WHY I LOVE TRANSITIONAL DECORATING

 

WHY I LOVE TRANSITIONAL DECORATING-title page-stonegableblog

Transitional decorating is how I easily move from one season to the other. It’s how I give my home a little breathing room between the season at hand and the next big holiday coming up! Transitioning is the PROCESS of changing from one state or condition to another! And transition is a big, big buzz word in the vocabulary of how I decorate!  Finding a transitional style not only allows me to put away the majority of the season’s past decor but also lets me enjoy my home decorated with a lighter, less-is-best feel! Here’s why I love transitional decorating…

 

 

WHY I LOVE TRANSITIONAL DECORATING- And why you should love it too! Fabulous ways to slide into a new season or holiday!

Right now my home is “between” seasons and holidays. But that does not mean that there is not a nod to the time of year or the season in my decor! It means that I have taken down all the obvious, big and abundant seasonal decor like pumpkins or Christmas trees or bunnies or acorns or red/white and blue flags and put them away.

I love the time in between seasons and holidays and my home does too!!! 

WHY I LOVE TRANSITIONAL DECORATING- And why you should love it too! Fabulous ways to slide into a new season or holiday!

Transitional decor allows me to have a semi-clean decorating slate to work with.  I usually choose one or two small decor elements to leave behind and enjoy. This year that means leaving behind the pinecones I used during fall and Christmas decor to use in a fresh way.

I piled pinecones in a pretty vintage urn in the living room. I love the look of pinecones almost any time of year! Their color and texture adds beauty and interest to any room!

WHY I LOVE TRANSITIONAL DECORATING- And why you should love it too! Fabulous ways to slide into a new season or holiday!

My pillows have also taken a more transitional look too! Gone are the fall motifs and Christmas colors. There is not a sign of any season! I replaced them with darker, neutral colors.

WHY I LOVE TRANSITIONAL DECORATING- And why you should love it too! Fabulous ways to slide into a new season or holiday!

I also like to add a few organic elements that can work with the transitioning season. Boxwood works almost any time of year!

WHY I LOVE TRANSITIONAL DECORATING- And why you should love it too! Fabulous ways to slide into a new season or holiday!

I’m not a fan of what I have coined “crossholidation”. When two or more holiday’s decorations appear together! Like Christmas lights with spring decor or pumpkins and Christmas trees. It hurts my designer sensibilities!

I like when my home is a clean slate! It makes me so much more creative and inventive! It’s hard to decorate for spring when I still have evergreen sprays laying around!

Transition anything from the past season out! And give yourself a little window of time to enjoy a stripped-down room. When all the excess of a season is removed a room is a whole lot easier to clean too! 

So I pare things down and enjoy a less-is-more decor until it's time to decorate for the next season or holiday!

 

Transitional decor is that clean slate! Easy on the eyes and so easy to add touches of the season when it is time!

WHY I LOVE TRANSITIONAL DECORATING- And why you should love it too! Fabulous ways to slide into a new season or holiday!

 Give yourself and your home a little breathing room!

So I pare things down and enjoy a less-is-more decor until it's time to decorate for the next season or holiday!

 

So I pare things down and enjoy a less-is-more decor until it's time to decorate for the next season or holiday!

Here are some great elements to use in transitional decor…

  • pinecones
  • willow balls
  • candles
  • mercury glass
  • burlap
  • feathers
  • baskets
  • books
  • small bowls
  • corks
  • a plant

You might also like: 

HOW TO COVER BOOKS WITH BURLAP

burlap-covered-book-stonegableblog

HOW TO STYLE A TRANSITIONAL VIGNETTE

how-to-create-a-transitional-vignette-creating-a-look-to-last-from-season-to-season-stonegableblog-com_

You might like to follow me on Pinterest and see all the great things I am finding to pin every day HERE.

pin-it-and-save-the-inspiration

WHY I LOVE TRANSITIONAL DECORATING- And why you should love it too! Fabulous ways to slide into a new season or holiday!

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41 Comments

  1. LOVE the decorating tips you give … thanks , looking forward to a new year of ideas!

  2. Norma Rolader says:

    I love the saying let your home breath!!! Love your decor and thank you for sharing

  3. It is a great breathing time to leave fall and the holidays. I have just moved to a warmer location for the winter and can’t wait to get into the stores here to see what is new. I love the pine cones in the urn and always have many of those.

  4. Let our homes breathe and those that live there too. After the not stop activities of the holidays it is nice to just stay in my bathrobe and read the books I got for Christmas. Leaving on a cruise in 2 weeks so this leisure will soon come to an end and I will be busy packing. Stay warm and healthy this winter Yvonne and take time to refresh both body and spirit. God bless.

