A kitchen can be one of the busiest rooms in your house: cooking, socializing, and often a central hub for family’s everyday essentials. So, for those with smaller kitchens like us, decorating kitchen surfaces isn’t the most practical way to go. We have some year round wall art, but that’s about it. I wanted some way to incorporate seasonal items in the kitchen, but how?!
I’ve had my eye on the popular tiered trays for a while, and I wanted to mimic some of the great seasonal decor inspiration that I’ve seen online. As I searched for the perfect tiered tray, I noticed they were all too wide or too tall for our kitchen counter space. I could hear my husband saying, “Honey, WHY is this necessary? This takes up too much room.” He would be right!
I was about to give up on finding the perfect counter space decor. Thankfully, during a Home Goods run, I stumbled upon a set of two wooden risers. PERFECT! These are such a great alternative to a tiered tray if your short on space. The ones I purchased have a diameter of about 9 inches, so they won’t take up too much room. I decided that one would be used for decor, the other for dish and hand soap.
Since it’s spring, adding a small eucalyptus plant to each riser was the perfect touch. On the decor riser, I also added a spring Rae Dunn candle. The other riser holds our hand soap and dish soap (in a cute dispenser of course). In the future, I can see myself using other candles, small wood signs or letters, florals, or a reed diffuser to change up items with the seasons.
I LOVE the look of these risers in our kitchen and how they provide a sophisticated, but functional space for seasonal decor and everyday items. My husband who cooks even approves, so it’s a win for everyone! I definitely plan to find more risers to use as centerpieces, on shelves, or as a focal point on other surfaces throughout our home.
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I hope this post gives you some inspiration to use risers or tiered trays in your kitchen and home. Who knew that adding a designated surface or two to a space could create so many possibilities for interchangeable decor?! Happy decorating!
After the Christmas decor has gone away, our home seems a bit plain and our living room feels like it has gained lots of extra square footage with the absence of the Christmas tree. Since we live in Wisconsin, the winter months drag on well after the New Year. Here, warm weather doesn’t spring up until the end of April. Believe it or not, one year we got 12 inches of snow in May! CRAZY! So, the dilemma: I don’t want to leave my Christmas decor up past early January, and given our weather it doesn’t feel right to put up spring decor before late March. This is how I knew I needed to have another “season” of decor for our Wisconsin winters.
From a few Christmas clearance sales, I was able to get a variety of pine cones, flocked garlands, twinkle lights, and winter floral/greenery. I was also able to use a few of my current Christmas decor items since they are white and not exclusive to Christmas. My winter theme was coming together! The simplicity of the neutral colors with flocked greenery, pine cones to match the wood tones throughout our home, and a touch of light makes our home warm and cozy until the Wisconsin spring weather decides to arrive.
Keep reading to see how each room has been styled for winter!
Entryway Welcome to our Home Sweet Home! On the front door hangs a wreath that I customized to take it from plain evergreen to neutral winter by using pieces from four floral stems that I took apart and arranged throughout the wreath.
Just inside the front door are hooks for guests to hang their belongings, but I also love to hang seasonal items from them as it adds to space. For winter, I chose to go simple and hung this floral basket from the center hook. On the other wall is a window frame where I hang seasonal wreaths throughout the year. I used a grapevine wreath and paired it with a thin frosted garland.
Basement Our basement floating shelf is one of the main “mantle decor” areas in our home. On top of the shelf lies a garland with pine cones. On each side stands a flocked pine cone tree. From my Christmas decor, I kept the three wooden snowflakes as the focal point of the top shelf. Inside the shelves are two tin vases holding flocked greenery, with evergreen and pine cones surrounding some year-round decor pieces. The middle shelf belongs to my husband, as that is where he keeps his gaming system. For some reason, an Xbox is tricky to incorporate into seasonal decor! 🙂
Bedroom I don’t know about you, but I want my bedroom to be the coziest room in the house! For Christmas, I had an evergreen garland with twinkle lights on top of our headboard. I LOVED having the soft glow of the twinkle lights on at night! I decided to keep the twinkle lights, but switched to a frosted garland with berries. On the night stands, I placed evergreen stems in tin vases beside each lamp.
Opposite the bed, I have two small trees on each side of the dresser. I debated putting these away after Christmas, but decided to keep them after removing the red Christmas ribbon. Along with the pine cone lighted garland, I added these wooden snowflake stems to add another touch of winter. On top of the dresser, I have small and large flocked trees to frame the TV.
One of my favorite wall decor pieces is this wall sconce that is hung beside our bed. For winter, I added frosted greenery and berries. I just love the simplicity of this!
Living Room This is my FAVORITE room in the house to decorate! It’s where we spend most of our time and where we have our “feature” wall of shelves.
At the center of our shelves is a beautiful window frame with a wreath of flocked greenery and pine cones. The smaller shelves each have a vase of neutral pine cone floral, a small winter house, a small wreath, a white metal tree, and a candle sitting in a flocked wreath. I also used some candlesticks and copper orbs to add to look. The bottom shelf holds a simple garland. To match the garland to the rest of the decor, I added 6 flocked greenery stems, and several large pine cones throughout. I love adding elements to a wreath or garland as it allows you to customize it to the rest of your decor!
On our coffee table, I use a neutral table tray all year round. Around my bath and body works candle (currently burning Cranberry Woods – I’m obsessed), I use seasonal floral. Of course for winter, I used more flocked greenery and pine cones around the candle stand.
On our TV mantle, I kept the garland that I had up for our Christmas decor. I removed the ornaments, kept the lights (still loving that cozy glow), and added some pine cones. The wine bottle vases hold more of the neutral pine cone floral used on the feature wall.
Kitchen Our kitchen is on the smaller side and it functions as a hub to keep our frequently used personal items, and of course the daily cooking space for my husband. Although there isn’t much room for decor in the kitchen, I try to have a few seasonal elements. Above each window hangs a frosted garland. To match, frosted floral is used in a white vase by the sink and plant stand on the island.
Thank you for touring our home this winter! After we thaw out from this Wisconsin winter, please stop by again to see what our cozy cape cod looks like for spring.
Decor and Adore 