Green and White Rustic Winter Decor Ideas

It isn’t too early to start thinking about winter decor. How can you transition easily from Christmas decorations to winter decor? I am here to show you how to use green and white rustic winter decor ideas to help you create a cozy winter environment.

What colors lend themselves to winter decor? I think that green and white are perfect for a rustic winter palette.

You want to enjoy every bit of Christmas cheer in your home. But, as you anticipate taking down the Christmas decorations, do you think about how to give your home a cozy feel for the rest of the cold winter months?

We certainly don’t want our homes to feel bare and cold after Christmas. It doesn’t have to be. Planning for ways to infuse your home with warmth starts before you pack up the baubles and balls. (Here is a plan to pack up your Christmas decorations.)

Let’s think about adding rustic winter decor ideas to add a cozy feeling to your home.

It’s easy to transition from a brightly colorful theme to a simple one using green and white as your color palette.

If you save green wreaths and garland after you take down the Christmas decorations, you have a winter decor plan at your fingertips. No shopping is required!

To be honest, until a few years ago, I never thought much about actually decorating our home with a winter theme. Green is normally not a major color palette that I use, although I did use green for our entry this year.

I was just happy to have all the Christmas decorations safely packed up, the house dusted, and the pine needles swept away.

But the house felt so cold and bare. It was too early to decorate for Valentine’s Day. Spring was still a few months away. What could I do to bring some warmth and soft color back into our living spaces? Can you relate?

Then I read the term “winter decor” and that was when I started incorporating cozy winter colors and winter elements into our home.

What is Winter Decor?

What does winter decor mean to you?

Rustic winter decor is all about fresh, natural, and soft. Winter is a quiet season and our homes should reflect that feeling.

Winter, to me, is all about simplicity, softness, and warmth. I like natural elements that remind you of a forest on a quiet winter day.

That’s why I’ve chosen a natural green and white rustic winter decor theme for our home.

Green and White Rustic Winter Decor

Green and white are my two favorite winter colors. We may associate green with spring, but green still exists in evergreen trees and shrubs.

Green in winter is just softer and muted. We also see browns in the bark of bare trees and branches.

And if you are lucky enough to have snow, then white is definitely part of your color palette.

Using green and white in your rustic winter decor can even be reused for your St. Patrick’s Day decor.

Although Classic Blue is my favorite decor color palette (I used it in our winter bedroom last year.), I do love the natural feel of green for general winter decorating. For the living room, I decided that I wanted to focus on green.

When I think of rustic, I think of soft greenery. Lots of wood and natural materials like woven baskets, wicker, and burlap fit in beautifully.

Fortunately, all you have to do to get this winter look is a little “home shopping”.

I only bought one new item for this green and white rustic winter decor theme in our living room. I always start decorating for a season or holiday in the living room and the first areas I focus on are our mantel and our coffee table.

Living Room Winter Decor

Although this tour of our winter living room is from a few years ago, the color scheme I use today is still the same. The tips I share are still applicable to today’s living spaces.

First, I went on a little “winter cleaning spree”.

Don’t you feel like there is a ton of dust and debris (glitter, pieces of greenery, both real and faux) in your house after Christmas? I don’t feel that I can start decorating the house for a winter decor scheme until I’ve dusted, swept, vacuumed, and polished.

TIP: Remember to keep your green garland and wreaths for use in your winter decor. Remove the ribbons, bows and ornaments. Remove any colored lights. I have kept white lights on a plain cypress wreath.

The mantel and fireplace surround is my first space to decorate since it is the largest and most visible area in the living room. Our mantel and the fireplace surround are really large so it needs items that create a sense of weight and substance.

After we took down all the garland and our wreath from the mantle, it really looked like a big blank space. I decided I wanted something with a natural woodsy feel. It has to be big enough to fill in the area on top of the mantel.

Back in the fall, I used the extra teak leaf from our patio table to take the place of our large Tarkay painting and I loved the natural warm look of it. That colorful painting now has a new permanent space.

The only thing we had that might work was the large wood sunburst mirror we bought at Wisteria for above the headboard in our bedroom. This sunburst mirror is another great alternative.

I had to (sweet) talk Sweet Shark into taking it down and hanging it on the mantel.

It was the perfect beginning to our natural and rustic winter decor.

I love the natural warm feeling of the wood – it’s mango – sunburst mirror on the mantel. It contrasts very well against all the white wood.

Although centered from left to right, it’s a few inches lower than centered top to bottom; we didn’t want to nail any more holes into the wood paneling, so we left it as is. Don’t tell.

