Ladies,

If you are on the quest to “cozify” your home, here is a checklist to get you there. New and seasoned homemakers are always learning new ways to do things. If anything, it is insightful to see what other ladies emphasize in their homes and what things you end up emphasizing as most important. Leave your own tips in the comments for others to learn from too.

Lamp Light

There is no quicker way to create a cozy room than by lamp light. But be sure to buy low wattage yellow soft bulbs or else your lamp light will just look too blue and bright. Small lamps fit perfectly as soft kitchen lighting. Side tables next to sofas and chairs need lamps. Anywhere someone would be reading, knitting, talking with people, that area needs a lamp. Where there is overhead lighting, a lamp is the better alternative. Lamps change the atmosphere of a room. Lighting is the main way you create a soft, glowing, and inviting feeling. This is why a fireplace and candles have a cozy effect. Lamps create that same essence.

Warm Toned Neutral Paint Colors

The color grey and stark white dominated interior decor for the formative years of many young women’s lives as of recently. However, these cold colors have long since been replaced with traditional warm toned neutral colors like soft ivory and cream. Not all cool toned colors are anti-cozy, but cool colors will always read refreshing and well, cooler than cozy. You can counter cool colors with warm tones in furniture and soft lighting. But in general, warm neutral paint color will always feel cozy. Warm toned paint color is a safe bet if you do not want to fight with cooler colors to try to make them feel cozy.

Curtains

Curtains make any room look cozier. For many years in the design world, window treatments went out of style and people left bare windows to make a room look “open”, “airy” or “modern”. Curtains can still do that if you choose light fabrics or a color similar to the wall color, and yet, they still make a room look finished, higher end, and yes, more comfortable. Even in subtle colors and fabric density, curtains create a feeling of soft warmth as a textile. You can increase this look and feel with drapes of a richer color, thicker fabric, or more textured fabric.

Soft Textiles

Throw pillows and blankets are of utmost importance. It is not only essential to have them to make a room look finished and offer warmth but pay attention to the softness of your throw pillow covers and of your throws. The texture of these items can make a room appear comfortable or sterile. Velvety finishes, plushy materials. soft worn in cotton fabric, these things will look comfortable because they look soft. This will automatically make your room look cozier. If something is smooth finished like an outdoor pillow, or grainy like textured straw, or is stiff embroidery, that does not read comfortable to be against.

The Room Temp

While no one wants a stifling room, cold houses are not cozy. There should be a “room temperature” feel to your home plus an additional heat source for those who are easily chilled. This can be a lit fireplace or wood stove, a space heater, and blankets. Keep these things available to people at all times especially in cold weather. Arrange seating areas near the heat sources. Arrange blankets draped over chairs or sofas that people can use or roll them in a nearby basket for people to take.

Keep a Clean & Styled Home

Even if you have very little to work with, keep your home deep cleaned and put together. Crumbs on a couch, grit on the floor under your feet, sticky surfaces….these things are anti-cozy. A clean house feels inviting. It beckons you to relax. Clean surfaces physically feel better, they put you at ease. A clean house is a good smelling house, and fresh clean air feels good too. Go easy on artificial fragrance. Just keep it clean and tidy and your home will automatically feel cozier for it.

Personalize Your Rooms

Staged rooms can be beautiful, but not inviting. Minimalism can feel organized, but make a home feel sterile. You can have an organized and even highly stylish home and still bring a warmth to it. Infuse personal touches like framed photographs of people and places you love, candles that you actually light, books you read, art you enjoy, bouquets of your favorite flowers, and blankets to snuggle in. Learn to “clutter” your home with beautiful items that give it a personal feel. When a house is styled but void of any personal connection it looks like a model home and while nice in a magazine, it does not invite our senses to feel “at home”. Feeling at home means it pertains to you, not just the public.

Food & Drink

Nothing says cozy like knowing there is delicious food and drink available. A home should be filled with these offerings. A hearty meal, a sweet treat, a steaming cup of cider, coffee, or a glass of wine. Keep mealtimes going and always have the next meal on the horizon whether home cooked or take out. Keep baked goods, meats and cheeses on hand to grab. Full tummies feel loved and safe.

Scent

Be aware of what your home smells like and aim to fill it with inviting aromas. For moments other than when fresh bread and cookies are baking, you can scent the air in a variety of ways per the season. A “simmer pot” is an old fashioned and non-toxic way of filling the air with scent by simmering water filled with chopped orange or lemon, apples and cinnamon, or vanilla and cinnamon. But you could also use essential oil diffusers, scented candles, wax melts, etc. to give your home a scent boost with lots of less toxic options among those products.

Comfortable Furniture

Let’s end with one of the most important features that makes a home cozy: furniture has to be comfortable. Comfort should always come before looks when it comes to seating. Interior design focuses heavily on appearance, not the way seating allows people to truly relax. There is a difference in perching on a seat, like when you are sipping a cup of tea with poise, and then there is sitting back into a seat with all of your muscles relaxed. Aim for furniture that allows you to sit “in” them, not “on” them. This is the ticket to a truly cozy home. If your sofa back is too low and you can’t rest your neck and head, it might not be a comfortable sofa. If your lower back or bottom gets achy after sitting on a sofa or chair, that is not a comfortable piece of furniture. Even if the most comfortable furniture is not considered the stylish furniture, at the end of the day, the coziest home is the one you want to be in, not just look at.

From the humblest home to a grand estate

These tips are universal for any home to feel cozy. A modest home or a beautiful mansion need the same things to feel cozy. The difference in how a home looks and feels is in the love that fills it.