Easy Minimalist Winter Decorating Ideas: Uncluttered & Yes, Cozy
Are you looking to decorate for winter and are worn out from the “too much” of Christmas? Keep reading for smart ways to decorate for winter – by using many of your favorite decorations! We’re keeping it simple, clean, minimalist – the perfect way to get your favorite winter vibe while following some of the biggest design trends of minimalism, with all the touches of farmhouse decor.
Minimalist Winter Decor After an Over the Top Christmas
That space of time after the holiday season… if you’re like me, then you go all out with decorating for Christmas.
If you’re also like me, you’re feeling just a bit overstimulated from all that Christmas decor spilling over your living room into every crevice. You can still continue that holiday spirit after Christmas, just in a different way.
While it may not be ‘the most wonderful time of the year,’ it just may be the most restful and restorative time of the year, and that’s pretty amazing, too.
The time following Christmas during those winter months, while they need to be cozy, they also need to be clean and uncluttered.
It’s like our homes need to let out a sigh of relief that all the holiday cheer is put away and we can kind of settle into hibernation in a relaxing and orderly environment.
While I don’t generally subscribe to a style of minimalist Christmas decorations or strict minimalist design any time of the year, I’m all about the simple winter decorations that follow.
What is Minimalist Design Style?
The first thing to realize in any kind of minimalist decorating is that less is more. If you happen to have an eye for Scandinavian decor, you’ll see that that style incorporates a lot of minimalist ideas as well as decor elements.
If you want to know more about minimalist design in general, this article from The Spruce does a great job of outlining it. The some of the general principles are:
- Less is More
An uncluttered environment where each piece has a reason for being there.
- Clean, Simple Decorations
Simplicity is the key here. It’s an uncomplicated look.
- Monochromatic, Limited Color Palette
Usually neutral colors with some small pops of accent
- Few, Well-Chosen Materials and Decorations
Each piece should be thoughtfully chosen and placed
- Use of Space and Natural Light
Using space and light to create an open, clean area
- Interior Design that is Airy and Open
Empty space is actually creating space for calm
How Do You Achieve Minimalist Winter Decorating?
As you think of those principles of minimalist design, you can apply them to the winter season, once your holiday decorations are put away. (Mostly. You can actually keep out a nice chunk of them, making winter decorating very easy!)
Less is more: Once your Christmas decorations are put away, you can see what items to leave. Evergreen garlands, evergreen trees and pine cones, snow themed decorations, stars – all of those items can stay.
Clean and simple: You’ll want to see how you can put less decor out on display, not just different decor.
Limited colors: Winter decor definitely lends itself to a more neutral color scheme, as you’re incorporating many natural elements. Think of your warm wood tones, whites, greys, black, and greens.
Very neutral color palette but the green adds a nice pop without being overpowering and breaks up the white decor.
Few, well-chosen materials: You can bring out some of your decor that you keep out all year as well; you don’t need just specifically Christmas decor.
Chunky candle holders spread on coffee tables or console tables, a woven basket filled with soft blankets, pillows made with old sweaters or faux furs, a chunky knit blanket draped over the couch – those are somewhat generic but lend themselves to a cozy winter feel.
Mixing in an item with a different texture is a great way to add some interest without adding more stuff. Lots of texture can take the place of lots of stuff.
Using space and light: As the days of winter feel short and dark, you’ll want to think of how you make the most of any natural light you have – or ways to bring in more light.
Your white lights from Christmas add to the cozy feeling, with a soft warm undertone. By removing some objects that are crowding and cluttering your living spaces, you create space and the vibe in the room is less weighty for sure.
I’ve also added in some live houseplants. While they don’t add light specifically, they require light and that makes me more intentional about it.
It’s an easy way to force some light or point out the areas in your home where you may want to create a little nook with natural light.
Airy and open: The days and weeks after Christmas are the perfect time to organize and declutter. As you are thinking about decorating for winter, the best way to ensure a minimalist winter style is to declutter first.
That way, you start the new year organized in a home that feels open and neat – and you can thoughtfully add in your winter decor.
This post right here goes into more details about how to create a cozy winter decor – I used a lot of those ideas, but just applied the minimalist principles to them.
How I Decorated My House for Winter, Minimalist Style
I’m going to walk you through my home and show you how I applied some of those principles and hopefully you’ll have some different ideas of how this may work in your own home.
Many think that farmhouse style can’t be compatible with minimalist decorating, but that’s just not true. While I’ll say up front, there may be a place or two that isn’t an entirely minimalist look, I’m OK with that.
The idea is to get the clutter out and the calm cozy vibe in.
If you want to see my starting point, how I decorated for Christmas, so you know my starting point – you can check that out here.
The Front Porch
The porch is one of those areas that doesn’t look very minimal. My Christmas porch was very similar, with a few pops of red.
Basically, I removed the red berries and other decor, added in the white wooden decor (snowflake, skis, star) and rearranged a little bit.
The wreaths on the window pane as well as the wreath on the front door were the same as Christmas.
The wreath on the wall is one I had inside during Christmas. I didn’t want to spend too much time recreating this when a lot of my Christmas decor could carry over to winter decor (which is one of my favorite lazy-girl decorating hacks).
The flocked trees, the birch logs, even the pampas grass – it’s a very simple way from holiday decorating to winter decorating. We also kept up the string lights from Christmas as well.
For more winter porch inspiration, be sure to check out this post!
Entryway Wall
I’m sure you scroll through Instagram as I do and wonder how and who can live in such a beautiful home, right?
I’ll say up front – we bought a 1960s ‘as is’ basement rancher (for a steal), and we are slowly updating. But it doesn’t have that new build feel for sure.
