CREATING A COZY HOME

I’m sure by the title of this post you can easily guess what this post will be talking about. Creating a cozy home is literally one of my top priorities. I want my family to be comfortable and guests to feel at home. I want anyone to feel like they can come over, snuggle on the couch with a cup of something warm, grab a blanket and sit awhile. The Scandinavians call this feeling of warmth, coziness, and togetherness “hygge” and it’s been a mission of mine to create this feeling in my home. I have brainstormed what I think are some of the best ways to create a cozy atmosphere in your home. I hope you find these ideas helpful!

ONE – Declutter…After chatting a bit about clutter on Instagram, my friend worded my thoughts perfectly, in regards to it. Nothing kills cozy vibes faster than clutter! There’s no room for cozy feelings if you’re surrounded by stuff. Now don’t get me wrong, I have stuff…and I’m not telling you to get rid of all of yours. There’s a different between collected and cluttered. We will chat a little more about collected spaces in a bit. The first step to creating cozy environments in your home is to declutter. Get rid of the excess, get rid of whatever is not useful or special to you. If it serves a purpose and you love it, then keep it…but if it doesn’t bring any purpose to your home it needs to go…even if Aunt Barb gave it to you as a wedding gift. You can’t feel bad because you don’t genuinely like something or it doesn’t serve a purpose for you and your family, even if it was a gift!

TWO – Tidy…After you’ve decluttered its time to tidy up and organize. This part is my favorite. Take time to play around with the items in your home, move them around. Try them in different spaces. I call this “shopping my house” Don’t think of tidying as cleaning necessarily…think of it as finding a home for all of your treasures. Decluttering and tidying is not a time to bring new things into your home. Have fun, play around with your decor and wait to add anything new, unless you have a an absolute need for it. Otherwise you’re just going to fill the space with more “stuff” I’ve done this and it ends up being a waste of money.

THREE – Collected Spaces…In my opinion I think collected spaces are the coziest spaces. I believe anyone can have a collected space whether you’re a major collector or a minimalist. I personally look at it from this perspective…collected is taking our time to fill our home with purposeful and meaningful things. Collected is not rushing and buying all the things all at once. It’s taking it slow and really being intentional with what we bring into our homes. Whether it’s new from the store, thrifted or handed down to us, and most importantly it’s making your home a collection of what YOU love.

FOUR – Textures…I’m all about textures. A simple way to amp up the cozy is with fluffy pillows, warm throw blankets and area rugs. I think a good area rug really finishes a space. It creates warmth and can really encourage conversation. It draws you in to a seating area and says come sit awhile and lets chat, haha. A kettle that lives on the stove top ready for tea or coffee helps a lot too!

FIVE – Lighting…We have overhead lighting in our main living areas, my husband was insistent on that…but to be honest I hate using it. I love turning on a small table lamp and enjoying the glow from that. Add in some beeswax candles on the mantle and it just whispers cozy. Lighting can make or break your cozy vibes, so be thoughtful about it. Think low light, twinkle lights, candles etc.

I’m sure there are other ways to create coziness in our homes, but these were the top five that came to mind, how do you create warmth and coziness in your home. I’d love to hear you ideas!

Blessings,

Bree