  5. Hi Yvonne,
    Yes, I agree that I do not like crossing holidays either! However, I do still have some things that even though I use them for Christmas, they can look like winter too. I have just gotten down all my Christmas and even painted my family room. So light and fresh! I’m going to be doing alot of that because we are planning to put our house on the market! Thanks for all your ideas! It really helps with inspiration! xoxo

  6. Calypso in the Country says:

    I find it such a relief to clear out all the Christmas decor and start with a clean slate! Having said that, I still have a decaying Christmas tree standing in my living room…but it should be leaving today! Once I get all the Christmas stuff put away, I always do a thorough cleaning and then I can finally focus on my goals for the new year! I always love your tips and decorating inspiration! Best wishes for the new year!
    Shelley

  7. Happy New Year Yvonne! Thanks for this post. I am still in the process of taking down Christmas as I had to go back to work yesterday. I plan to finish it up this weekend. Everything always looks so bare but I agree we need to give the house some breathing room after all the hustle and bustle of fall into the holidays. Next up is Valentine’s day but I don’t do a whole lot of decorating for that since my son is grown up now. A few heart boxes here and there and a heart shaped wreath on the door and that is about it. What about you?

  8. I love a cleaner look after the holidays,I do leave pinecones out.Spring has sprung in the stores and I’ve started browsing to see what small touches I can add to my home.

  9. I love getting my house back in order after putting all the Christmas decorations away. Thank you for all of your great advice. Happy New Year!!!

  10. Hi Yvonne! I love EVERYTHING you share with us. I’m curious as to how you store all your decorating items. Do you have a room dedicated with shelving that allows you to easily pick thru to transition from one season (or look) to another? Do you have an outlet for when you’re ready to part with pretties? I change things up several times a year, but digging thru tubs, unwrapping, and looking for certain pieces has started to be a chore. I’m also starting to have some remorse on things I’ve let go because of storage limitations. What’s your set up for storage?

    1. I’m in the middle of revamping my storage. It should be done in the spring. I’ll share a post on it then.

  11. I keep 75% of the same decor items all year round. During holidays, I fill in the remainder with seasonally appropriate items. Like you, I do not like crossholidation Luv you term

  12. Thanks Yvonne for this post on transitioning. I do look forward to this after Christmas time to kind of clear the slate. As I was putting Christmas away on Monday I was very conscious of how I was transitioning. I did leave a couple of things out from the holiday that also uses pine cones and look winterish! As I was working I found myself backing off cause I didn’t care for some of my transitions because it was too much! So you have validated me today and I find your comments valuable!

  13. Karen Questel says:

    Happy New Year, Yvonne & Bobby! This is a great post, and I’m using a lot of your ideas today as I just put my holiday decor away yesterday. I love the way you think! Thanks for the list you included in the post… I need some mercury glass & feathers. 🙂

  14. I always find it refreshing after I have packed away all the Christmas/holiday décor and give my home a good cleaning, organizing and de-cluttering. I might leave a few touches of winter décor up through January but otherwise its a clean slate.

    Ditto on the “cross holidation” style. It hurts my eyes when I walk into a Cracker Barrel restaurant and see Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas all jumbled together in their gift shop!

  15. Theresa at Winterberry Lane says:

    While Christmas is the best time of the year, it is now time to put the happy times away and get ready for thoughts of much warmer weather. Since I can not go outside in the yard ,I’ll just do house cleaning instead. Thanks for the great tips for transitioning our homes. Have a great day and try to stay warm!

  16. Terri Steffes says:

    I love this time of year, too. It is when I make some design changes, and update the rooms, as in a new rug or lamps. I love all the decorating pieces I see, but I would love to see your rooms as a whole, too.

  17. joanne hotchkiss says:

    Love the clean look. It is a time to just be and reflect on the past holiday.

  18. Carol in PA says:

    I love all your vignettes. I love everything about your decor style. I am wondering how and where you store all the items you use in your vignettes. I know you have a love of pillows, but I think I would need to slipcover the ones I use all year around so as not need to store pillows elsewhere. Do they become clutter? I only have a single-car garage and a space under the stairs in my bi-level home. The attic is only a crawl space which we can not use for storage. When we built our house, it would our intention of not having a plethora of storage space to accumulate things because we come from families who keep everything. I also have a small bedroom I use for storage and that is where I keep my wreaths and garden flags. I would like to find another place for the wreaths, but field mice found them when I stored them elsewhere and I’m reluctant to do that again. I prefer to only use one wreath per season… fall, winter, spring and summer. I am puzzled by what wreath to use for this midwinter season. Do I make an exception for Valentine’s Day or keep my Christmas wreath up until I put a spring or Easter one up? I don’t want to be changing things every month. I don’t feel able to do that. I’m sorry to have so many questions, but you are my favorite blogger and I know you will come up with an answer. Thank you for your consideration and advice.

