How to Make Your Home Cozy and Beat the Winter Blues!

Hate winter? Fighting the winter blues (and losing)? Read on for 5 tips on how to create a cozy home during this last stretch of winter

We’re 2 months into the new year and my annual winter blues are in full swing. There’re no twinkle lights or Christmas music to distract from the cold, gray, extremely long days.  Valentine’s Day is over so there aren’t even sweets and cotton candy pinks to brighten up the very literal winter grey Winter magic? Now it’s just winter.  Magical first snow?  Now it’s just snow.  You get the picture. 

In a word, the last month of winter can be miserable, but only if you let it!  If you also find yourself battling the winter blues this time of year and counting down the days until Spring finally makes an appearance then try the 5 ideas listed below to ensure your home is filled with warm cozy home decor that reminds you of the perks of winter. 

They are few, but they do matter — after all, winter is peak homebody season, a perfect time to try out new recipes, and the perfect excuse to make small changes to your space to give off all the cozy feels — a winter nonnegotiable.

TIP #1: Let There Be Equal Parts Warm, Amber, and Glowy Light!

Cozy rooms largely look so cozy because of how these spaces  are lit. You won’t find fluorescent overhead lighting in a cozy space, but you’ll likely see lots of strategically-placed table lamps and the glow of discretely placed lighting strips.  At WHH, we don’t believe in sacrificing the practical for the aesthetic so by no means should beating the winter blues mean striving to complete all tasks by candle or other ambient light just to get cozy vibes.  After all, chopping vegetables? Reading? Writing? You need good bright lighting for that.

+++ Brahta (n.) meaning bonus or addition in Jamaican Patwa: When deciding where to place lighting in a room, think in terms of a triangle.  You want light at at least 3 points of the room and, ideally, they’ll line up in the shape of a triangle.  You can always veer away from this formation, but it helps to keep it in mind when you’re not entirely sure where to place lighting.

Ambient Lighting

However, if you’re looking to cozy up your space, try strategically swapping out some of your more task-oriented lighting for some ambient options.  Candlelight is always a good idea!  Pay attention to the candle vessels too.  Candles that are packaged in frosted or amber/dark glass containers also give off a beautiful glow when lit. And, if you love a specific candle, but don’t love the vessel, you can always place it in a candleholder that amplifies the cozy vibes.

[photos of candles]

And, if you live in an apartment where candles are contraband or would prefer to avoid the fire risk, consider a candle warmer.  We have this one from Amazon pictured below and absolutely love to turn it on at night when we don’t need the hallway overhead light, but don’t want to be stumbling around in the dark.

[photo of cnalde warmer]

Other options

Candle warmer that looks like a true lamp (Amazon)

Luxe metal candle warmer (Etsy)

Simple natural material focused candled warmer (Amazon)

But, remember too, you can also switch out some of your bulbs from bright daylight options to more yellow or amber option.  Obviously, you’ll want to be careful where you make this switch.  Bathrooms and closets where you’re maybe doing your makeup or choosing your look for the day are not conducive to yellowy amber lighting, but living rooms and bedrooms are great low-risk places to incorporate soft cozy lighting. 

Light bulbs (Amazon)

Warm Soft Light Bulbs (Target)

Dimmable Lighting

Make sure that your repertoire of cozy home lighting also includes a good number of dimmable lighting options too and this includes overhead lighting as well.  Dimmers enable you to customize just the right level of cozy, i.e., lighting for your home and your mood.  And, thanks to technology, you can make just about any lighting dimmable with the use of a dimmer kit.  

+++ Brahta: Don’t underestimate the ability of a lampshade to amp up your space’s cozy factor. Swapping out a white or light colored lampshade for a darker moodier option, or even a more textured option like burlap, immediately changes the hue of the lightbulb and can easily cozy up a living room or another space.

 

TIP #2. Warm up your space!

When I indulge in my weekly zillowing (a sport in which I went pro during the pandemic), one of the first things that I look for in the cozy brick two-story homes that I currently can’t afford is a fireplace.

I zoom in on the cozy living room, use the virtual tour feature to pan around a couple of times, and imagine myself curled up by the roaring fire softly lit by ambient lighting and losing myself in a new book, or finally picking up one of the titles on my (embarrassingly) high TBR pile. 

[book pic]

Then, as is ritual, I exit Zillow, go back to my phone’s home screen, decide it’s time for bed, look around at my fireplace-less home, breathe a deep sigh, turn on Fireplace in 4K on Netflix, make some tea, and curl up on the sectional.

