6 Ways To Beat the January Blues in your Home

Isn’t it funny how the second Christmas is over, so is the holiday feeling? It’s hard to get inspired to buy even a random snowman at 75% off once the feeling is gone. That’s how I feel anyway.

Then, all the sparkly lights that brought so much atmosphere into your house are suddenly gone and many of us are left with a living room that desperately needs an injection of happiness.

I went shopping with a friend on the weekend and when I picked up a garland covered with leaves and lemons she said “Are you doing Spring in your house already?”.

“Full on” I said. “Winter is over in the world of home decor in January.”

So here are my tips:

1. Get some fake faux flowers or greenery and fruit

I took my faux garland home and piled it into a funky basket I found at a fund raiser last summer. Then to fill the basket, I added some faux granny smith apples.

Styled by Maria Killam

My faux Forsythia branches would probably look better in a vase where you can’t see the three lonely stems but I like that it’s a tall vase so it’s here for now.

The orchid in my white pot has long ago died but the leaves look so green and fresh still that I kept it on the mantle as well. If I had a faux orchid in my house, I would have inserted it in the pot along with the leaves. I’ve done that many times.

{via pinterest}

In this fabulous photo of orchids (above) they could all be fake and you’d have to be right up close to really notice.

Faux flowers and greenery are an absolute necessity in the dead of winter. There is almost no where that I can buy fresh tulips where I live so I break out fake everything.

Okay, you can find a kalanchoe in a pot in my dining room or kitchen but they can’t be on every surface!

I like candleholders shaped like Aladdin is going to jump out at any moment.

And buddha heads always seem to have beads nearby so I trooped over to my bedroom to locate a strand.

2. Books 

See how these two coffee table books, one a little smaller on the top in the same colour scheme as the mantle provides a great pedestal for the smaller items?

If you have a book that is not the right colour, try removing the jacket. There might be a better colour lurking underneath.

Yes it’s true, I am known to be heavily swayed by a pretty book cover.

If you don’t have books, a stack of magazines will work just as well.

3. Alternate your Accessories

I have a room attached to my garage that is filled with rows of small shelves designed for storing canned goods. It’s filled with accessories that I rotate throughout my house.

You’ll get bored staring at the same white porcelain penguins or owls all year long, and there are so many accessories that are just as seasonal as Christmas decor, there’s nothing wrong with tucking them away until you’re happy to see them again months later.

4. Get organized

{via pinterest}

For Christmas, Irene colour coordinated and organized our master closet and switched out all the hangers for white ones.

5. Give one room a fresh coat of paint.

Anyone can paint just one small room, even if it’s just a bathroom.

{Via BHG}

Here the pink beige and brown countertop doesn’t relate to the yellow beige floor but the brown is repeated in the cabinet, mirror and picture frames and the yellow beige is repeated in the stripes, pulling this bathroom together.

And here’s the before picture

6. Create a starting point for your decorating by introducing two chairs with personality!

{West Elm}

{Williams & Sonoma}

{West Elm}

{Horchow}

{via Pier 1}

You have to start somewhere when you’re looking for inspiration. Choose a chair that you like and then start building your room around the colour.

I’m thinking next year, we should rent a house in Palm Springs for the month of January! Just work from there, what do you think? Is that a plan or what? Get away from the gray rain/sometimes snowy Northwest!

I will be in Vegas in two weeks for the Las Vegas Market and the Withit Awards Dinner, then the following week in Los Angeles for another conference so I’ll see some warm weather then, hooray!

What do you do to beat the January blues?

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If you would like to learn how to choose the right white for trim, woodwork, cabinets and walls, get my brand new eBook, White is Complicated–A Decorators Guide to Choosing the Right White. 

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