That being said, I’m all about using what you have to make your home a space for your life and family to happen in. It’s not all about the Instagram feed.
This is the wall when you walk through the front door. As we decluttered, I moved some furniture, swapped out a wire basket here and added a fabric bin there.
I just removed a lot of Christmas decor such as the wooden reindeer and little white houses that felt like too much and tried to keep it simple.
I had different minimalist Christmas art on the wall, and I exchanged it for the print you see below, which works wonderfully all through the spring.
The coffee table basket is one I made as a DIY and I just kept it simple with some trees; the snowflake garland was on clearance at Walmart. The other prints are from my Etsy shop, and all of it together stays with the neutral colors.
This mirror is new from Facebook Marketplace (I had a branch with hanging wreaths on it for Christmas), and I’m loving the simplicity of the wood – the strong contrast against the wall.
These floating shelves had somewhat minimalist holiday decor, but I just swapped it for a more monochromatic look with the greens.
The print in the frame is also in my Etsy shop, which I designed on purpose for neutral winter decor.
The big tree plant was freebie I found on Next Door, and I almost got rid of it because I had no room for it! But once we moved furniture around, I’m so glad I didn’t!
I love the real greens that work perfectly with winter decor even though they aren’t winter. The rich greens of live plants are a perfect accent.
Living Room
I kept the shelf here identical to Christmas – just swapped out the sign (that’s my word/verse of the year! I created the print and had it printed on a canvas!).
The color is Sherwin Williams’ Color of the Year for 2022, Evergreen Fog, and I’m loving the softness of the green with the rest of the decor.
This little area is mostly Christmas decor that I moved around with the addition of the snow-themed decorations. Simple, clean, neutral.
Here’s the whole look of the shelf and entertainment center underneath, as well as the area next to it. The snowflake sign is a Pottery Barn dupe DIY!
The coffee table is another area where my twin sons are constantly playing and moving things around, so I basically made a simple tray because it will never hold its look. Real life with boys, ya’ll.
This cube cabinet used to have decor in 6 of the 9 squares, but I’m officially waving the white flag on this one.
I’m so done with looking at toys all over the living room, I decided to get these fabric bins, which actually are much more in line with minimalist decor – useful, functional, clean, uncluttered.
So, I’m good with that. (The ones I purchased are sold out but the link above is something similar to what you see in the picture.)
The top is decorated with trees I had under my fireplace hearth. The dough bowl had a little Christmas bling, which I removed to just keep the greens.
Not especially minimalist but it’s simple in its design.
Here you can see the entire living room all together to get a feel for the whole minimalist look together.
Dining Area and Kitchen
I made a much simpler tablescape for winter for my dining table. A few trees, a lovely floral piece which was a gift and a great addition.
I have a few table runners, and I really liked the soft gray and cream color for winter.
The paper snowflakes were a craft I made for Christmas, which I kept up for winter. Always a fan of DIY decor.
My plants got their real estate back (they were all crammed in one corner), and as I said before, I’m loving how uncluttered it looks. There are a few fakes in there – the olive tree is a faux but I think it fits in perfectly!
You can see the full winter tablescape post right here (plus see what these photos led to!!!) as well as even more winter tablescape ideas here!
This window looked pretty similar for Christmas. I took down one of the black jars, moved it somewhere else, and tied up some real fresh greens.
The wreaths that were on the kitchen cabinets came down as well.
For Christmas, I had all kinds of different decor on my coffee rack wall, such as mini signs, ribbons, ornaments. For winter, I returned to straight up mugs, with a little bit of winter touches.
Family Room Den
This is right off our galley kitchen, and the fireplace mantel is my favorite to decorate. I put up the same print I created from last year (also in my Etsy shop) with a black matte instead.
I created my own garland from two different garlands – not exactly minimalist, but I loved mixing this lush green garland with the cedar one.
The beads with the tassels were on a Christmas tree, but I loved overlapping it with the other bead garland that was on the mantel.
The other sign, from the Sound of Music, coordinate with the big sign in the living room, “Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes” – it’s also in the Etsy shop!
{For more winter mantel ideas, take a look here!}
We have our coffee bar here, and this was just another swapping out of red decor and adding in a few elements.
The same is true with this pub mirror. You can see it’s really not super-wintery but it’s holding the color palette with the rest of the winter decor – white, green, brown, black.
If you stay in the same color family with more generic decor, you definitely score bonus points.
As I said with my plants, sometimes the fresh greenery that isn’t specifically winter adds some life when winter can feel dreary but staying with a generally neutral palette for winter.
Minimalist Winter Decor to Create a Cozy Haven
I hope you found some inspirational ideas you can use! I think it’s important to remember that minimalism should serve you, you don’t serve the style.
Use the elements of minimalism that fit with your lifestyle, your values, the vibe you want around your home.
Less definitely makes life easier, but when it’s bare, things can feel harsh and cold. The key is to find a middle ground that is clean, uncluttered, and cozy. I hope I proved today that it can be done!
More Decorating Inspiration
I have posts for every season of decorating – mostly farmhouse style that ranges from rustic to modern to boho! Take a look below for some reader favorites!
30 Brilliant Ways to Use Old Windows for Decorating
25 Budget-Friendly Farmhouse DIY Home Decor Projects (Updated!)
Easy Dollar Tree Farmhouse DIY Projects (Done in 1 Sitting!)
Rustic Mantel Decorating Ideas for Every Day : A Style Guide
If you tried any of these ideas, I’d love to see them! Tag me on Instagram @100affections or leave a comment on Pinterest!
Other thoughts? I’d love to hear them! Leave a comment below.
