BC (Before Covid) I was a girl who always pulled out my Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving, complete with Christmas tree scented wax melts burning, and holly jolly holiday music playing all day while I lovingly pulled each item from the crinkled tissue paper in my bins brought in from the shed. Christmas would come, and December 26th I would take everything down, and box it all back up.
This year I started to put up Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving, but it took me about a week to get everything dialed in. Christmas came and went, and I finally took down the holiday trimmings on New Year's Eve. We had freakishly cold weather from Christmas day though the end of the year, and I think the freezing temperature and bit of snow we got put me in a stay-cozy-inside mode. Enjoying the twinkling lights on the tree and the snow falling outside the window from the comfort of the sofa covered up with a blanket throw was just too perfect.
The house always feels so bare when those Christmas accents are put away, and it puts me in a mood to deep clean all the nooks and crannies in the house, particularly in the living and dining room, while I contemplate what I can do to those areas of the house to kind of bring them back to life. (Do you do that?)
If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know we live in a cozy-sized cottage. (About 1,100 square feet, that I like to think it feels like a warm hug when you walk in the door...) I keep the walls and my main pieces of furniture neutral; white walls, a white slipcovered sectional, creamy painted wooden entertainment unit, and weathered pale buttery yellow wicker chairs around the dining table, so I can add whatever splash of color I choose for any given season or holiday.
I put out touches of red and black for Christmas, and leave these accent pieces (things like quilts and throw pillows and placemats) out until just after Valentine's Day. Once the bottle brush trees and glittered ornaments are gone, I switch to a more subdued, minimal look with whites, creams, reds and black accents.
My fireplace mantel is a primary focus in the living room, and I like to change it up every few weeks or so. I use vintage architectural pieces as a backdrop for my mantel area. I almost always include at least one mirror. I like old mirrors, but I read or heard somewhere more than once that according to feng shui, (which I basically know nothing about...) you should always have a mirror above a fireplace; something about reflecting because the fireplace opening can suck energy or something out....I'm not sure, but I guess it can't hurt.
Old books are a favorite source of color for me, (reds, tans, and creams right now...) and I always look for colorful hardback old books when I am out thrifting. I also collect old alarm clocks. They look great grouped together, or sitting nestled in with other items in a vignette. I do not care if they work or not, and have very nearly all of them set to 11:55 for when I group them for New Year's Eve. I will add pieces from my small heart collection around mid January, and keep that all up until Valentine's Day.
Well, I'm noticing that this turned out to be a rather ramble-y kind of post, but it's another very gray, dark day here, and I may or may not be procrastinating about getting this day going. At any rate, I would love to hear from you! Do you periodically move things around in your home, or put things away for a bit, and bring them back out later? What sorts of things do you like to use in vignettes?