How to Choose a Winter Color Palette

It’s time to get our house decorated for the new year and choose a winter color palette. My first goal is to pick a winter color palette.

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

My Big Sale is This Weekend

Did you know that I am having the big sale at our home this Saturday?

I have been collecting a lot of things for years and I am getting rid of a lot! I have vintage furniture, quilts, decor, rugs, linens, and more! And the prices are really good!

The sale is Saturday January 6th from 9:00am until 3:00pm at 2036 Oak Street, South Pasadena, CA.

I hope to see you there!

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, the winter color palette I choose is all about feeling calm and quiet. By changing the color palette for winter we are not making a substantial investment, just creating a subtle shift.

My winter color palette choices for 2023, 2022, and 2021 are shown below. Last year I used sage green, the year before was icy blue and the previous year I went with pink! So those three options are not my first choice for this year.

Although I really do love green.

Let me share how you can select a new palette for your home too.

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Choosing a Color Palette

I thought it might be fun to share how I chose green as my winter palette last year.

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. Last year I knew I wanted to choose two colors that would feel calm and soothing to me. You need to choose what works for you. Only do what someone else is doing if you love it!

So how do you pick a color palette that works best for you?

First, you need to think about what kind of 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?

I wanted to create a relaxed feeling in my home with a clean color palette that didn’t have too many different things going on. I also don’t want to have to go out and buy a lot of 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 and come up with a few colors to feature in your home and achieve the look and feel you want.

I immediately opened my Pillow Cover Drawer (which was used to store DVDs and VCR tapes) and this is what I found. (Of course, I haven’t put the holiday pillow covers away so there are about 10 covers missing from the drawer.)

I have written before about the benefit of a neutral color palette and How a White Palette Makes it Easier to Add Color to Your Home. By having neutral furniture and decor, it is really 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 off of social media when I admit that pillow covers influenced my winter color palette. But when I look at the drawer, I love the taupe and sage green colors.

Next, I went into the craft room to see what colors of fabrics I had on hand for a few DIYs. This is kind of interesting when you see what I found.

There are quite a few sage and taupe fabrics in here which means so far 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 images that made me happy that already had the two colors I was leaning toward. Here are the photos I found.

A Sage and Taupe Winter Color Palette

Since I found a lot of great combos of sage and taupe already in our home I knew I had made the right choice. Thus, the colors I selected were taupe and sage green.

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

It looks like I am off to a good start!

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

And that’s it. See how easy that was!

Now that I have most of my holiday decor taken down it is time to choose colors for this year!

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