How to Choose a Winter Color Palette

It’s time to decorate our house for the new year and choose a winter color palette. I love selecting a color palette each season, and I hope you will join me in doing it, too!

Each year, as I sort and pack away the Christmas decorations, the house always feels a little stark, stripped down, and peaceful. I love this time of year and the opportunity that a fresh, new winter color palette brings.

Winter Color Palette

A new winter color palette sets the tone for your entire home. Most of the furniture in our home is very neutral in color, which allows me to make simple and inexpensive seasonal changes with accessories. This is where the winter color palette comes in.

After the glitz and glam of the Christmas and New Year holidays, my winter color palette is all about feeling calm and quiet. I am not making a substantial investment by changing the color palette for winter; I am simply creating a subtle shift.

My winter color palette choices for 2025, 2024, 2023, and 2022 are below. I used shades of pink last year, sage green for two years, and icy blue the year before. So, those three options are not my choices for this year.

I should probably mention I have used sage green as my winter accent color at least ten times!

Although I would have loved to choose sage green again, my new clipcovers in the living room are in that shade. So I just need an accent color.

I think it’s time to think outside the box, right?

So, how should I choose a new color palette? Let me share how you can select a new palette for your home.

Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post to see what I have selected for my palette this year. It’s fun!

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Choosing a Sage Green Color Palette

Sharing how I chose sage green more than ten times as my winter palette might be fun and helpful.

Choosing a color palette starts with the plan. Pick two colors that speak to you and colors that achieve the feel you want in your home. Every year, I choose two warm, soothing colors.

You need to choose what works for you. Only do what someone else is doing if you love it!

Here is an example of a year when I chose a color (turquoise) because I kept seeing it all over Instagram.

Did I love it? No.

Did I love this room after I decorated it? No.

I missed the mark on this one …

How Do You Pick a Color Palette That Works Best For You?

First, you must consider the look and feel you want in your home. Do you want a cozy feel? Do you want a more modern feel? Or do you want to brighten your home to combat the less-than-welcoming weather outside?

When I was adding sage-green accents, I wanted to create a relaxed feeling in my home with a clean color palette that didn’t overwhelm. I also didn’t want to go out and buy many new things (and I am sure you don’t want to either).

Shop Your Own Home First

So, the first step is to look at what you already own, develop a few colors to feature in your home, and achieve the look and feel you want.

I immediately opened my Pillow Cover Drawer (used to store DVDs and VCR tapes many years ago), and this is what I found. (Of course, I hadn’t put the holiday pillow covers away, so about 10 were missing from the drawer.)

I have written about the benefit of a neutral color palette and How a White Palette Makes it Easier to Add Color to Your Home. Having neutral furniture and decor makes it easy to change the color palette. Why?

Because you can completely change the feel of a room with pillows, decor items, and art, the big expensive items don’t need to change. Why? Because they are neutral (such as off-white) and match everything!

I might get laughed at on social media for admitting that pillow covers influenced my winter color palette. But I loved the taupe and sage-green colors in the drawer.

Next, I went into the craft room to see which fabric colors I had on hand for a few DIYs.

It is kind of interesting to see what I found.

There are quite a few sage and taupe fabrics here, so I don’t need to buy any new pillows or fabrics if I go with sage and taupe.

Finally, I walked through our home and tried to find items that made me happy, which already had the two colors I was leaning toward. Here is what I found.

A Sage and Taupe Winter Color Palette

Since I had already found many great sage-and-taupe combinations in our home, I knew I had made the right choice. Thus, the colors I selected for last year were taupe and sage green.

Before decorating, I like to roam throughout our home and pull items that work with my new color palette. This is what I gathered from the living room and family room.

It looks like I was off to a good start!

I knew these colors would create a soothing, calming feel, very welcoming after the wonderful chaos of Christmas colors, lights, and celebration.

And that’s it. See how easy that was!

My Winter Color Palette for 2026

Now that I’ve finally packed away my holiday decor, it is time to choose colors for this year!

For the first time in forever, my fabrics are clearly displayed in my craft room. Which means I can see the fabric that I own. Which hasn’t been the case in a very long time.

I found one that I love and had completely forgotten about. decided on this one, and I’m making pillow covers from this fabric!

I am so excited to finally choose my palette and share our refreshed living room later this week.

I like the sage, coral, orange, and gold accents. So many colors!

This is going to be fun!

More Green Decor Inspiration!

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