Would you love your home to be cosier this winter? Here are some great tips and tricks so that you can feel warm and snuggly in your favourite place this chilly season.
Being cosy is something that should come with winter, and yet, sometimes the house can feel a little bit cold and lacking in that hygge, snuggly vibe. It often happens when the house hasn’t been adjusted much after summer, and until the Christmas decorations go up, if nothing changes, you’re left with that same breathable, bright home that was ideal for summer, but not necessarily winter. The good news is that switching things up is really easy and affordable. With a few adjustments and the five steps below, your home can be the snuggly, cushy and cosy nest you really want, let’s take a closer look:
1. Declutter
Marie Kondo says we need to do it, every single interior design expert says we need to do it, and you probably know you need to do it when you look around and see far too many items you’ve hung onto, but don’t really want or need. It’s the first step you need to take to de-stress your home and get it ready for relaxing, cosy vibes. You can’t be cosy and relax surrounded by loads of unwanted stuff. The good news is, if you declutter and sell off your things you can not only prepare your place for cosy vibes, but you could make a bit of money for a few snuggly accessories, too. Don’t have time to sell them yet? Pop your clutter into cheap self storage or if you are in the cpaital, some London storage, and get back to it when you have time to sell. You can add it to unwanted Christmas presents and maybe get a nice chunk of money back to start off the New Year.
2. Clean
Just like clutter, dirt and dusty corners don’t bode well for a relaxing, cosy space. Cleaning your house in detail will help you to feel much more relaxed when it comes to creating the perfect winter nest. You might want to do a bit of a winter deep clean, where you place some of your bigger furniture into local self storage, allowing you to get into the deepest corners of the home and truly deep clean.
With your furniture out of the way you could shampoo and wash the carpets, which brightens them up and gives the room a fresher smell. Carpets are such a big part of feeling cosy in Winter, aren’t they?
Additionally, maybe get your sofa and other soft furnishings deep cleaned, as they will look better and smell nicer as they get much more use during the snuggly season. Lastly, as well as giving everywhere a good once over, do clean those windows and remove any big plants or accessories from the window ledge. Natural light helps to dry everything out and along with ventilation, gets rid of that stuffy, dusty smell that can make a room feel horrible to spend time in over winter.
3. Rearrange
Is there a better arrangement your home could have over winter? Maybe your wet coat always soaks the back of the sofa as you walk in, or the chair in the corner allows damp and moisture to create mould on the wall. Maybe you face away from the natural light from the window when you’re seated and the corner feels a bit dark and dismal.
Try rearranging the furniture, especially as you’re getting it back from local self storage anyway so you may as well have a bit of a play with how it is positioned. You might even want to leave some furniture in your local self storage unit to create more room in your main living areas, especially if you spend more time at home during the winter. Or, perhaps there is a piece of furniture that never gets used and now is the time to put it aside, rather than putting it back into your home.
Lastly, you might want to try zoning with screens and other methods if you find the whole family is utilising one space during the winter. This doesn’t mean spending time together, but rather when one child might be on the computer, another is doing some art, maybe you want to watch something on TV – it can be a lot. Zoning can help you to make the most of your indoor space so that winter doesn’t feel stifled, rather than cosy. Even better, you could pop your spare room contents into local self storage so that you then have the space to create a play room or games room in that room, so the family has more space to spread out.
4. Create Ambience
Cosy isn’t just the textures and frills we mention below, it is about creating a cosy feeling. To create a cosy ambience at home you could;
- Add additional lighting like fairy lights, rather than relying on big brash lights only
- Work on being more heating efficient so that the heating you use keeps the temperature as cosy as possible
- Implement some low, relaxing music so you have a cosy soundscape. Pre-Christmas this should just be anything that makes you feel safe and relaxed
- Implement some cosy smells so you have your own scentscape for your snuggle-pad. You could use candles, incense, reed diffusers and even try on the hob methods for filling the house with incredible smells
- Ensure you ventilate well so that the house doesn’t feel stuffy
- Create ‘social areas’ to invite in friends and family to spend time with you, and make happy memories
This ambience is essential for ensuring that the house ‘sets the scene’ for hygge far beyond the accessory suggestions below.
5. Accessorise
With all the preparation above, this step is the fun, final part of creating a cosy home. This is where you maybe get some new fluffy slippers, you add fluffy blankets and cushions, you add some winter plants and you dress the place up. Do try layering those textures to ensure that there is depth to the overall aesthetic.
Are you ready to get snuggly? With the five steps above your house will be fresher, cleaner, more relaxed and much more cosy for the winter season. It’s now the perfect setting for nights of cosy film watching and snuggly cuddling under blankets with a good book.