Creating a cosy living room is something that we all want to do; after all, most of us spend a lot of time there. It’s the base for movie nights, game nights, family conversations, and chill time.
It’s also one of the highest traffic areas in the home and can be prone to getting a lot of debris from around the house too! A cosy living room doesn’t need to be packed with a million cushions to make it feel cheap; sometimes, it can be as little as a lamp and a good rug from Rugstore NE.So what can you add to your home to make it a place that is worth snuggling down into?
Cosy box
Clever storage ideas are a must, and one of the coolest ways to store extra blankets is by using an ottoman. Not only does the top provide some extra seating – or somewhere to put your feet up, but they make a great place to store extra blankets so that you don’t have to have them all over the sofa. All of these extra layers are even more useful on colder evenings when putting the heating on is going to cost too much money.
Candles
The warm orange glow of candles is something that will immediately add a beautiful hue to the room. We are naturally warmed up and feel cosy when we are next to that type of warm orange colour.
Not everyone likes the idea of open flames, though, as if you are prone to falling asleep, you might find that you forget to blow them out. And we all know leaving candles burning is a fire hazard.
The solution to this is to look for high-quality faux candles. They offer the warm orange flicker but without the commitment to fire and the possible hazards that go with them.
Textures
Not everyone has the budget or the desire to redecorate in order to create that cost feeling. Luckily you don’t have to. You can work with the colours and styles that you already have in the room and pick some textures that you feel work really well with it.
Textures like wool, chenille, velvet, and brushed cotton are ultra-soft and add a nice texture to almost any home.
You can soften the look further by adding in blankets that are from second-hand stores, as they are typically a little more worn and much softer from multiple washes.
Anything with soft tassels instantly adds gentleness to a room.
Natural materials
Humans have used, enjoyed, and been drawn to natural materials forever. Our homes used to be filled with wooden items, hides, and wool from animals. While you don’t need to go out and grab a pile of thick hides to give your space a natural feel, you can still do plenty of things.
Natural materials and textures can be added to your room through things like wooden picture frames, large decorative twigs, rocks and gems, wicker baskets and dried flowers.
You don’t need to create a whimsical cottage-chic look if that feels too far off the mark for you, but a few little pieces of nature can give your home a cosy feel.
Neutral tones
Neutral tones are considered to be very grounding and can help us to unlock our highest relaxation mode. Colours that we traditionally find in nature can have a profound impact on us. They are naturally not too warm or too cold and complement their surroundings.
You can play with either side of the tone, too; things like an ultra-soft grey-dusky rose, deeper beiges and tones of brown all work beautifully together.
Open spaces
Space can be tricky because unless you are a maximalist, there might be such a thing as too much, and you might feel like your room is cluttered. Sometimes big empty spaces lend themselves quicker to a minimalist home and can leave the room not feeling as cosy as you might like.
Where you have empty space, consider what might work there – a family photo, some children’s artwork, or perhaps a stack of books or some flowers.
The possibilities are endless, but try to add things slowly so that the once-empty space doesn’t feel overwhelmed.
Scent
Our sense of smell is one of the strongest, and everyone knows those moments when there is a slight whiff of something in the air, and they are transported back to their childhood. Well, the scents you use in your home can have a similarly strong impact on you and your family.
Brighter scents like lemon or peppermint can make the room feel fresh and awake, while deep ambers, apples, cinnamon and spices can make it feel warm and comfortable.
For those who want to lean into the natural feeling and decor, pines, oaks and woody smells can give a rich deep smell to your cosy living room.
Reed diffusers are ideal for releasing a constant amount of scent, and if you find you’ve gone nose blind to it (it’s there, but you can’t smell it because you are too used to it), you can put it in a different room and rotate a new smell in.
Lived-in but loved
Minimalist hyper-clean and white spaces run the risk of never really feeling very cosy or homely. There is a balance to be had. A living room should be filled with the things you love, but that doesn’t mean it needs to feel overwhelming, cluttered, or messy with it.
Think about stacking some of your most loved books in places that the natural light will fall on; your favourite blankets don’t need to go back in the box and instead can be draped over the sofa, ready for the next time you’re ready to relax and snuggle up on the sofa.
Colour
Perhaps you never fell in love with the neutrals trend, and you don’t want to have small smooth pebbles and ornate wood in the living room. A colour cocoon might be better for you!
The trend of colour-drenching living rooms is big, but it is one that comes back around again and again. Using rich, deep, saturated colours can make your room feel smaller – but in the right way. Blue blacks, deep rust oranges, and dark emerald greens all add a touch of luxury as well as being beautiful to the eye.
Often the highly saturated colours are warm too.
If you don’t want to colour drench the room, instead, you could consider colour blocking – where you paint the lower half of the wall through the entire room, or alternatively paint a single wall. Dark blues with a grey tint are some of the most popular colours used for colour blocking as they complement most textures and other colours you may want to add.
Lighting
If you have to spend ages making sure that all of the textures and colours work together beautifully in the room but forget about the lighting – you might be in for a shock when the floor lamps fluorescent light beams around the room.
Smart bulbs with multiple tones – from daylight and ivory to warm and candlelight will mean that you have the right colour no matter what mood you are trying to create.
Both table lamps and floor lamps can create little spaces are warm and welcoming light, and it means you don’t need to put the big light on – if that isn’t your thing/
Windows
Part of having a cosy living room is that it keeps in the heat in the colder months – but to give your windows a helping hand – consider what you have dressed your windows in. And, if you don’t want to change your window dresses all the time, they will need to be able to let the bright lights of the summer in easily too.
Blinds are often a great choice because they are often an extra layer between the window and the room when pulled down and closed in the winter, but in the summer, they can be pulled all the way or angled to let the light flood in.
Layer rugs
If carpet everywhere is not your thing, then layering rugs in the space where most people might rest their feet will work wonders. Often with stone, laminate or wood flooring, it can look cold (even if it has underfloor heating), and layering rugs can break that visual chill.
Start deciding which colours and textures you think will go best, and go from largest to smallest (or fluffiest on top).
Keep in mind that you might want to try and tuck away from the edges on firm rugs as they can be a trip hazard, and some people can’t help but tuck their feet under the edge!
Creating a cosy living room doesn’t have to be expensive or time consuming. Most of the time, we can move a few things around and create the perfect space where our friends, family and definitely ourselves can relax and unwind after a long day.
Here are some extra tips that work wonders for small spaces: Transform Your Brighton Flat into a Happy Haven with These Expert Renovation Ideas.
