Once the excitement and magic of the holiday season has passed, it’s normal to experience a bit of a letdown as the holiday glow fades. While the holidays may be over, winter certainly isn’t. With months to go before spring emerges, there are still plenty of opportunities to find joy! Focusing on the inside can help shift your mindset from dreary to cheery all winter long.
Even after the hustle and bustle of the holiday season comes to an end, your home should continue to be a place of comfort and warmth. Fortunately, creating living spaces that you’ll look forward to spending time in this winter doesn’t have to be complicated. If you’re looking to shake off the winter blues, the design experts at Star Furniture are here to help. Check out these simple design tips that can have a big impact on how your home looks and feels this winter and beyond:
1. Change Your Attitude
It’s no secret that what you project in life is often what you get. For this reason, striving to stay positive through the dreary months of winter is a must! This is truly an inside job. If you think that you can’t influence the way you think and feel, think again. One way to change your perspective in the midst of the post-holiday blues is to focus on the good things in your life. Think of the aspects of your home that you like. Maybe you adore your fireplace, have an awesome view of your backyard from the window in your kitchen, or have a pair of eye-catching accent chairs in your bedroom that bring you joy. Take a moment or two to appreciate these features every day.
The end of the holiday season is also a wonderful time to embrace the many opportunities that winter presents, such as taking time to reflect, creating new memories with your family, and being intentional about spending time with friends you haven’t seen in a while. When you start to notice the good around you, you may be surprised by how much good there is to notice.
2. Rearrange Your Furniture
Sometimes seeing your living spaces with fresh eyes is enough to help you feel positive and energized. Sure, investing in new pieces of furniture is one option to breathe new life into your home, but chances are the post-holiday season isn’t the best time to spend money on home decor. The good news is that revamping the aesthetic of your ordinary rooms can be as simple as rearranging the furniture you already have.
If your furniture is arranged in a traditional or expected way, why not mix things up? Rearranging your furnishings after the holiday season is a great way to shake off the status quo while making your home feel brand new. Consider taking influence from feng shui design, which can help promote tranquility and flow in your space as the new year begins.
Repurposing or repositioning what you currently have can help you find a new appreciation for your living spaces without breaking the bank. Don’t wait until you reach an imaginary milestone to mix up the style of your home. Now is the time for action!
If you’d love to change up a room or two in your home this winter, start by consulting a Star Furniture design pro. With their invaluable knowledge and years of experience, they can guide you on how to elevate any room in your house quickly and easily.
3. Rethink Your Color Scheme
Everyone knows that your home’s color scheme can have a big impact on how you feel day after day. If you find it hard to relax or get things done around your house, it may be time to rethink the colors you’ve used to decorate. Luckily, you don’t have to completely redesign your home to achieve an entirely new decor style. Introducing thoughtful accent pieces and textiles can brighten up a room quickly, easily, and affordably.
The trick to enhancing your home with color like a professional designer is starting with a neutral color palette. Sticking with creams, whites, grays, or tans on your walls, sofa, and upholstered furniture can provide a blank slate upon which you can easily play with more lively shades.
Once the main foundation of your home is adorned in neutral tones, look for accessories that can be effortlessly mixed, matched, and swapped out as needed. Some ideas include accent pillows, throw blankets, wall art, and curtain panels. Keep in mind how you’d like each room to make you feel before covering it with color. For instance, calming colors would be better for the bedroom than bright, vibrant shades. Of course, the Star Furniture designers can help you choose the best accessories to complement your home decor and personal taste.
4. Binge Watch Comfortably
Conveniently, the winter season is also the season of new streaming releases. Whether you’re into shows that are mysterious and suspenseful, edgy and comical, or somewhere in between, you can rest assured that the new year will bring an assortment of series and films that will make you want to break out the popcorn and curl up in your family room for hours on end.
The only thing better than discovering your new favorite show is having a comfortable place to enjoy it. This is worth the effort to outfit your family room properly. Birds aren’t the only ones who should be feathering their winter nests, after all.
If your family room leaves a lot to be desired in terms of coziness, the Star Furniture experts can help. Check out these simple tips to make binge-watching all your favorite shows a pleasure this winter:
- Invest in a sectional sofa that feels as good as it looks. Be sure to look for one with deep cushions, soft upholstery, and plenty of space to spread out for the ultimate streaming experience.
- Add a warm touch to your family room with cozy accessories, such as plush accent pillows, textured throw blankets, soft table lamps, and a woven area rug.
- Take the room’s style up a notch while keeping the space dark enough to enjoy your shows without bright distractions with stylish blackout curtain panels.
