Transitioning from the cozy holidays back into the everyday routine is trying, especially when frigid temperatures and gusty winds await outdoors.

But after holiday decorations come down, local interior designers suggest the cold weather is a good excuse to stay indoors and revamp decor.

Jean Scott of Ideas in Decorating in Gainesville said it doesn’t take much time or money to freshen up the house for those wintry months. She said that by simply rearranging furniture and accessories, such as lamps and paintings, a room can exude an entirely new feel.

"The main thing is taking down all of the Christmas decorations and putting them away for next year," Scott said. "It seems like when you add the Christmas decorations, they seem to fill up your house ... and give you that warm cozy feeling and everything seems to be bright and shiny, and then you take all that away and you’ve got your ... ’round-the-clock house that you live in — but it’s a good opportunity to straighten it up and to look at things."

Scott said it’s easy to get accustomed to the same furniture scheme in your household, making it difficult to imagine using them in a different way.

Scott, who has 30 years of designing experience, said moving furniture against a different wall does wonders to enliven a tired room. She said rearranging trinkets, books and other accessories into new rooms is a quick and easy way to freshen up the house.

Scott also suggested employing some simple touch-up strategies while waiting for warmer weather. She said getting rugs professionally cleaned and re-painting a room — or just the trim — makes the space pop.

"It’s amazing how those things really spruce up your house," Scott said. "It seems like a lot of people will do a little bit and see what a difference it makes in one room and move from that on into another. It’s inspiring ... to see something a little bit different."

The February issue of Dwell magazine celebrates bright, bold colors as part of a design scheme. On a chilly island off Canada, for example, houses compete with the rough-and-tumble landscape in hues of magenta or canary yellow.

The issue also contests that color can soften the rigidity of any room and actually engage the person standing in it. One house in Tokyo uses different shades of color to create optical effects and a place for meditation. A college in Denmark explores different hues of the same color in its dorm rooms, creating an interesting study of what different shades of the same color can bring to a room.

But aside from freshening up the color, Scott suggested other items in a home might need to be replaced.

Diminished candles can be replaced with new fragrant candles to excite the senses, as well as adding potted plants to a room. Plants often fill an empty corner well, she suggested.

"Plants are wonderful to add greenery," she said. "It gives you a fresh, green accessory. It kind of brings some springtime to the room."