10 Tips To Make Your Home Look Cozier in Winter

Fall and winter are the times of year when most people start to retreat to their homes more for the warmth and comfort it brings in cooler temperatures. You want your home to be a cozy place to relax during those cold days and nights when spending more time indoors is warranted by the weather. Aside having a beautiful burning fire in the fireplace, there are several things you can do to make your home look and feel more cozy, not only for you and your family, but for your guests who will surely be visiting during these holiday months. Here are 10 tips to make your home look cozier in winter.

1. Display wonderful memories

Use this time of year to bring lots of memories for you and your family. Setting things out around your home that are special and remind you of holidays in the past or any other favorite time, always help to bring a warm and fuzzy feeling to any room. You may have some favorite photos, or perhaps you have collectibles that always seem to make your smile when they see them at this time of year. Whatever you have that means ‘cozy’ to you this season, break it out and enjoy it all winter long.

2. Add cozy rugs to your room

Floors have a way of making a winter day or night feel even colder when it’s left cold and baron. One of the best ways to make a room feel instantly cozier is by adding a big, comfortable, push rug on the floor. In your bedroom, don’t let your bare feet hit that cold floor in the morning to start your day off wrong. Instead, a big plush faux fur area rug will cozy-up your room and make getting out of bed in the morning a lot more comfortable and cozy.

3. Add more textures

There’s something about textures that give a sense of coziness to a room. Textured materials, like pillows, blankets, bedding, even chair cushions, among other home elements can really cozy up a room. Mix and match textures to create layers that appeal to the eye and the coziness of a room. Furs, velvet, tweed, cotton, chenille, knitted materials, among others work to give a room character and appeal. Don’t be afraid to use faux textures – anything that draws you in and gives you the feeling of warmth and coziness. And don’t forget about beautiful patterns for your textured materials, like plaids, which are Oh! so warming to a room.

4. Adjust the lighting in the room

When you think of the colder seasons, you often think of softer, warmer lighting in a room to warm it into a cozy glow. Imagine dimmed lights with the warm glow of a fire in the fireplace. You instantly think of a cozy atmosphere. You can do this by adjusting the lighting in your room, with or without a fire burning. At Project Hot Mess, lighting suggestions include, reducing the overhead light by adding a dimmer switch, using wall sconces as ambient lighting, and get the candles out to instantly create a more cozy look and feel to your room.

5. Set out fall and winter decor items

There’s something about seeing some of the outdoors, inside, that can add the feeling of warmth and coziness to a room. Holiday decor in festive reds and evergreen hues, from displays using candles, berries, fall colored leaves, pine cones, or any other display you have or create. You can make any room look like a warm and festive room with holiday spirit sprinkled throughout. Hang a strand of warm twinkling lights around a window, or down a banister. For a creative idea, hang a strand of lights along a wall with your favorite holiday memory photos clipped to it for a neat warm and cozy element.

6. Set out lots of candles

Candle represent both a romantic and cozy atmosphere, and sometimes, those colder nights need a little of both. Placing candles around the room adds a cozy appeal to the room when either lit or not. Of course, lit candles really warm up a room, so use candles this winter and change that cold and boring living room or bedroom into a cozy, romantic feeling room and get ready to snuggle up with your special someone.

7. Get to baking

One thing that will take your home to the next level of coziness, is the smell of fresh baked goods in the house. It doesn’t take much baking, either, to add an instant feeling of warmth and coziness to your home. Apple cider simmering on the stove, a batch of easy-bake cookies just coming out of the oven, or a pot roast cooking in the crockpot on the counter. If you want to really give your home a sense of warmth this winter, break out your cookbooks and do a little cooking and baking for your family. They’ll love your it!

8. Declutter your space

One thing that take away from a warm and cozy space and make it feel quite the opposite, is a very cluttery room. When you have too much stuff scattered everywhere, stacked on tables, stuffed between the sofa and side tables, or even too many knick knacks consuming a lot if your surface space, it can have the opposite effect of making you feel relaxed, or giving you the warm and fuzzies. For many people, too much clutter can bring on feelings of being unsettled and anxious. Remove things that can be tossed out or stored in other places to reveal a more open and airy space that feels more welcoming and allows you to sit back and relax without being over-focused on the clutter. For an instant cozier feeling in any room is to declutter it.

9. Add more warm throw pillows and blankets around the home

Do you have a storage closet where you’ve been storing all those warm and cozy throws all summer long, just waiting to break them out on the first chilly night? Well, it’s time. If you don’t have any extra pillows or throws, get some online or your favorite brick and mortar store and start dispersing them about your home in your favorite cozy rooms. Warm, neutral tones and textures on throw pillows warms up any couch, and an extra blanket or two on a cozy chair or sofa gives an added layer of texture and coziness to your favorite spot to retreat on cold nights.

10. Add window treatments to warm up the windows

Windows are known to feel a little drafty during colder months and they can look colder too, if they don’t have beautiful window treatments to cover them and give them a warmer, cozier look. Adding window treatments to your favorite room to relax in will not only help your room look and feel warm and welcoming, but they can help to prevent drafts, which can instantly warm up a chilly room.