Fireplaces scream cozy!  If you have a fireplace in your home, these last few weeks of winter are the perfect time to use it!  Go for a decorative look and fill it with candles for an ambient glow.  Or, take the safer, more fire-proof route and turn on an electric or gas fireplace insert. Console tables with built-in electric fireplaces have become really popular, but I have yet to see one with a fire that looks even slightly convincing.  Rather than purchase one of these, try making the best of what you have and if you have a tv or a projector, pull up YouTube or Netflix, choose a fireplace video that’s at least an hour long — perhaps one with jazz to keep it interesting — and live out your best cozy life. 

TIP #3: Turn Your Room’s Crannies into Nooks!

There’s a reason that cats curl themselves up into tiny balls of fur in the most random corners of any given room.  Corners are naturally cozy.  The corners of a room provide a comfortably confined space and that’s exactly what you’re looking for when amping up your home’s cozy factor.  In the winter (but during all the other three seasons too), a cozy nook for reading, sleeping, thinking, meditating, or any combination of the four is a welcome addition. 

Turn any corner of your room into a cozy reading nook with comfy seating and warm fuzzy throws

Create your own nook by finding a corner of a room that’s currently unused or not being put to maximum use and adding something to sit on (a recliner, an armchair, a stool), plush textiles (this chenille blanket or patterned wool blend throw look like good options and are similar to the blankets that I sourced from TJ Maxx and that are pictured in the photo above), and a surface (a coffee or side table or even a floatign shelf will do the trick).

TIP #5: Make your home smell good!

Making your home warm and cozy requires intention and, maybe most importantly, identifying ways that you can make your space amplify and delight your senses, especially your nose!

Home fragrance 

Fragrance is my love language! I can remember my granddad doing his night routine when I was younger and it always ended with spritzes of cologne on himself, on his pillow, and, if I played my cards right, on me too.  One of the things i remember clearly about him (other than him being the most amazing granddad, another post for another day)  is how good he always smelled and that makes sense because scents and memory are so strongly linked. 

Keep this in mind when you’re hewing coziness out of your home to fight the winter doldrums.  What fragrances bring you comfort? What memory brings you instant joy? Was there a scent from that point in time that could do the same?  If you can’t think of a memory, think of a vibe. Some scent notes are guaranteed to give swaddle me cozy vibes. Vanilla, honey, sugar, almond, cocoa. These are all classic notes in cozy spaces. 

Brahta (n.), Jamaican Patwa: whether or not you’re a fragrance lover, perfume shopping can help you choose the right warm evocative scent for your home. If there’s a perfume that makes you feel enveloped in love, take a minute to look at its notes.  You can look for fragrances with those same notes when you’re identifying your cozy home scent. 

If your home fragrances aren’t all form the same line, ensure continuity from room to room by making sure that you’re selecting options that have a common base or middle note. This creates continuity from room to room and helps to preempt those pesky scent headaches that can happen when you’re doing the absolute most. 

Alternatives to traditional home fragrance

• Diffusers, room and linen sprays, scented drawer liners.  Remember, you’re not limited to candles when you’re introducing warmth and coziness into your space!

• Simmer pot.  Add clove, cinnamon sticks, cranberries (imo this is more for aesthetics than smell), fresh rosemary, orange peel, and fresh ginger to a cast iron saucepan or a dutchie and make a gorgeous simmer pot.

• Comfort food.  Cook up some good old comfort food.  Try out a new recipe to bake.  Or, better yet, do both.  Try out a new recipe for soup, chili, or stew.  I personally love vegan chili recipes and potato cheddar soup.  Bake biscuits, pound cake, cornbread, all the carb-y goodness. 

          For me, wholemeal scones are a singular comfort food and to think I grew up wishing my mom would be “normal” and make chocolate chip cookies instead (what can I say? peer pressure and that first gen life). I’m also a firm believer that a cup of tea makes crumby days that bit better and the addition of a scone (as with most baked goods) almost always does the trick. The smell will cozy up your space immediately and once you find the perfect warm spot under a blanket in your favorite       corner of your home  you’ll be living your best cozy life.

 

At the end of the day, making your home cozy is all about curation — curating the cozy vibes through textures, lighting, and smell.  What’s your favorite way to make your home cozy?  Sound off below or tag us at @hew_home or use the hashtag #wehewhome on Instagram in a photo of your cozy space.  We’d love to see it!