Winter Dining Room

Warm up your dining room with these simple decorating ideas from our winter dining room.

I always find this time of year a little challenging with home decor. Gone are the festive fairy lights and Christmas trees of the holidays and it’s really too early for beautiful, fresh flowers. As I type this with a cup of tea and flickering candle, it’s just too cold do go outside. It’s 7°F and windy. Even our black lab, Poppy, doesn’t understand this weather and why I won’t let her outside. Today I’m excited to share our winter dining room.

So how do you make your home feel warm and inviting in winter?

Simple Decorating Ideas for Winter

I’m going to share all my tips in this post!

Flickering Candle Light

Candles have a way of warming up a room. I love watching the flame dance. I found these pretty Indigo votives at a thrift shop back in the spring and love how the color makes our room feel happier. The punches of blue really create a lovely contrast against the wood shelf and white walls. They also highlight the pretty landscape painting my friend Becky of The Pink Frame painted.

Layering Plants

Can you believe these tulips are faux? I’ve had them for a few years and originally got them from Balsam Hill. They look so realistic and love the wooden vessel they’re in. I often use these in our home during January into the spring. Also, on the shelf is a real Pothos. It’s one of my favorite plants. I hardly do anything to look after it except dust the leaves and water once a week.

Vintage Lighting

Speaking of flickering lights, I love our vintage brass and crystal chandelier. It always reflects the light so beautifully. I clean the crystals with a mixture of cleaning vinegar, water and a little dish soap.

I always think of the film Pollyanna when I look at that crystal drops.

Coastal Elements

We live in Scituate Harbor so the ocean is never far from my mind. I love using shells in a simple ironstone plate or bringing in collected treasures from our daily beach walks with the dogs.

A sprinkle of shells and coral always makes me smile. The shells in the ironstone platter were from Scout Vintage and the Ghost wood is from HomeGoods.

I couldn’t resist this vintage sailing photograph. I found it back in the fall out antiquing with my mom. Isn’t it wonderful.

Adding Old Furniture with Character

Our dining room is filled with character-filled pieces – the Welsh dresser, the dining table my husband built (see the reveal here) and this sweet little cabinet.

I store all our candles, napkins, place mats, votives and entertaining items in here. It’s a really hard working piece! Not bad for a $20 yard sale find that I painted with Miss Mustard Seed Milk Paint. See the makeover here.

Decorating with a Collection

I LOVE Ironstone! I’ve collected it for years and just love how it looks in our dining room BUT I also love that we use it on a daily basis. I use it for serving food or as vessels for plants and flowers and also use it to corrale other collections – like all my shells!!!!

This piece is a new find – I got it the three piece set for $6.99 at Savers!

On the same trip I also found an Ironstone gravy boat, which is on the the hutch.

I think collections look best when they are displayed together – on our Welsh Dresser or across the table.

I love how the pottery reflects the winter light.

Do you want to start collecting Ironstone? If so, I wrote a post about it here.

More about Ironstone

• Ironstone started in England in the 19th Century. It is a very strong pottery but does not contain iron. It got the name for its strength and durability.
• It is not porcelain it’s made out of porous earthenware.
• Patented in 1813 by Charles James Mason in Staffordshire, England.
• It is collectable and pristine pieces can go for in the thousands of dollars, but I’m more drawn to pieces that are imperfect and show crazing.
• Ironstone is heavy and often has makers marks on the bottom but some does not.
• It was so popular in the 1800s that some was produced here in the United States in New Jersey.
• Vintage ironstone should be hand-washed.

Where to Find Ironstone

• Yard Sales
• Thrift Stores and Antique Shops
• Friends
• Online via Etsy, eBay and other online retailers
• Flea Markets

I’ve found Ironstone in all of the above places. If you’d like more information on decorating with antiques and vintage you might like this post.

I often find it hard to fully share our dining room with you in photos because our rooms are small but we have the most glorious dark wood columns. I thought I’d share a little video to show you!

I hope you enjoyed this post and it gave you some ideas for decorating your dining room in winter! If you’d like a full source list, let me know and I’ll add it at the bottom of the post.

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