5. Sleep On It
While many people think that making healthy lifestyle changes is harder after the holidays, this isn’t always the case. The shorter days of winter provide the perfect opportunity to prioritize getting a good night’s sleep. Getting 7-9 hours of sleep on a regular basis is critical to living a long, healthy life. Best of all, when you sleep well, you’re more likely to feel your best.
We can all agree that we’d like to sleep more soundly and consistently, but the question is how? Along with taking healthy steps to prioritize better sleep, such as eliminating screen time before bed, exercising regularly, and limiting your afternoon caffeine consumption, the condition of your mattress can also have a big effect on your overall sleep quality.
With this in mind, don’t wait to invest in a quality mattress this winter, especially if yours is old or uncomfortable. Be sure to look for one that is well-reviewed, has a good warranty, and, most importantly, feels good to you. Who cares if a particular mattress has one million positive reviews if you don’t find it comfortable to lie down on? Buying mattresses online has become more convenient than ever, but nothing beats trying one out for yourself in person. If possible, do yourself a favor and stop by a trusted furniture store, such as Star Furniture, to try out a few mattresses before bringing one home.
6. Brighten Things Up
Shorter days mean less natural light streaming into your living spaces but that doesn’t mean that your home has to feel dark and dreary. On the contrary, winter is the perfect time to consider how you’re illuminating the rooms in your house and make changes where needed. While brightening up a room with artificial lights may seem straightforward enough, utilizing a few design tips from the Star Furniture pros is a surefire way to achieve well-lit living spaces that feel warm, inviting, and balanced. Check them out:
- Let the room dictate your light sources. Because you’ll use your kitchen in very different ways than you will your bedroom or home office, it’s safe to say that you won’t use the same lighting solutions for each one. With this in mind, be sure to choose light fixtures that complement the mood and functionality of the particular space. For instance, bright overhead lighting is essential in the kitchen while warm table lamps are more appropriate for a relaxing bedroom.
- Use a variety of light sources for each room rather than just one. In your living room, this could look like a ceiling fan that provides plenty of ambient light, floor and table lamps to illuminate dark corners, and accent lights to create visual appeal and highlight unique features, such as wall art.
- Position mirrors around your light fixtures to maximize the available light as much as possible, making every room in your home feel bigger, brighter, and more welcoming.
7. Mind Your Mudroom
If there’s one thing that you can be sure of about winter, it’s that the season will come with an array of gear. Boots, jackets, hats, gloves, and more all have to be properly organized and stored. Otherwise, they’re likely to create a chaotic mess that clutters up your entryway or mudroom. To ensure that your home stays orderly and inviting, be sure to mind your mudroom.
A well-organized mudroom is the key to a peaceful, tidy home. Fortunately, designing a mudroom that’s functional, practical, and attractive is easier than you might think. Here are some tips from the trusted Star Furniture design team that can help you make the most of your mudroom this winter:
- Provide plenty of hooks to hold everything from coats and hats to scarves and purses.
- Designate a basket or bin for each person in the house to toss their smaller items in, such as mittens and socks. Don’t forget to label them!
- If space permits, consider a console, bookcase, etagere or cabinet in the mudroom, great spots to stow and organize your gear!
- Add a stand to store wet umbrellas without messing up the floor.
- Include somewhere to neatly store boots and shoes, such as a shoe rack or tray that’s close to the door.
- Be sure to consider a bench. It’s much easier to manage clunky winter boots and paraphernalia from a seated position!
8. Bundle Up and Take It Outside
There’s something about the crisp, cold air of winter that makes for a wonderful backdrop to create lasting memories. Part of the beauty of investing in furniture, accessories, and decor that transforms your house into a home is being able to come back to it after a fun day outdoors.
With this in mind, enjoy the warm and friendly confines of your home as well as the great outdoors. Embrace all that winter has to offer by bundling up, building a snowman, and making the days of sunshine count. Home is always a welcome final destination that will be waiting to embrace you when the day is done. And how nice that will be.
Shake Off the Winter Blues with Star Furniture
You don’t have to push through the lull of wintertime all alone. The friendly design team at Star Furniture is eager to help you revamp every room of your home to put some pep in your step and create living spaces that you’ll look forward to spending time in with your loved ones. Whether you’re interested in mixing up the arrangement of your current furnishings, getting a good night’s sleep with a new mattress, or prioritizing organization in your mudroom, Star Furniture has everything you need to decorate the home of your dreams from the ground up. Visit us online to get your creative design juices flowing before making a trip to our convenient showroom location. We can’t wait to help make winter your favorite season with our quality furnishings and practical interior design approach.