Five ways to make your kitchen a winter wonderland

We’ve all felt the post-holiday blues before: the tree comes down, the lights turn off, and the Mariah Carey and Michael Bublé Holiday CDs are tucked away until next year. While the holiday cheer might be over, this does not mean your warm and bright home decor has to go with it! You can bring cheer into your home all winter with these tips and tricks:

This combo adds an earthy yet ethereal vibe to your home, keeping it light even in the gloomiest of months!

For the wintery white tones, we recommend incorporating white accessories. Why enjoy a Winter Wonderland only when there is fresh snow on the ground? With this tip, even as the snow melts, your home will remain a fashionable snow-scape. This can be achieved through all sorts of beautiful additions, such as canisters, candle sticks, mugs, lanterns, and textural dish towels.

To ground the white, add the wood tones; they warm up any space and infuse it with texture and subtle color. Incorporate soft wood tones by using everyday items including a wooden bowl on display, wood picture frames, wooden kitchen utensils, and decorative items including sculptural pieces or jolly knick-knacks!

Greenery is the perfect addition to the white and wood tones. Add this pop of color and step back to admire the serene home environment you’ve created! Greenery enhances your overall design by bringing life to a room and adding a taste of the outdoors right to your kitchen.

Natural plants, branches, or flowers will add a lively pop to your serene background. One way to certainly make your home come to life is by placing mini trees and bare branches in a beautiful vessel, adding both a natural pop and a delicate beauty.

Missing a green thumb? Artificial plants that look alive can give just as beautiful an effect without the stress of remembering when you last watered them (we’ve all been there). Even these manufactured beauties are sure to brighten up your room and add a natural glow.

Finally – accessorize! Greenery does not just have to mean leaves and branches. Get creative. We used pine, cinnamon sticks, dried orange, and pinecones for our beautiful winter arrangement, but feel free to go even further! Add pine boughs, cranberry sprigs and any other natural greenery that inspires joy within you. A second round of bonus points? – the most delicious smelling kitchen you’ve ever had!

The key to decorating your island outside of the holidays is to create something fabulous yet manageable and casual – and we have just the suggestions for you.

Add Candles - Candles do so much for an open kitchen, from brightening up the shorter days to adding height to your winter tablescape. We recommend using votives and pillars or a mix of votives and tapers, adding a variety of height, size, shape, and an overall glow that will ascend your kitchen. Candles also allow for you to tap into your creativity! Experiment with a variety of mismatched holders for an eclectic feel or embrace uniformity and explore the beauty of a cohesive collection. Candles are also a fantastic way to further add white into the space or liven up your kitchen with more pops of your favorite winter color palette. And yet another round of bonus points: use a variety of smells to create the perfect winter harmony in your kitchen – go for scents that remind you of licorice, evergreens, winter spices, or anything that makes you want to sit by the fire and enjoy your peaceful setting.

Enhance with Small Touches - Have fun with your tablescape by adding small touches – ribbons in your chosen accent colors added to your flowers create an easy party-ready look to keep your kitchen beautiful every day of the week!

Set the Table - We recommend getting creative with your table settings too, as you transport yourself to a winter wonderland during mealtime. Add place settings in your favorite winter color palette. If you’re anything like us and love a little bit of winter sparkle, choose textural place mats with metallic threads– hints of silver or gold are the perfect way to add some glitter to your kitchen, just as the snow outside glitters, so will your kitchen.

Get your favorite serving dishes out and set your table. We picked mis-matched dishes and alternated moss green serving plates with white and brown bird motif dinner plates for some whimsical fun. Finally, we incorporated green vintage goblets that perfectly complement the delicately embroidered napkins. Make your table setting yours and have fun with it.

This is one the whole family will love! The perfect addition to your winter kitchen (and one that may just become a permanent fixture) is a hot cocoa, coffee, or tea station. Make this area your own with your favorite mugs, morning treats, and cute canisters. This is another great way to add a splash of color to your kitchen – you can add pears like we did, vivid stirrers, or rich treats that the whole family will enjoy. Stacking cutting boards or using elevated plates and containers to add height and showcase favorite items will certainly give your kitchen the magazine-approved look you are aiming for.

Selecting a winter color palette is the final touch to really elevate your home decor during the gloomier months. A cohesive color palette not only enhances all the other beautiful touches you’ve already created, but it is also a way to add a unique touch of yourself.

Tones of green, yellow, orange, and brown were our chosen standouts this year, and our china cabinet has never looked better! This beautiful decor along with all the other tips listed here creates a tranquil yet vibrant tone to your kitchen, livening up those gloomy winter days!

While these were our chosen colors, winter palettes are vast and beautiful, so have fun with this. Branch out and use burgundy, rust, navy, emerald, stone blue, and even fuchsia or pink tones. You can set the mood for the rest of your kitchen with your cabinet decor, choosing just how much color you want to introduce. We also recommend coordinating these colors with ribbons, flowers, or other accessories you may add throughout your kitchen!

Creating a beautiful winterscape in the comfort of your home does not have to be difficult or painstaking. With just these 5 easy recommendations, your home can be a customized winter wonderland that guests will flourish in, and that you can relax in. Create the kitchen of your winter dreams and enjoy your own placid winter landscape!