A home should be much more than the physical building that you live in. It should make you feel welcome when you walk through the front door and comfortable when you spend time inside it. Making the home feel welcoming, comfortable, and cozy doesn’t happen by accident, as you have to make deliberate choices and changes. You can do this when you move in or as you live in the home. To help you with this process, we have created this guide with some ideas to make your home cozier and more comfortable.
Personalize The Windows
When you move into a new home, it will likely have boring blinds or ugly curtains. Adding some window dressings is one of the first things you should do to make the home cozier. It is also a great way to give the home some personality. You can buy beautiful curtains and blinds from one of the numerous online retailers. Beautiful curtains and blinds will improve your home’s appearance and, perhaps more importantly, help control the temperature, thereby saving you money by lowering energy usage.
Add Some Art
A common reason people cite for not having art in their homes is the art being too expensive. While this is true for specific pieces, it is not true for all art pieces. If you have bare walls in your home, you can make it cozier by adding some budget-friendly art pieces to the walls. You can find amazing pieces from amazing artists on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook or by doing some online research to find the websites of individual creators. The beauty of art is that it can transform a space immediately after you hang it.
Change The Seats
Most people spend time in their living rooms reading, watching TV, relaxing, or chatting with friends and family. Switching the seats is one way to make the space more comfortable and thus more enjoyable to use and spend time in. Most homes have sofas that accommodate one to three people that have been there for a long time and thus are no longer comfortable to sit or lie on. For such homes, buying new sofas is something to consider.
Although typically used outdoors, benches are also popular indoors. Their main advantage is they are often longer than typical sofas and have taller armrests. These armrests make them comfortable to sit and lie on and easier to style. Benches can also be a focal point in your home.
Use Lighting To Create Warmth
Lighting is an important element for making a home cozier and more comfortable. You can use tasteful lighting to create a warm home. To start, consider how many lights you have, the designs of the fixtures and bulbs, and whether the bulbs are warm or cool. Warmer lights have a yellow or orange glow, while cooler ones are either white or various hues of blue.
When designing the home’s lighting, avoid single sources of light. Instead, have different sources such as floor and table lamps, task lighting, ambiance lighting, and candles. Place the lights so that they create clusters of illumination to create focal points where people are more likely to sit and have conversations.
Also, avoid using overly warm or cool lights. Instead, get lights with a temperature as close to white as possible without being white. Pure white can be harsh in certain situations but helpful in areas such as the kitchen where you want to see everything.
Use Plants And Flowers To Add Life To The Home
Plants create a cozy environment because they are living things. If you do not have some, consider adding some. Apart from how great plants and flowers look when placed strategically in the home or around a room, they also give you lots of accessorizing potential. You can use pots, planters, and baskets of various designs to make them part of your decor.
If you decide to add some, you should know they require care. Research how to care for the plants you are considering or opt for succulents like cactus that do not require too much care.
Some people are intimidated by living plants because of the care they require. In such cases, consider faux plants. It is best to avoid plants and flowers that look overly fake and instead spend a little more to get some that look realistic.
Use Interesting Rugs In The Home
Rugs are amazing at making a home more comfortable. The main reason is that they provide a buffer between your feet and the cold floor, which is advantageous if you have laminate, tile, or hardwood flooring.
Another benefit is that you can add them to any room. You can pick rugs of different sizes and styles depending on the room in which you want to place them. For example, Persian rugs are becoming increasingly common in kitchens and bathrooms, where they are used as decorative rather than functional elements.
However, you might not want a large rug in the bathroom. You can use a bathmat in its place, with the bathmat making walking across the floor more comfortable after a shower and making the bathroom safer.
Put Out Lots Of Throws And Pillows
Another great way to make the home more comfortable, warm, and inviting is to use lots of throws and pillows on your furniture. You can even use them to transform a sofa or bench from a place to sit to one to lie down and relax after a long day.
Improve The Air Quality
A home with poor air quality will always feel stuffy and uncomfortable. Unfortunately, you might not notice that the air quality is degrading because it happens gradually. For this reason, it is best to take action even if you do not feel like the air quality has changed.
Some things to do are regularly opening your windows, cleaning your air conditioner filters, and scheduling regular air conditioner unit checks with a professional.
A comfortable and cozy home is more enjoyable to spend time in. Having one will require action and some changes, and the good thing is that you do not have to do anything drastic, as following the tips outlined above is relatively easy.
