Simple Tips to Add Holiday Cheer to Your Home Decor

Once Halloween has passed and Autumn is in full swing, people everywhere start to feel that itch for coziness. Warm sweaters, spiced drinks, and cozy decor are staples of this time of year, and help to create the comfortable atmosphere we all associate with the holidays. 

One of the joys of the holiday season is that simple, well-thought-out decorations can make a huge difference to the atmosphere of your home, and carry you through the fall and winter months. Warm tones, natural materials, and simple neutral pieces - when combined well - can transform your home into a cozy holiday den, ready for friends, family, feasting, and festivities. 

At The Polished Jar, we cultivate unique pieces designed by artisans for combined practicality and beauty. We believe that a few beautiful pieces of home decor are all you need to transform your space and shift the mood. In this guide, we’re sharing a few ideas for bringing holiday cheer to your home using pieces that can also be featured in your home year round. The name of the game is minimalism without sacrificing variety. 

How To Warm Up the Bathroom

One of the last places people think to decorate is the bathroom, but the atmosphere of your bathroom is actually critical to your ability to relax at home. During the holidays when you crave warmth and coziness, you want your bathroom to be relaxing, luxurious, and welcoming. While a bubble bath and a luxurious robe can help, we think adding a few touches of decor to the bathroom help to tie everything together. 

Decorate the Sink

The bathroom sink is something you use every single day. Whether you are washing your hands, brushing your teeth, or fixing your outfit in the mirror, the bathroom sink is where you do it. To help give your bathroom a warm, welcoming energy that encourages you to spend a little time pampering yourself, try decorating your sink with some practical accessories. 

Amp up your hand-washing experience, for example, by opting for a Luxe Collection Foaming Soap Dispenser made from warm amber-colored glass. If you prefer bar soap (maybe a nice hand-made goat milk soap or artisan bar from a local farmer’s market), something like this stoneware Honeycomb Soap Tray is an awesome alternative. Honey, honeycomb, and honey bees have long been a symbol of abundance and fruitfulness, a perfect reminder for the holiday season as we give and receive countless gifts. 

Accessorize the Back of the Toilet

Not exactly the most glamorous area of your bathroom, the back of your toilet is one of those blank spaces in the home that often gets overlooked. The back of your toilet - or the lid of your tank - is the perfect place to put something extra for yourself or your guests to enjoy in the washroom. 

Since the weather around the holidays is typically dry and cold, we suggest setting out your favorite hand lotion. To help distract from the back of the toilet, try adding something like this Handmade Concrete Tray to hold your choice of lotion. To take your little back-of-toilet display to the next level, try putting your favorite lotion in a dispenser like this Glass Soap Dispenser from our French Modern Collection. The modern minimalism of the concrete tray pairs beautifully with the chic vibes of the dispenser, which is made from glass and features a brushed metal pump. 

Light a Candle

Since most bathrooms heavily feature tile, porcelain, and metal, they can become a bit chilly. Add to that bright lighting and cool-tone tiles, and the bathroom turns into a virtual igloo! The easiest way to instantly warm up any room, and in particular the bathroom, is to light a candle. Rather than just putting a candle on on a bare surface, take the vibe one step further and create a display featuring the Savannah Palm Pedestal, your favorite candle, a small vase of flowers, a ring dish, some crystals, or anything else that you feel might fit your style. 

Keys to Holiday Kitchen Decor

The kitchen is one of the most highly utilized rooms in any home, which can make it difficult to create a cohesive design. Rather than worrying about decorating your kitchen while keeping it usable, just combine your decor and kitchen tools into one. Your kitchen should be full of practical items, but that doesn’t mean they can’t also be decorative!

Natural Materials

Natural materials like wood are a fabulous addition to holiday decor. Natural materials help keep you in the spirit of the harvest season, and bring warmth and coziness with minimal design. Some places to add natural materials to your kitchen include: 

• Bamboo cutting boards for food prep and serving
• Acacia wood trays for storage and serving
• Wood ring dishes to keep jewelry safe while you cook
• Stone bowls for cooking
• Clay dish ware for eating

Practical Decorations

While it’s fine to add a few impractical items to your kitchen, most of your decor should be usable. For example, try spicing up your dish washing routine by washing dishes with our Cinnamon Spice Dish Cloths which feature burnt-mustard and cream stripes, plus super-soft cotton fibers. Chic yet rustic, these cloths aren’t just for show: they offer excellent scrubbing and polishing power, and can easily be machine washed and reused over and over again. 

If you want to feel a bit more glamorous while you do all your cleaning, try putting your cleaning products in an Amber Glass Bottle Sprayer, which gives a soothing medicinal apothecary vibe. These reusable sprayer bottles are also great for those of us who like to make our own natural cleaning solutions. Want to share those natural cleaning solution recipes with friends and family? Why not give them their very own amber bottle filled with your homemade-cleaner this holiday? 

Simple Dining Room Design

Kitchen and dining room decor go hand in hand, especially during the holiday season. You want these two rooms to flow together, and feature a cohesive vibe that will help enhance the coziness of home. To choose pieces that work well in both rooms, try to choose items that serve multiple purposes, and could be included with virtually any design. This means choosing items in neutral colors that still have a bit of visual appeal. 

Multi-Purpose Neutrals

At The Polished Jar, we value more than just flashy design; we love minimalism and chic restraint. The items we love most are those that make a statement without clashing, and can stand alone without needing to be the center of attention. 

A great example of this type of design in action is our White + Gold Round Tray. Nine inches in diameter with a slightly wavy, natural rim, this tray is perfect for whatever you need it to hold, whether that be soap and  cleaning supplies, or cheeses and appetizers. At first glance, the tray appears to be super simple. Upon closer inspection, you’ll notice the brilliant gold edging, and the whimsical waviness. 

For something that leans a bit more towards chic than towards natural, consider this Marble Round Tray. A bit larger at ten inches, each tray is carefully shaped, carved, and polished from real marble. Each is unique, since no two pieces of marble look quite the same. Beautiful with any color and usable for virtually any time of year, this is a super versatile option. 

If you prefer something that feels a bit more human, a bit less perfect, you might like something like our Hazelnut Specked Ceramic Tray. Hand painted and glazed in warm neutral tones, this is yet another option that can work anywhere in the home, and at any time of year. 

Looking for more inspiration? Check out The Polished Jar blog for more tips and tricks, and be sure to visit our store while you’re at it!