Here’s your secret weapon to decorate for the holidays when it’s “too early”; subtle seasonal decor.

I personally love to wait until Thanksgiving weekend and then start trimming the tree and adding decor all over my house, but what do you do when you’ve got mixed thoughts in the same household? 

That can be a tricky one to navigate around. That’s why I am sharing a couple of sneaky ways that you can start to introduce holiday decor when it’s too soon to start decorating.

By the end of this blog, you’ll know how to style your:

1. Kitchen island, buffet, and dining table decor
2. Year round holiday table decor
3. Smoky toned holiday decor
4. Small year round holiday decor

Subtle kitchen island, buffet, and dining table decor

I like to focus on my kitchen island, my buffet and my dining table when using subtle seasonal decor. The best tip I can give you is to start looking at pieces that could feel like holiday, but could also be used year round. 

I’m talking about pieces like the beautiful, whitewashed, chalky painted candlesticks with a little hint of gold that we just got into my shop, Village Antiques.

This is the perfect example of something that is all year round, but also feels very holiday inspired. 

Come fall through the end of the year, I love adding a lot of gold throughout my home. Laurel inspired wreaths are a perfect way to do that in your fall decorating and then continue on into your holiday styling. 

It has this beautiful matte vintage gold finish with little pops of crystal, so you feel that little holiday bling that you look forward to seeing towards the end of the year. 

Similarly, you can look for beautiful urns. This is another new release at my shop that I love for subtle seasonal decorating. The matte vintage inspired gold and heavy presence of it makes it a beautiful, unexpected addition to larger surfaces like your buffet or your kitchen island.

It gives you the feeling of Christmas without putting a little Santa right on your kitchen island. 

You can do the same thing with a cross, which is a wonderful piece of decor to make you feel hopeful and inspired and blessed, not only during the holiday season, but all year round. 

Year round holiday table decor

The next great place that you can focus on to mix a little bit of subtle seasonal decor is on your table. 

I love bringing textiles onto my table in the form of a runner, a topper or even a tablecloth.

I especially love some of the new arrivals that we have at our shop this year because you really get to see all of the gold and metallic trends of the season.

It doesn’t have to be all glam to feel festive. We also brought in more neutral colors for that very reason. 

For example, burlap, cotton, and linen are all natural fibers that work excellently on top of a table, and create a non-season specific backdrop for your eventual holiday decor pieces. 

To me, this is the perfect blend of fall decor and Christmas decor. Once you’ve got these sorts of textures down on top of your table, I would go back and start bringing in some of the beautiful fall decor to keep it feeling like the right season.

While we’re on the table, I shared this on so many tutorials with you, but always be on the lookout for beautiful votives and vases that you can add onto your table to bring that extra bit of sparkle, but not for your holiday specific. 

Once you put a candle or an LED light in here, it’s going to have that twinkle that we all love to see during Christmas time. 

Smoky toned holiday decor

Okay, I know I’m showing you a lot of gold tones. Allow me to introduce to you another beautiful color that you can use starting in the fall and enjoy with your Christmas decor; smoky tones. 

Dark rusty tones in decor is a great way to start adding in fall and Christmas decor.

One example of this is this adorable farmhouse style subtle seasonal table topper decor that you may have seen on our Christmas decorating trends video.

This is something you could easily pull out before the holiday season because of all of the gorgeous, smoky tones in it.

You can enjoy this color in all kinds of home decor, like this beautiful, stunning, large scale hurricane glass candle holder.

This goes beautifully with all of the colors in my favorite fall decor pieces; velvet pumpkins. You can start with these in the fall, and then once the holidays come out, you can replace them with a beautiful ornament collection.

So you can see, it doesn’t just have to be gold. You can find a lot of variety in different color palettes that will allow you to enjoy that magic of Christmas decor early on in the season. 

Small year round holiday decor

Last but not least, what do you do when someone in your home really wants to wait until December 1st to bring Christmas decor into your home?

Well, I still have a couple of sneaky subtle seasonal decor tricks for you. 

You can always do something small, like a beautiful little tray that could go on a side table or maybe your nightstand so no one else can see.

You can go quirky with the shapes that you choose like a charming little deer. Or you can be simple with a little brass tray. These are great pieces of subtle seasonal decor because you can leave them just as is and then transition them out with the holidays.

If even this feels too much too soon for you or your family, the sneakiest way you can bring it in the holidays when it’s “too early” is with a candle. 

This one in particular looks like a piece of Christmas decor, but it’s actually the most delicious scented candle you will ever smell. Nobody would argue with this sweet little subtle (but impactful) seasonal decor.

It’s a great way to make it feel like the holidays without it visually coming across that way.

This gingerbread scented one is a favorite of mine, and I truly wish you could smell it over the screen because it smells like everything you want to feel in your home from fall all throughout Christmas.

Now That You’re a Subtle Seasonal Decor Expert

These are just a few subtle seasonal decor tricks that you can use to bring in Christmas decor or holiday decor before it’s time to actually bring it out.

I’d love to hear from you in the comments! Tell me, when do you start your Christmas decorating? Are you one of those that waits until right after Thanksgiving, or you just can’t wait to bring out your holiday decor?

And don’t forget to sign up to receive your design newsletter and be the first to know when we host our next event! 

Keep using your amazing design gifts to create heart in your home, 

Amitha 

P.S. You can find all of these early fall decorating items at our retail store, Village Antiques in Houston.

Please stop by and check out our collection of farmhouse-style furniture, french country home decor, antiques, vintage, chalk finish paints, and more!

We are open Tuesday – Saturday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. 

You can also reach us at (713) 468 – 3931.