Take a look at this month’s major magazine covers. Whatever the weather report may be saying, the home fashion forecast is calling for a white winter. Why white? White in all its myriad variations is clean and immaculate, pure in heart and spirit. Like a porch light that welcomes us home in the darkness or a cold glass of milk after a cookie, white comforts, calms and refreshes. Sounds pretty good in difficult times, doesn’t it?

Still, as wonderfully crisp and clean as white feels in a messy world, studies show we often choose white for the wrong reasons. Fearing a costly decorating mistake, homes (and retail stores!) get stuck in neutral, with walls awash in all manner of white and beige. Herewith, a few ideas on how to play it for all its worth this season, rather than play it safe.

First, my pick for this month’s most inspirational magazine cover. A simple white sofa surrounded by exciting, color-packed pillows is a quick fix for the winter doldrums. The good news is that it’s easy to harness this energy to promote the purchase of new home décor at your store.

Demonstrate to your customers that the advantage to having upholstered furniture in neutral tones is that it’s easy to quickly and affordably change the feeling of a room setting with colorful decorative accessories. After all, the very definition of a neutral palette is that it works beautifully with every other color on the wheel!

Bear in mind that, for home and home décor retailers, the best thing about HGTV is that all of their content constantly promotes change. My advice is to hop on the coattails of that media monster and start promoting like the savvy home fashionista that you are!

As John Ross, chief executive of Shopper Sciences recently noted in a report on 2011 Holiday Shopping Trends, “Americans may be under pressure from the economy, but that doesn’t mean they want to endure a disappointing holiday… For those retailers and brands willing to share, support and empower shoppers – rather than just sell to them – it has the opportunity to be a bright season.”

IMAX has made it easier than ever to empower your shoppers with an ever-expanding collection of ColorPOST accessory pods. The pods make it simple for your customers to pull a room together and a no-brainer for merchants to project a fashionable image!