The darker days and cool, crisp mornings mean one thing: winter is just around the corner. Even if you’re living in sunny Los Angeles, the temperatures are beginning to drop and the lingering summer heat is on its way out. And as the season changes, it can be hard to keep your spirits up during these dark and dreary months. Fortunately, with a few simple interior design tricks, you can cozy up your house and stay warmer, and happier this winter.
To help you get started, we asked interior design experts to let us in on their secrets for a cozier home. From mixing up textures to infusing seasonal scents, check out their best design tips on how to make your home cozy when the cooler, darker days set in.
Start by creating a warm and inviting ambiance in your living room
Make your sofa cozy and inviting. In my home, it’s where we have plenty of family time on cold short days and long evenings. Refresh, renew, and revamp decorative pillows along with an extra throw for everyone to feel cozy. – HK Interiors
Have blankets easily at hand by your couch or lounge chairs. I recommend buying blankets that feel cozy, match the rest of your decor, and keep you warm. Snuggling up to a warm soft blanket on a winter night next to a fire can make you feel taken care of and bring back wonderful childhood memories. – Maggie Minor Designs
Make your fireplace a focal point. With a lit fire, cozy blankets, your favorite beverage, and beautifully grouped coffee table books, who could resist taking a bit of quiet time to savor the moment and delight in life? Our SegretoStone mantles, made of a natural plaster mixed with fibers and polished creating a beautiful luster, are the perfect place to gather around this holiday season. – Segreto Finishes
Welcome nature indoors
Plants make a house a home, especially during the colder winter months. There are many plant options available to fit your space whether you may be looking for plants that like more sunlight, low light areas, pet-friendly, along with various colors, growing habits, and sizes to fit your specific needs. There is something about bringing the outside nature indoors that makes a home feel cozier during the wintertime and certainly increases the level of energy, happiness, and life. – Indoor Plants
Add natural elements for contrast and texture. Give your space some personality by mixing in wood accents with natural elements to make your space feel warm and cozy. Use wooden candle holders to display the flickering soft glow of candles on your mantle. Blankets in chunky knit, throw pillows, and woven baskets in earthy tones are some ways to instantly add texture which will cozy up your space. – Woodka Interiors
Incorporate lush green plants. I love to add extra greenery to my space year-round, and especially in the winter months. Nothing makes me feel happier than having lush green plants around me. Adding a few spider plants, ivy, or fig leaf plants to your space will enhance the aura during the harsh winter months. – Drea’ Custom Designs
Kati Curtis Design
Make your home feel cozy by mixing up textures
Luxurious textiles and jewel tones can transform a space. To adapt our clients’ homes for cooler weather, we love layering different throws and pillows with luxurious textiles. Rich jewel tones also bring a layer of warmth to a room, and combining these two makes any room so cozy. – Kati Curtis Design
Use throw pillows and blankets with in-season textures. For winter, think velvet, faux fur, corduroy, chenille, crochet, cable-knit, and so on. My favorite way to change up my throw pillows is with inexpensive pillow covers. I just switch them out with the seasons or whenever the mood strikes. – Jessica Welling Interiors
Wondering how to make your home cozy? Cashmere, cashmere, cashmere. In addition to our usual fall colored cushions, dimmed lights, and lit up fireplace, the most important place on the coziness scale is cashmere. Treat yourself to a heathered cashmere bedding for an unbeatable feeling of warmth and luxury. Add a cashmere throw, a good book and a hot toddy, and you are set for the ultimate cozy night. – Interiors by Popov
Warm and earthy textures will make your home feel comfy. Adding warm, textural throws and blankets, as well as a “winter” collection of accent pillows adds depth and richness to a room. Earthy greenery and woodsy stems add a natural touch to any décor, whether as a tabletop accent or welcoming guests at your front door. – Britt Design Group
Layer in soft goods to warm up your space. For example, layering in a chunky wool throw blanket or lush soft velvet pillows in deeper jewel tones on beds and sofas will help make your home feel more cozy. Layering rugs with different textures and patterns is also a unique way to add warmth in textiles. – Harper Haus Interiors
Incorporate cozy colors and channel all of your senses
Let the changing color of the leaves influence the hues within a home’s interiors. It’s surprising how much the warmer tones in pillows, blankets, and details around the house will evoke coziness and warmth. The organic inspiration can also be taken one step further by layering natural textured baskets to house any extra pillows and blankets and updating vases with cuttings of eucalyptus or other large-scale green branches. – Beyond Interior Design
