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Embrace the Season: Natural Winter Decor Ideas for Your Home

By Rachel

published 01/09/2025

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Last Updated on January 9, 2025 by Rachel Granholm

Easily and thoughtfully transition your home for winter through the use of natural decor!

Winter is cold and dark but it also brings a restful sense of coziness and tranquility. So, what better way to embrace the cozy months than by infusing natural elements into your home decor?! From winter greenery to birch logs to warm candlelit displays, incorporating nature into your winter decor instills calm vibes into every corner. Join me below to find out my favorite natural winter decor elements that ensure a peaceful winter’s rest.

Table of Contents

Winter Whites and Natural Wonders: Creating a Serene Winter Atmosphere

Winter is a time when many of us are looking for ways to make our spaces feel warm and tranquil. It’s a time of hibernation, really, as we move past the busy holiday season, prepare to slow down, and soak up all that winter has to offer.

As we transition our homes and our minds to the slow pace of life that winter gifts us, we can be in alignment with simple living.

Meaning:

choosing to live within our means
on a budget
use free decor from nature
incorporating natural elements into each space to help bring the grounded energy of nature indoors

In this post, we’ll dive into the beauty of natural winter decor and explore creative ideas for styling each element. So, cozy up and discover how to transform your living space into a winter wonderland!

Sustainable Winter Decorating with Natural Elements

Winter has a surreal beauty to it unlike any other season. This time of the year not only gifts us with sparkly snow and slow days but it’s also such a lovely season to get outside and explore nature! Going for a walk in the woods after a large snowfall is one of my favorite things in the world. It’s incredibly peaceful.

And, while I’m out there, I love to forage for natural decor to use in my decorating. It’s the most sustainable approach to interior decor that there is!

Benefits of Natural Decor

Besides what I mentioned above, there are many other benefits to using natural winter decor.

Some include:

the calming effects from nature are tangibly felt
you embody a deeper connection with nature
it’s a super budget-friendly way to decorate and can be free if you forage for natural items
your home contains more meaning with natural decor over store-bought

Foraging for Winter Decor: Tips for Sustainable Gathering

When foraging for natural elements, it’s important to keep in mind that you are a guest in Mother Nature’s house. As such, please be mindful and respectful of where, and how, you pick up materials. It’s important to follow all local signs and regulations, also.

For example, instead of clipping branches or pulling pinecones off trees, pick up as many things as possible that have fallen and are already on the ground. And, always make sure you stick to public lands, not private property. Or, if a family member or friend has an abundance of pinecones or evergreen boughs on their property, ask them if you can forage at their house!

Use the gifts that nature gives us in a responsible way. Please don’t take too many things or over-pick. Whatever I can carry comfortably with two hands, and nothing else, is typically my rule of thumb.

Embrace the Season: Natural Winter Decor Ideas for Your Home

After the Christmas decor comes down, and to begin the year fresh, there are many winter decor ideals that I turn to year after year. They include my beloved vintage decor, thrifted finds, and loads of texture and greenery.

Below are five of my favorite rustic, natural, and neutral decor elements to use for winter decorating!

Natural Winter Decor for a Cozy Home

I can tell you, truly, from years of decorating like this post-holiday, it’s the most calming and cozy decor that there is!

Also, I would like to note here that I have mixed natural elements with faux. Because I can’t always find the real things, or there just aren’t enough of them, I find that combining real and faux still creates a whimsical and realistic look!

1. Decorating with Pinecones

Using pinecones for winter decorating is my very favorite way to incorporate texture. When decorating for winter, combining brown pinecones with a mainly neutral color palette brings in such lovely contrast.

Here on the mantel, I placed a mix of real and faux pinecones inside a vintage ironstone tureen. Paired with a few trees and some vintage books, the pinecones exude a snowy forest vibe that is ultra cozy.

Pinecones also look super pretty dispersed here and there across a shelf or credenza.

When styling them, think about how pinecones naturally fall off of trees and land on the ground. Place a few backwards, some sideways, some crooked, some facing forward, etc…This gives them a natural-looking appearance, like they just fell off and landed on your shelf!

