How to Create a Winter Sanctuary

Creating a winter sanctuary inside your home is such an easy way to mentally embrace the season and prepare for darker days and longer nights. When it comes to winter styling, we like to think beyond adding a few more throws to our sofas.

If you’re looking for inspiration to make your home feel more lived-in, inviting, or reflective of the stillness of the winter season, these tips are for you. Here are a few of our favorite ways to “winterize” our spaces through interior design.

Natural materials like chunky wovens, raw woods, and leathers bring warmth to a space all year long, and in the winter especially, we love to highlight those earthy hues. Pulling out hues from natural textural elements help accentuate the atmosphere of warmth in your space and seamlessly makes it feel cozier. 

We love going heavy on textural elements in the wintertime to bring more character and dimension to our homes. Foraged greenery or wintery branches, vintage decor, and imperfect natural materials made from ceramic or wood can add depth and warmth wherever they are placed.

Not only do muted color palettes tend to have more longevity against interior design trends, but they bring a sense of peace and serenity to a room, and we love using neutral tones as an opportunity to add depth with texture. One of the easiest ways to transition your home to winter is by switching out your textiles to reflect the calming, natural tones of winter. 

In the winter, shed your light summer linens for warm, chunky wovens in deep hues and patterns that speak to the elements of winter for optimal sitting-by-the-fire function. Layering textiles in mixed patterns is one of the simplest ways to refresh a room, bringing a thoughtful and curated look to your space. 

Adding layers of textiles is a simple way to add coziness to your space, and we love switching out our pillows and throws with each new season to tell a new story with our styling and bring in fresh elements of color and texture. We add more layers than usual during the winter months to ensure there are throws in grabbing distance for everyone and pillows to add warmth to our material palettes.

We also love to focus on adding functional elements to our spaces like baskets for storage, layered seating additions, and trays for transporting snacks and pitchers. Having a space that functions well is two-fold, as the organizational aspects of it are also deeply calming.

So much of creating a cozy, welcoming environment is about considering your lighting and adding levels to bring ambiance to your space. In darker, colder months, lighting is even more important, and we like to think high and low when it comes to overhead, lamp, and sconce lighting. Sometimes, turning off your overhead lighting and adding a few floor and table lamps to add new levels is all you need to create a cozier atmosphere.

Last but certainly not least, adding in the finishing touches makes all the difference. Sometimes all it takes is lighting a candle to set the tone for a cozy evening at home. There’s nothing like burning a candle to set the mood and create ambiance, especially when the days are shorter and colder. Candles bring so much warmth to a space, and the right scent can transform the entire experience of your home. We love lighting warm scents that feel inviting and fill the room for hours of conversation in the wintertime.