Make tweaks to your home that will appeal to all your senses. Incorporate the smell of pine, cedar or cinnamon, add sounds of a crackling fire or soft, seasonal music, add a mix of textures from rugged logs to plush textiles, and serve up the traditional flavors of the season. We also love flickering flames so light a fire or go a little over the top with candles. – Decor Steals
Change up the color of your walls. Paint your bedroom, dining room, or powder room a deep rich hue like Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze or Benjamin Moore Backwoods to obtain the feeling of a big, welcoming hug. Dress your walls by displaying a gallery wall of black and white family photos for the ultimate home-like environment. – DesignStiles
Lighting is key when making your home cozier
Lighting is my favorite way to cozy up a home on dark winter days. You can brighten up dark corners with a new floor lamp, set a table lamp on a console, or even drape a string of holiday lights over a mantle or bookshelf. For an afternoon lift, try a grouping of battery-operated pillar candles, which can be set to turn on at just the right time. – CAVdesign Interiors
Layer your lighting. Add small lamps on bookshelves or mantels and add larger lamps to end tables or consoles with dimmers. Use sconces to light hallways, in the dining room, over a fireplace mantel, or install them on built-in bookshelves, facia or vertical stiles in a repetitive arrangement. – Worthington Interior Design
Use warmer lighting for a cozier ambiance. If you have dated fluorescent lighting or bright white lighting, update them with soft warm light bulbs – ideally dimmable. These bulbs provide warm and yellow light which will automatically give your room a cozier, warmer feeling. – Joselyn Rendon Interiors
Don’t let the dark and dreary corners of your home go unused. Take back these nooks and crannies with creative lighting solutions. Expanding-arm wall sconces are a perfect way to add functional lighting and create cozy spaces for adults and kids alike. – Bailiwick Interior Design
Incorporate lighting throughout your entire home. We’re talking layers and layers of lights in the trees, candles on mantles and tables, and that warm glow of a roasting fire to create an ambiance that’s hard to leave. As designers, we live for natural light in a space, and the same goes for great aesthetic lighting. – Louisa Jane
Place lamps in unexpected places. Try placing a small table lamp on a shelf of an open bookcase for a cozy library ambiance. Or if you have plenty of kitchen countertop space, try nestling a small lamp in a corner for a welcoming glow. This is a simple way to make your home feel cozier during the cooler months. – Leah Alexander
Designer- Shannon Crain Design, Builder- Riverway Developer, Photographer- Kerry Kirk, Fireplace- Segreto Finishes
Make simple design changes to cozy up your space
Add artwork to make your room have a human scale. We love to have artwork of all shapes and sizes. Make sure you have some pieces that are large and pair it with smaller pieces that draw you and your guests further into the room. Similar to selecting lighting and plants, having a variety of items at different scales helps to create visual interest in your home. – Design Inside
Give your living space a cozy-upgrade. Add a coordinating plush area rug that is larger than your seating area, install an electric fireplace, and add an accent wall of natural wood chip or grasscloth wall covering to add warmth. Adding a fiddle leaf or bird of paradise tree will also make the room more inviting and relaxing, even if it’s snowing outside. – Exclusively to Design
Use twinkle lights to brighten up a dark corner. Drape them in a cut crystal vase or around a pretty planter. I also like to cut tall branches and place them in the corners with the lights for a sculptural effect. Consider using lights with a timer to save yourself having to turn them off and on daily. – The Beautiful Living Coach
Quick accessories can add so much to the feel and look of your rooms. Faux sheepskin throws on the floor where you get out of bed, on your work or lounge chair, or in front of your sofa are a great hit of furry hugs for your back or toes. – JMorris Design
Scented candles are the cherry on top for a cozier home
Use candles to create a sense of home. My recommendation on how to make your home cozy when the cooler season sets in is scented candles. I associate the fall with smells such as pumpkin, spice, and apple. Winter smells such as balsam, evergreen, or peppermint welcome family and guests. My son came home from college and I had one of my normal fall candles burning and the first thing he said was “it smells like home.” – Robin Bond Interiors
Display scented candles, and display them everywhere. To create a cozy interior design, you’ll want to incorporate plenty of candles with warm smells of fall, and plush throws on the sofa to cozy up with. The warmth of the fireplace with the crackle of wood burning gets me every time. – SweetLake Interior Design LLC
This season, we are all about candlelight to create a cozy home. Since we’re spending more time in our homes, it’s important to fall in love with our rooms all over again, and who doesn’t love a candlelit space? Stacked on top of books or nestled in a warm and fuzzy blanket, lighting candles in your home will make your home feel cozier and like you’re on holiday. – Impeccable Nest
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