Want to keep your home feeling fresh and up to date with each season without having boxes of decorations? How do you make your home reflect cozy autumn or fresh, energetic summer without constantly changing out clutter? Keep reading for some of my best tips. My home has a fresh, rustic feel, but these tips will work great for any style
Have a “Capsule Collection” and add to it
You’ve heard about a capsule wardrobe, but the same idea can work for decorating too. Have your basic style, color pallet, and feel that you like. Keep a minimal amount of useful, practical items that you will need through each season (think storage bins, mail holder, cabinets, etc) Build a basic “background” of decorations with the amount of things that feels right to you. And remember, there’s no right answer to this; do what works for your family. For example, though we love the idea of keeping things minimal so there are less things to deal with, my husband loves collecting the deer antlers he finds and you can literally see over 50 antlers from the sofa. It brings him joy and we keep them minimally inconvenient by putting them up on a beam out of the way. So just saying, a “capsule” can include a lot of things. Just make them things that 1. bring joy and 2. you don’t have to replace with the seasons.
Use Wall Art
Being a painter, this is my number one tip! What you use to decorate your walls has a huge impact on the feel of your home. By buying classic, neutral frames and changing out the wall art for each season you can keep your home feeling fresh all year long. You can even store the out of season prints in their frame, then just cycle them through as needed. It’s as easy as pulling a picture frame off the wall and popping it back up dusted and refreshed. Keeping the frames consistent by using the same basic color and style can help compliment each season’s artwork while still making it feel like home. I do this in my open floor plan (kitchen/living room/dining room/ office all in the same space.) by using simple black frames with prints that either have a white background or use a white mat to tie everything in. You just have to actually cycle the prints through; I have winter wall art up from last year that my kids have been teasing me about but I keep forgetting to change. They never got changed this spring and probably won’t now that it is almost the right season again. I’ll do better next spring. Maybe.
Maintain a similar color pallet for every season
Keeping your colors the same can be a huge help for easily tying in seasonal décor because you don’t have to pack anything up to put more out; you just add your seasonal decorations and it all looks great. Embrace your year-round style in each season. A mid-modern home with a yellow theme doesn’t need a rustic quilt just because it’s wintertime; go with a cool geometric snowflake throw or something that complements.
For example, the main part of my house is warm whites and greys, browns, and greens. It feels rustic to start with, so I find it very easy to make a warm cozy feel for winter, but have a harder time brightening it up for spring and summer. This is where I emphasize the brighter colors instead of the woods and browns with bright curtains in my same color pallet, brighter simpler wall art, and fewer rugs to make it feel cleaner.
Use your Special Seasonal Pops to create traditions
By keeping a basic style and color pallet, you can make a lot of emphasis with much less than if you had to redecorate each season. Thus the things you do keep become much more sentimental when you take them out to celebrate each season. Our Sedar plate (green and copper to match our pallet) says that spring is here loud and clear! The plaid throw blanket that reminds us of our honeymoon cabin instantly makes it feel like winter. The sunflower painting of the first bouquet my then-boyfriend-now-husband gave me makes us think instantly of late summer picnics and fun family adventures. The simple one-piece nativity we add to the winter decorations easily announces Christmas time.
It doesn’t have to be social media perfect
This is so important! You are making a safe, relaxing special space for you and your family. Keep it quirky and fun like this hedgehug! It doesn’t have to appeal to everyone on social media or be on trend or go viral. It just has to be a reflection of the home culture you want to celebrate. Our home is totally NOT for everyone. It looks like a cabin, we have taxidermy hanging on the walls, tons of antlers, a variety of different rustic wood, etc. but we consistently get compliments from so many different types of people because they feel the love and joy and enthusiasm that has gone into making our home culture exactly what it is. They feel the peace and comfort of a home that has a coherent, cared for feeling even if the style is not at all the same.