  19. Good tips. I’m looking forward to your post on storage. Planning on moving next year and I’m hoping for a small garage of my own for storing holiday and decorating items. I’m tired of a little here and a little there., squeezing it in where ever I can.

  20. Judith Mangers says:

    I am tired of my decor above my cabinets. Do I take it down and not put anything back up or just new stuff? What is in style? It seems the decor is more minamal then it used to be. I have oak cabinets and cannot change the color. Any ideas would be appreciated

  21. If, for some horrible reason, I had to just have one blog to follow, it would be yours. You speak to me everyday, and give me that breath of fresh air that I so need. My decorating has taken a lighter hand while changing to a different style, yours. Again, it is what speaks to me, so I know it’s right. Bonus, my husband is liking the new, change of pace in the meal planning. Thank you Yvonne!

  22. Katherine says:

    Love decorating for the holidays but must say I do find the lull after Christmas so relaxing and enjoyable.

  23. Well done ! I can remember first day back to school. We were assigned and received our books. We were also given the covers for the books. This brings back “precious memories”. Of course we did not receive the beautiful burlap. Now, you have given me a new project…..I love it. Thanks.

  24. I agree with you, I do enjoy decorating for the seasons, each separately, but I am always more than ready to put things away and enjoy my less cluttered look. I paired down my Christmas decorations this year, but after 10 days I decided it was still more than I wanted and started removing or relocating some. I
    After Christmas I started separating what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to donate or to give away.
    I love the way your home is decorated and always enjoy your posts.

  25. Beth Pozzini Putz says:

    HAPPY NEW YEAR Yvonne! I am just sitting down taking a break from taking down my Christmas decorations. I dread this point in time, because it feels so depressing…the grey, cold winters, and seemingly nothing to look forward to. I know that is a bad attitude, but it’s truly how I feel in January. Being from an Italian family on my father’s side, we do celebrate La Befana on January 6, but it is still not the same! Your post made me feel inspired and renewed, and I THANK YOU for that! You have given me some super ideas for happy neutral decorating, and it does feel good! A clean slate. As much as I adore Christmas, I was getting sick of the extra clutter it seems to bring. I have done a tray on my coffee table that is very similar to yours, and I bought some new pillow covers to spruce up my winter decor. My room feels cleansed! Now if I could just get my fairy Godmother to come dust & vacuum for me!?Much love & many blessings to you!

    ❤Beth

  26. Thank you for the great post! I love this time of year when the holiday decor is gone and the house (now our apartment, just moved this summer!) looks so clean and open! I did some winter decor with silver and blue…and white. Cool and fresh. Look forward to reading more from you as the year goes on…Happy New Year ! http://www.ournewvista.com

  27. Happy New Year!!! Thanks for the tips on letting our homes breathe. It does feel so refreshing to pack things away and slowly transition into the next season.

  28. Julie Briones says:

    Thanks for all the reminders… Always enjoy reading your blog! Happy New Year!

  29. Jill Miglin says:

    Great thoughts on the transitional decor. I had to smile, as I noticed from the corks, that you and I apparently enjoy the same wines.

  30. Carol Imler says:

    I so agree! I love when I clear the decks and let the house breathe!

  31. Karen VanLoo says:

    I’m finally finished putting away Christmas, and I love to move things around and change out my shelves and tables. Just using what I already have! I did start collecting some pottery from an artist I have become a fan of, and enjoy using it in my kitchen decor. The color is neutral, so it goes with what I already have. It’s also a great time to really clean under and behind furniture. I’m always amazed at the dog hair I clean up, which is the reason I own so many vacuum cleaners! Thanks for the tips, I do love the start of a new year and having my home cleared for the start of the new year.

  32. My transitional for January consists of mostly winter white, and touches of silver nercury glass votives. I did a pine needle basket with cream and white yarn balls, and mixed white candlesticks. pillows and throws went to faux fur and cream. wintery looking but not holiday. Late in January I will remove the mercury glass and slip in touches of red and rose for valentines day. In March the white tulips and faux early bulbs replace the Valentines and pink peonies add to the rose throw remaining from valentines.

  33. Thank you for givin my eyes a little pumpkin rest. This was a nice change from all the busy pumpkin all fall decorations.

  34. Love burlap…. And for the fall I am planning on using several of your ideas to decorate. Love your blog. Keep all your wonderful ideas coming as I cannot get enough of them and I look forward to receiving them every day.

  35. I have no idea what led me here, but am so grateful I did. I feel inspired. I am starting over from scratch and lead the way! Thank you!

  36. Mary C Cancelliere says:

    Love everything about your home.
    Can you tell me where you got your coffee tablel??

    1. Hi Mary, Thanks so much! The coffee table came from Ethan Allen about a decade ago. Hope this helps.