It’s hard for your house to feel like a home when it’s freezing. This is especially true of the living room, where it should feel like your cosy, comfortable oasis away from the cold and dark outside, especially as we’re getting deep into winter. However, with the right touches, you can make sure you put all the comfy, cosy energy your room needs in there, with a mixture of the right upgrades to how you heat your space and a few decorating ideas that can make a tangible difference.
Start Layering Your Fabrics
Textiles do a lot to not only help you retain more warmth throughout the room but also offer that tactile comfort when you need it. There’s nothing more relaxing than bundling up warm as you settle down for the night. Aside from investing in a few blankets you can keep at hand, you can layer throws and cushions over your couches and seats so that they become much more plush as a result. A good rug underfoot can do a lot of work, too, making sure that you don’t put your foot on a cold, hard floor, especially if you don’t have a carpet.
Get Some Warm Lighting In There
While it might not actively affect the temperature in the room, the feeling that you get from harsh overhead lighting can certainly make the space seem colder and less welcoming. You can instead opt for warmer and softer lights, whether it’s simply choosing a different colour temperature for your bulb, or layering in additional lighting like with lamps. You can use dimmable lights to create the perfect evening glow, as well.
Decorate In Warmer Tones
Just as your lighting can influence how comfortable and warm a space feels, the colours that you use for the surrounding space can do much the same. Switch out your cold neutrals and greys for warmer tones, whether those are deep reds, browns, or oranges. Take a look at some of the most popular fall and winter colour schemes to get some inspiration for your palettes. You can add accessories like wall art and cushions that help to emphasise any change you make to the wallpaper or paint.
Add A Fireplace To Your Space
Aside from the tips on how you can make the home seem like a warmer, more inviting place, there’s plenty you can do to make sure that it actually is warmer, too. The first thing you should do is look at your current heating fixtures. If you don’t have any that directly provide heating to the centre of the room, then you might want to install one of the many electric fires available on the market. You don’t need an old fireplace to replace, nor do you need any kind of chimney. Then, when you have your fireplace in, you can arrange your furniture so that it’s all facing it in a semi-circle formation, ensuring that everyone in the room benefits from the heat.
Change Out Your Window Treatments
Your windows are a major concern is your home feels colder than it should. You can swap out window treatments, going from the light to the heavier, such as hanging some curtains instead of relying on blinds alone. When it comes to the top-performing window treatments for insulating your home, you should look at thermal curtains, which are able to trap a layer of air between the curtain and window, stopping heat from escaping as easily, especially at night.
Incorporate More Natural Materials
Opting for a more naturally inspired decor style can also help your home feel much warmer as a result. For instance, using more wooden furniture and stone accents can give a feeling of earthiness, which is traditionally a more cosy feeling. Materials like wood are slightly better at retaining warmth than options such as glass and metal, as well. Even some houseplants can help to brighten up the place and help it feel more alive. Make sure that you’re choosing varieties that are able to withstand the drop in temperature, however.
Look For Any Air Gaps
As mentioned, your windows are a point of focus when you’re trying to stop the heat from escaping your home. As such, aside from choosing the right window treatments to keep the heat in, you can also try to see if there are any air gaps around it. This can be done by holding a piece of paper around the seals and any seams, to see if it moves. You can also often feel it on your own hand if there is a draft. Once you find it, you can simply use caulk to seal it up, reducing the leakage of warm air from inside the home. You can also use draft excluders at your doors for much the same purpose.
Try Out A Hot Water Bottle
As well as the changes you can make to the decor of the home itself, you can always make sure that you have some warming accessories on hand to help you heat up when you first come in. A hot water bottle is traditionally the most popular answer, but there are more sophisticated hand warmers you can use if you don’t mind spending a little more.
Use Welcoming Scents
Lastly, don’t underestimate the power that all of your senses have when it comes to changing how you feel within a given space. You can use scented elements, such as candles, wax melts, or reed diffusers to fill your living room with smells that evoke feelings of comfort and warmth. In the winter season, festive scents like cinnamon and gingerbread are particularly inviting. Even if you’re not able to help the home heat up any faster, the right choice of sensory stimuli can somewhat trick the mind into at least thinking it’s a little warmer.
It’s not easy to relax when you’re shivering. As such, hopefully, the tips above help you give your living room the cosy, comfort and warmth that it needs. Even a few of the changes above can make a major difference.
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