Shop Faux Pinecones

2. Winter Branches and Greenery

Greenery is another winter decor favorite. Here in the North, where our winter’s are long and cold, it’s refreshing to pack the house full of greenery since there is very little to be seen outside!

Cedar and eucalyptus are my top two greenery favorites for winter. So, as such, I created a winter floral display on the mantel using a mix of cedar and eucalyptus stems. Vintage pieces such as ironstone, milk glass, or baskets are budget-friendly vessel options.

I also love to play around with different ways of using greenery for winter.

So, here on the credenza, I placed three stems of cedar inside my milk glass banana stand and topped off the display with a few pinecones. The vivid green stems amongst an all-white backdrop makes for quite the striking look!

When decorating, many times less is more and simplicity is key.

Other greenery that you can use for winter can include:

Shop Favorite Winter Greenery

3. Birch Logs for Rustic Winter Styling

Birch logs are another one of my all time favorite winter decorating accessories!

Living in the midwest, there is an abundance of large and healthy birch trees. However, whenever there is a big storm or heavy winds, many times birch branches or small logs will get knocked off the trees. I’m sad for the trees but it’s also happy news for me because I get to go collect those fallen branches for winter decorating!

A post that has been popular is this basket DIY I made using birch logs. I thrifted the basket and simply created a seasonal display using birch logs, a scarf, and some faux greenery. Placed on the mantel with a candle, it’s a simple yet beautiful display!

Small birch branches also make amazing fillers for vases or other seasonal floral arrangements.

Using the same floral display that I had arranged for Christmas, I simply nestled two birch logs in amongst the greenery. That small tweak instantly changes the vibe from holiday decor to cozy winter decor!

4. Decorating for Winter Using Flocked Trees

Flocked trees for winter decorating is a no brainer, don’t you think?!

I use all of my small, tabletop trees for Christmas. Then, as an easy transition from holiday decor to winter, I simply take off the bows and ornaments and voila! Instant winter decor without the fuss.

Plain green and flocked trees look so pretty anywhere you place them. They are really the epitome of a cozy, wintry scene!

To style flocked trees, try:

adding height to a shelf by setting on top of a cheese box or wooden riser
tie on a white or lace ribbon for a textural accent
pack a whole bunch of them together on a shelf or mantel to create a winter forest
use a milk glass or ironstone vessel as a vase and place a tree inside

For a smaller space, I also adore the look of bottle brush trees.

Bottle brush trees can easily lean more holiday than winter but, when paired with white or cream decor accents, these too can partake in winter just as well!

I like to place them inside of milk glass cups or creamers. They also look lovely styled as a grouping alongside ironstone plates or platters, like inside a hutch.

5. Homespun Winter Decor with Wood Rounds

The last item on the list of favorite natural decor for winter is wood rounds! These rustic beauties are so amazing. I mean…I don’t know how much more rustic winter you can get 🙂

I usually find these large cuts of wood in local parks after trees have been cut down. If you are someone you know is doing tree removal, that is the perfect time to have whoever is running the chainsaw to cut a few wood slices for all your decorating needs!

For winter, wood rounds can be used in a variety of ways. Here, I placed a large wood round on the hearth. Then, I created a simple vignette on top using a pair of thrifted faux birch candles and a vintage crock filled with greenery.

Other uses for wood rounds in winter decorating include:

as risers for height in displays
use as bookends
as a base for a glass cloche
style as a centerpiece

Closing Tidbits on Embrace the Season: Natural Winter Decor Ideas for Your Home

As we chatted about, not only is natural winter decor aesthetically pleasing but it also has numerous benefits for our mental and emotional well-being. So, let’s take a step back from the busyness of everyday life and infuse our spaces with the healing energy that nature offers.

Through the use of natural winter decor, you can create a warm space that reflects the quiet hug of winter. Let us embrace the serenity of the colder months by incorporating natural elements into the spaces that need it most!

Be encouraged to take a deep breath, allow winter to slow you down, and savor the simplicity of the season along the way.

If you are new here, I’m Rachel, the writer and content creator here at The Antiqued Journey. I’m so happy to have you! I encourage you to stop by the ‘about me’ page to get to know me a little more.

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