy it was to tweak my Christmas decor to create a peaceful winter scheme, this will not be the last year I celebrate winter with decorations in my home.

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Sundays on Silverado, Metamorphosis Monday