Around the Home: Cozy Winter Homemaking

As the cold weather persists outside, taking the time to bring some cozy winter homemaking indoors adds to the warmth.  It’s also a way that I can focus on the fact that the little things matter within my home.

LIVING ROOM RUG FLIP

We’ve had this rug for about a year and I am asked often how I keep it from getting stained.  My answer: “I don’t.”  In reality, it does have stains on it.  With having older children, it is nowhere near as dirty as it would have been 10 years ago.  During that season in life, I never would have entertained the idea of a rug in our dining room.  And honestly, I am so glad that I didn’t have social media then because I would have felt pressure to follow along with trends…such as rugs under a table.

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〈DINING ROOM MAKEOVER〉  〈HOW TO EASILY PAINT CHAIRS〉

If having a rug under your table doesn’t work for you, I hope this encourages you to keep at that.  Always, always, always do what works best for your family!

Anyway, as I put away our Christmas decorations, I took a look at this rug and remembered that it is reversible.  Things quickly snowballed and the furniture was removed, the rug was given one last vacuum, and then flipped over.  I was instantly so glad!  A fresh clean rug…to drop food on.  Here’s to hoping for a year on this side of it.

COZY WINTER LIGHTS

One of the things I miss after the Christmas season is the glow of lights.  To keep that cozy winter feel, I have sprinkled a little glow from lights around the house.

These copper wire lights are very versatile and are able to be set on a six hour time.  One of the spots I have a strand is in our library around vintage books.

〈LIBRARY MAKEOVER〉  〈LIVING ROOM MAKEOVER〉

Our paperwhite is also quickly growing with the natural light in our library.

The large peace lily in our living room also has a strand wrapped around it’s leaves.

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And in our dining room, two strands light up the inside of our hutch…

and add a sweet glow to the Christmas cactus on top of one of my favorite dressers.

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Another option to add a cozy glow are faux pillar candles.  I have a set of nine separated into groups of three, with one in our living room.

〈OUR LIVING ROOM SOFA〉  〈SIMPLE WINTER MANTEL〉

and another in our library.

These can also be set on a timer!  I set it once and then don’t have to think about them again for the rest of the cozy winter homemaking season.

A CANE CHAIR & A STORY

I have a really neat story about this cane chair.  You see, it was my chair growing up that I used with my desk.  My mom passed both of those on to me ten years ago.  Both have been used by all three of my children.  And now that the youngest is way too big for it, I placed both by the side of the road in hopes that someone would pick them up.

Two weeks later, there was a knock on our door.  None of us were expecting anyone and when I opened the door, the woman standing there asked if we had placed a semi-broken cane chair by the side of the road.  My mind instantly went to a scenario where I said yes and then she blamed me for the chair breaking and injuring someone.  I have no idea why I thought that, but my mouth said yes.

To make a long story short, she picked it up and gave it to her 93 year old father because he enjoying caning chairs.  She said that he was thrilled with the project, removed the old cane, and added new caning to the chair.  He even replaced a broken stretcher on it!  I was practically in tears as she handed me back my childhood chair.  Shocked, I thanked her and her father and went inside to share the story with my family.

I feel so blessed to have this chair back in our home.  To be honest, it hurt a little to put this by the road, but I just couldn’t see myself spending the time, money, or energy on new cane.  It feels like a sweet and unexpected gift from God to have it back.  ♥  And I promise that it won’t leave my home again.

〈HOW TO SAND HARDWOOD FLOORS〉

As the cold weather continues, I hope you are encouraged to spend a little time on some cozy winter homemaking.  And when you do, I’d love to hear about it!

You’re gonna want to check out these “Around the Home” round-ups too:

• Around the Home: Chapter One
• Around the Home: Chapter Two
• Around the Home: Chapter Three
• Around the Home: Early Fall Homemaking
• Around the Home: Late Fall Cozy Homemaking

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