7 Winter Interior Design Ideas That Will Heat Up Your Home

The winter season is the ultimate curveball for your home. Moisture is sucked out of the air, colors become dull, and a cold chill starts to kick in. Your whole home environment shifts for three months, if not longer in some areas of the world. And that’s all without mentioning the shorter days and lack of natural light.

Given all the changes winter brings, it’s only fitting that your home’s interior should change as well. Just as we get all of our winter clothing and accessories out from storage to help us brave the outdoors, you can also equip your home to combat the season from the indoors.

To help you change up your home’s style and give you some much needed warmth, here are seven of our favorite winter interior design ideas.

1. Put Out Extra Throw Blankets

Winter is the time of the year where warmth creeps away, leaving you bone cold in your own home. Fortunately, there’s an easy fix that doesn’t involve upping your thermostat. Make sure you are never too far away from a cozy blanket by placing warm throw blankets throughout your home. They’re perfect for the backs of couches, ottomans, or beds. Our favorite winter throws are fuzzy and heavy so they’re comfortable and guaranteed to trap your body heat within a cocoon of warmth.

2. Use Textured Pillows

To complement your home’s new fuzzy and warm throw blankets, a plush textured pillow is another great way to warm up your home environment. Pillows with a soft knit, thick fabric, or a faux fur material make it so that there is always a warm place to put your head, feat, or back. If you’re concerned about a furry pillow clashing with your home’s design aesthetic, try placing only one or two neutral colored ones in your rooms. This helps ensure that you’re not going overwhelming the room with new textures.

3. Introduce Warm Colors

Regardless of where you live, you know that winter can wash out colors for the season. With no leaves on trees, flowers covered by snow, and a sun that only appears for several hours a day, vibrant colors can be hard to come by in the winter. Because of this, we encourage you to take any opportunity you can to add color back into your home in the wintertime. Stopping just shy of painting your walls, you can instill warm colors back into your home with accent pillows, table runners, centerpieces, and more.

4. Lay Down Soft and Durable Area Rugs

Unless you have heated floors, you are likely used to wearing your slippers all over the house in the winter to keep your feet warm. Plus, with snow falling outside, mud, water, and other messes can easily track their way in. Luckily, you can warm up and protect your floors with strategic area rugs. In high traffic areas of your home, place an outdoor sisal rug that’s easy to clean and can withstand anything winter can throw at it. Then, lay down a softer rug like a jute or sisal wool rug to give your family room a cozy place to rest your feet.

5. Add Fresh Greenery

Like we mentioned above, winter strips the earth of our lawn, flowers, and plants. It’s a natural and necessary process, but that doesn’t mean your home has to go without organic plants and greenery. Place bouquets of colorful flowers or evergreen arrangements strategically in your home for a noticeable pop of color and to keep your air fresh. Then, replace your greenery with new arrangements to keep your home refreshed throughout the season. Don’t be afraid to break away from traditional winter plants like pines or poinsettias to avoid making your home into a stereotypical winter wonderland. 

6. Place Lit Candles

Fire is the universal symbol for heat. If you have a fireplace in your home, it probably sees a lot of action in the winter — as it should. Not only does a fireplace warm up your home through the energy of the fire, but it also casts warm colors across the room. But you most likely don’t have a fireplace in every corner of your home. This is where lit candles can make an impact. Place lit candles in your bathrooms, kitchen, bedrooms, and other spaces to give your entire home the warmth and ambiance of an open flame without a fireplace present.

7. Pile on the Wood

While it seems very rustic, wood is also a very warm design feature given its association with fire. You can add warm wood to your living spaces through new wooden stools, chairs, coffee tables, and other furniture items. In addition, wood panel walls also provide a warm cabin feel. If those ideas are too much of an undertaking, you can also find great wooden antiques, lamps, or decorations to hang up on your walls or feature on your end tables.

Is Your Home Prepared for Winter?

Between snow, dry air, and winter boots, there are many reasons for you to prepare your home with new furniture and decor during the winter months.