Leaves are changing, the weather is cooling, and you’re getting ready to bust out your sweater collection. Fall is the perfect time to hunker down and enjoy your time indoors. But does your interior reflect this desire for a warm, comfortable, and inviting living space? Or do you need to make some changes to welcome the new season? If you’re looking to make your home feel cozier, these tips are for you.
Light Up Your Home!
Lighting plays a huge role in the tone of your home. For example, bright fluorescent lighting feels harsh and uninviting (you don’t want your house to feel like a dentist’s office, right?), whereas diffused lighting scattered through a room draws you in. Go for warm white lighting, which is easier on the eyes and offers soft lighting. Different lighting is also essential. It would be best if you had ambient lighting and task-oriented lighting, like a table lamp. Floor lighting, overhead lights, and lamps should be in abundance in every room. To maximize the coziness factor, use candles as much as possible! Pick scented, unscented, colored, white, whatever you want!
Warm Colors Create Cozy Spaces
Coziness doesn’t have to be a seasonal choice. If you want your home to feel warm and inviting all year long, consider putting on a fresh coat of paint in a warmer color. Stay away from stark whites or grays. Instead, go with mustard yellow, soft blue, dark green, or rich reds and oranges. Once you’ve selected your wall color, incorporate similarly toned colors into your other furniture pieces, artwork, and flooring. Even if your style is minimal and elegant, you can create a cozy environment through colors and patterns.
Banish Chilly Floors with Rugs
Climbing out of bed or stepping off a couch onto cold, unforgiving hardwood floor is the worst. Permanently banish those cold-foot feels by adding area rugs to your living spaces. Rugs are versatile in that they can blend in with the floor with neutral, understated colors or make your décor pop with vibrant colors or patterns. They come in a variety of materials (synthetic and natural), thickness, and shape. You can even view your rugs as seasonal and plan to swap them out throughout the year.
Throw Blankets Are Your New Best Friends
No fall movie marathon is complete without a warm blanket to curl up under. If you put your throw blankets away for the summer, pull them out of storage, wash them, and pile them up in your living room! Consider keeping them in a basket by the couch, stored away in a storage bench, or placed on the back of your furniture. In the market for some new blankets? Flannel and wool are great options if your home tends to run on the colder side. You can layer patterns or contrasting colors against the colors on your wall, flooring, or furniture to turn your functional blankets into fashionable décor.
Keep in the Heat and Soften the Room with Drapes
You probably already have sheers or blinds on your windows. But thicker drapes or curtains are a great way to cozy up a room, even if you install them in addition to your existing window coverings. Not only do thicker curtains keep the heat in and the cold out (a must in the fall and winter), but they also soften the room. Here’s another way you can add yet another layer of color or texture to your spaces.
Comfort is vital in the colder months. These easy additions will warm up your home and make it even more inviting as you prepare to hunker down and enjoy your time indoors.
