Yesterday we took down the Christmas decorations and now the place looks so bare. Have you taken your Christmas decorations down yet?
Is your place feeling a little empty too?
All the garland, the wreaths, the big red bows, the buoys, we even pulled the candles out of the windows.
It’s kind of sad. All that hard work… Packed away until next year. It seems way too early to put the Valentine’s decorations up, so for now, the house will have to look a little plain.
Well, as plain as a house with a dozen lobsters crawling all over it can. 😉
Last year we hung giant hearts on the house for Valentine’s Day and loaded the picket fence with wooden buoys. I think we’ll do the same this year. Next door though is a fresh canvas so I’m pretty excited about that.
Part of me wants to keep it really simple. Maybe a plain twiggy wreath on the door with a heart {and that’s it!!} and the other part wants to go all out and cover the place with hearts.
But I don’t know if the HH is up for that. 😉
Winter can seem really long here sometimes, especially if it’s super cold and there’s no snow on the ground.
Cabin fever. It can feel real sometimes but mostly just when I can’t get out and go walking. I am a firm believer that if it’s going to be super cold, there needs to be snow.
I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do with the pinecones and {fake} berries I took off the wreaths, but I’m hoping between now and next Christmas I can come up with something.
Have you ever tried making a pinecone wreath before? That might be a good idea.
I could also use some help coming up with a cute way to decorate the birdhouse out front for Valentine’s Day.
I thought about painting little lobsters on it but there’s no way I’m going to stand out there in the freezing cold and do that.
I’m not sure the paint would stick anyway.
~Mavis
Mel says
Can you paint tiny lobsters on the birdhouse and then hang tiny Valentines buoys off of it?
Mavis Butterfield says
The only tiny buoys I’ve seen are $10 each. I wonder if I could whittle some.
Mel says
Really? I searched Etsy and am seeing them for like $4-$10 for 6-12 unfinished mini wood buoys.
Lisa says
Your birdhouse could become part of your seasonal decorating: Paint small scale wooden lobsters, hearts, shamrocks, bats, etc and attach them to the birdhouse.
Mavis Butterfield says
Love it!!!
Christa H. says
Yes- great idea plus attach with little pieces of white velcro you nail/staple onto the birdhouse and glue onto the back of each monthly decoration to remove and replace with each change. I have seen squared off dowel rods or wood pieces in couple foot length at Lowe’s Hardware store for the buoys
Nancy Settel says
I always leave my wreath on the front door up and call it a winter wreath (I do love pine cones and had a huge full one years ago). Oh what a great idea for the bird house to be decorated too. Could you do the lobsters out of very thin wood can’t think of the name and attached with screws to the bird house? I could see it mirroring with whatever you put on your house each season also!!! Don’t tell your husband I said that though. My husband said he thinks the wood is called Luan? Who knows, can’t wait to see what is coming.
Lesley says
Our window candles stay up through February because of exactly that: the gloom and sparseness of the season.
I bundle up and walk no matter the weather because it keeps me from getting melancholy! As they say, it’s not bad weather, just bad clothing.
Looking forward to seeing what you do next door! I agree that keeping simple is the way to go (to offset the Lobster House!).
Mallory L. says
It might be too late – but maybe incorporate the greenery (wreaths and swag) into something new? Decorated cart, fence, etc in the meantime?
We’ve always left our wreath up until it starts to turn brown (March-ish?) – as do most of our neighbors – more of a winter decoration than a Christmas one!
I saw on my way to work this morning someone had wrapped their (real) tree in a big plastic sheet and put it to the curb for trash pickup (I assume – it was next to the cans on trash day) – so many farms will take greenery for their animals or compost! Definitely the first time in 30+ years living in Maine that I’d ever seen someone do that with a real tree!
Looking forward to seeing the Valentines decor up though – so cheery in what can be a very dreary month!
Sandra says
I like to keep some pine cones and a variety of winter greens around the house, inside and out. I will add some valentine decor right along with the winter themed evergreens in a few weeks. When I put the valentine decor away I will add some St. Patrick’s themed items, again right in with my wintergreens. By then winter will be waning and I will put the winter greens, garlands, and wreaths away then lean into spring and Easter. That theme will carry me through until Memorial Day when I will reset for my Patriotic theme.
Sue S. says
Ditto. I don’t decorate for Valentine’s except for a few hooked pillows with primitive hearts in them.
cat says
What if you hung tiny heart ornaments off the pegs? It would work temporarily till you can paint it in the spring.
Mavis Butterfield says
That’s a cuper cute idea!!
Susan says
As my mom was aging, she shifted her “christmas” decorations toward more “winter” themed (snowman, snowflakes, etc) so that she could keep the decorations up well into the new year without them being “out of season”. Maybe you can do a snowflake or snowman theme into January before Valentines day. (And your snowman could have a changing scarf – a blue scarf for January and a red one for February and then pink into March before Easter)
CP Mass says
I was thinking the same thing; the lobsters could have dangling snowflakes in their grasp. January reminds me of the color blue, ice skating, snowmen, igloos, and snowflakes. The evergreen wreaths and pinecones fit right in to carry over into spring. For the birdhouses; maybe some ribbon and dangling pinecones with peanut butter on them for the birds?
Sue s says
That’s a great idea.
Tiffany F says
Yes! I was thinking snowman & snowflake buoys for January.
Deb from Ohio says
This might be crazy, but what about making a simple red wool slipcover, to fit over the roof? The wool should be fairly weatherproof and would add a punch of color.
Heather says
How about taking your idea for the house next door! Place a small twiggy wreath on the bird house and hang a heart ornament on it. As the holidays/ seasons change you could change out the ornament.
Randini says
Make heart shaped birdseed ‘ornaments’ to hang from the lower pegs of the birdhouse. That may invite some new residents to look at your available property. 🙂
Mavis Butterfield says
I love this idea!!!
Sue S. says
Me too! That’s what I was going to suggest.
Tamara says
I may be the only one who appreciates the “down” time between seasons/holidays. (Not counting Oct – Dec) I think the brain needs the respite. I also think the birdhouse needs just small lobsters, nothing else. But you have a knack of knowing just the right amount of decorating so go with your gut.
Donna says
You took down your Christmas decorations. Maybe you could put up Valentines decorations.
Ann says
We always leave the evergreen wreaths and greenery around our front door out until the end of February. It seems like winter decorations more than Christmas to me. And it makes me happy. 🙂
Annette says
Maybe you could turn the birdhouse into a little library. Make it look like a tiny replica of your house.
Wendy Steele says
I take down my Christmas wreath from the front door & replace it with a plain (artificial) boxwood wreath. I also remove the Christmas greens/poinsettias (artificial) from my two window boxes & put artificial boxwood in them too. It gives a green cheerful look for the rest of the winter. I don’t live very close to the street & I fool myself the boxwood looks real from the curb …….
SueD says
You could leave the greenery and wreaths up until close to Valentine’s Day, minus the red bows. We always leave our Christmas decorations up at least through 6 January, sometimes until Candlemas/Lady Day.
You can make pinecone wreaths, or if you don’t want to craft with them, bag them and sell them.