The holidays are over, so now what? Once all the festive lights, holly and mistletoe come down, January may feel a bit bleak. However, this is a great time to look at your home as a blank slate that is just waiting to serve you. Ellie Ann’s Interior Design has partnered with organizing expert Crystal Nerpel to offer you some tips on loving your home after the holidays.
How do you want your home to function after the holidays?
Hopefully, the holly-jolly dust has finally settled, and you can start taking in the calm, post-holiday vibe. Use this time to pay attention to how you and your family actually function in your home. It’s possible that the current flow of your home isn’t conducive to your day-to-day habits. However, a few small organizing tweaks can fix that and make a big impact on how much you love your home, after the holidays.
Drop zones
Pay attention to your drop zones. These are spots, in your home, where you naturally put things. We all have them. If your family has a habit of dropping all kinds of items on the kitchen counter, you have an opportunity to set up a new system to catch the clutter. Adding a basket for incoming mail or designating a drawer for utility items might be a quick fix to calming the chaos.
If your family (or you) have a tendency to drop shoes and coats right outside the garage door instead of inside a designated coat closet, that’s OK. Give yourself permission to stop using the coat closet because it’s not how you function. After the holidays, set up a drop zone for shoes and coats, right outside the garage door. It can be as simple as adding coat hooks and a shoe rack.
The original designers of your home probably did not take into account all the little nuances of your personal family habits. It’s up to you to pay attention to how you function and then organize your home in a way that works best for you.
How do you want your home to feel after the holidays?
In the Loving Your Home Club, we talk about desired-feelings quite a bit. Knowing how you want to feel is going to help you figure out how you want to decorate, after the holidays. Putting a room back together gives you a great opportunity to make the space feel better during the cold winter months ahead.
Do you want to keep that cozy holiday feeling going? Then, incorporate a few candles, warm lighting and some greenery into your spaces. If you want to make your home feel light and airy, keep surface areas as clear as possible and add neutral-toned accent pieces.
Your decorating style and desired-feelings are very closely related. Knowing your style will allow you to create a home that feels exactly how you want it to feel. If you enjoy a traditional rock-n-roll vibe, it’s because you love the way that design makes you feel.
Have you taken the quiz to discover your decorating style? I have and my results surprised me. I thought I would have a rustic, ranch style, but it turns out that I am strongly drawn to a beach-vibe designs.
This makes so much sense because I grew up on the Texas coast, near a beach. Washed out blues and open-airy rooms make me happy and feel like home.
Have fun with it
Use this time, after the holidays, to have fun loving your home. If you are still enjoying the holiday decorations, allow yourself to slowly put them away. No need to rush. This is all about understanding what works best for you and your style.