Now I could decorate the mantel. I knew that I would bring in greenery and more natural elements. I wanted simple and warm, but not too many items; just an easy and balanced arrangement.

The first thing to do was bring down a few boxes of decorative items that I put away last fall in our guest rooms (which double as storage places). It really helps to have designated places to store your out-of-season decor.

TIP: I’ve been trying to group items, box them, and label them: spring, summer, fall, winter. Of course, some items can be used all the time except Halloween to Christmas. In the past, I’ve gone crazy trying to find things after the holidays that I’ve put here and there.

I started with the burlap-covered books I made a few years ago. Burlap is a great natural material with great texture.

A small wicker basket with a jute hanger that I bought in Atlanta provided the perfect container to fill with some faux greenery that I cut off a large stem.

The texture of this greenery has more of a winter look than a Christmas one.

To add more white, greenery and height, I bought in a tall white vintage bottle and filled it will some eucalyptus from Target ($6.99). I moved the books and little basket over to place the white bottle/vase on the outside of the mantel, close to the vertical columns. Yes, I will remove the price tag.

As you can see, I placed a strand of garland across the mantel. Some garland looks very Christmasy and some looks more wintery. I remembered to keep out the wintery garland when we were packing up the Christmas decorations.

That’s a TIP for you. Don’t pack all the garland away.

This is my favorite garland for winter decorating. I love the soft and airy feel with the small pinecones.

Cedar, cypress, and eucalyptus garland are also great for winter decor.

At the other end of the mantel, I set a wicker basket (a freebie gift basket) on its end for some vertical balance. A battery-operated candle on a timer fits perfectly inside to create a shadow box effect. More faux greenery filled in to contrast with the white candle.

Realizing that I needed more height, more white and more green, I used two more white bottles/vases filled with one piece of greenery each.

The greenery is pieces that came off the garland, so they match in style. I bought all three of these bottles/vases at the same time several years ago at a local flea market. I like the matte finish on them for a more rustic look.

It was that simple to create my green and white rustic winter decor mantel. Nothing fancy, but warm, rustic, and wintery.

Here are more awesome winter mantel ideas that I love.

Don’t Forget the Hearth

It’s important to balance the mantel and fireplace surround by decorating the hearth.

Below the fireplace on the hearth, I filled my vintage Sure Shot box with another garland. This box has been one of the best things I’ve ever bought at an estate sale.

I finally found my two white throws that were AOL over the holidays. I filled an estate sale basket with one and set it on top of my vintage captain’s storage box, a purchase from years and years ago in Jefferson, Texas.

If you need some white or cream throws for winter, here are some great ones.

Now for the coffee table.

Our Simple Winter Coffee Table

Our coffee table is rectangular and I have been looking for a round basket for it for months. Either they were too big or too small or too heavy. I found this one at HomeGoods ($14.99) and grabbed it. It was a perfect size, not too shallow, not too deep, and it had an interesting design.

Here is another round basket/tray I found that would be really nice for styling.

Now for the fun of filling it. I had to have something white, something green, and something rustic. I meant to show you the step-by step,-but this vignette came together so quickly, I forgot.

The white was a large white candle that I took out of our tall metal candle stand in the entry.

The green was, of course, a couple of stems of faux greenery, and the green glass bottles I found at a local antique mall.

These bottles will be great to use for St. Patrick’s Day decor.

The rustic came from the old clay pots that I bought when a few of us bloggers met for lunch and shopping a few years ago. I love those little pots.

Again, this winter vignette seemed to arrange itself.

I needed another element to fill and balance the table. I didn’t have another container or tray that would work with the round basket.

Looking around, I spied one of my favorite large green coffee table books (Bunny Williams’ An Affair with a House – a beautiful book) with green on the cover photo. Could a book be a “tray”? I think so.

Then I used one of my favorite rustic finds, an old grain bucket. I stuck a bunch of greenery stems in, set it on a coffee table book with a green cover. That was that.

My other white throw is tossed on the sofa, ready for snuggling. I left the white sweater pillows on the sofa, too, because they just feel like winter.

The living room is warm and cozy at night. The fireplace glows, surrounded by my green and white rustic decor. The candle comes on and adds sparkle.

If you accidentally pack up all your greenery or other winter decor accessory items, then these items will help you create your cozy winter living spaces.

Want more winter decor ideas? Here’s 13 winter decor accessory suggestions.

This green and white rustic winter decro ideas will the the guide for my winter decro this year. I hope they will be inspiration for you, too.

I hope that you’ve gained some inspiration and enjoyed this look at our winter decor. Be sure to share and PIN for your winter decorating inspiration.