Transcript Podcast Episode 9: How to Make Your Home Extra Cozy
Make Your Home Cozy
Wannabe Minimalist Show Transcript Episode 9
You're listening to the Wannabe Minimalist Show, episode number nine. On today's show, we're talking about how to make your home cozy without breaking the bank, getting all new furniture or having to put in too much effort.
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Welcome to the Wannabe Minimalist Show. I'm your host Deanna Yates, and each week on this podcast we will talk about what it really takes to be a minimalist with a family. I believe minimalism is a mindset for how we see stuff, but more importantly, being mindful of the items we let into our lives, homes and relationships. Let's do this!
Well, hello there. Welcome back to the second to last episode of 2019 of the wannabe minimalist show. I'm your host, Deanna Yates from LittleGreenBow.com and I'm actually mixing things up this week. At the end of last week show, I said we would be talking about the psychology of minimalism and materialism, but as I was writing the show notes for that episode, my heart just wasn't in it. It's a fascinating topic and I'm planning to discuss it next week as we head into the new year, but since this episode is going live on Christmas Eve talking about materialism, well, it just seemed a little bah humbug to me. So instead we're discussing how to make your home feel extra cozy in the winter. Before we dive in though, let's take a second to hear from our sponsor.
Today's episode is brought to you by my 21 day decluttering challenge. Starting on January 11th me and a group of amazing women and men will be embarking on a whole house, declutter for the start of a new decade. I'd love for you to join us. It's a free challenge and the only catch is that you have to join an awesome new Facebook group filled with others just like you who are taking control of their life by taking control of their environment. I know that was a trick because there is no catch. I want to give back to my community and hosting this free challenge is one of my favorite ways to support you on your journey toward minimalism. All you have to do is head over to LittleGreenBow.com/challenge and join the one of the minimalist group on Facebook. Starting on January 11th daily challenge posts will prompt you to take action in a new space around your home. You're going to love it. Let's start the next decade in the right frame of mind with less stuff and more encouragement to live the life of our dreams.
So head on over to LittleGreenBow.com/challenge and get ready for the most amazing 2020. I hope you'll join me in the 21 day decluttering challenge. It's going to be amazing.
Okay, now back to how to make your home extra cozy this winter. I have a confession to make. I'm not really feeling that Christmasy this year. Maybe it's because we're in a new place, although that has the story of our lives for a long time now. Maybe it's because we're in California and it doesn't get as cold here, although it's chillier in my house than I'd like because our natural sunlight exposure is limited this time of year. Or maybe it's just that I've been super busy working on this podcast and my blog volunteering and starting a new girl scout troop for my daughter and getting our home in order, whatever it is. I am in need of cozy right now in order to get my head and heart in the spirit of the season.
I guess that's why I wanted to talk about this topic so much today. I really need it too. So let's take a look at 14 simple ways you can make your home extra cozy right now. Oh and I made a cheat sheet for you. So you have an easy reference for these 14 ways and you can add that splash of cozy with an action item for each tip. You can get it by going to LittleGreenBow.com/cozy.
Alright, tip number one layers. So what does that mean in your home? Well, as with fashion layers help us look put together and purposeful. And the same is true for your home layers. Feel thoughtful and inviting, which is a must for a cozy home. So how do you add layers to your home? Well, you can drop a blanket over the back of the couch or over the side arm of the couch or a chair. You can add a faux sheepskin to your dining bench. And you can add one or two throw pillows to assist with comfort, not for pure decoration. These are comfort and purposeful pillows. These layers are like the accessories on an outfit and they really can bring a look in a space together. All right, so that's number one -Layers.
Tip number two, are levels. Okay, so now that you'll know how to add layers to your home, let's talk about the different levels. Levels are how we see and perceive a space. So if there's too much at your eye level or in one plane, your eye doesn't know where to go and it just starts to feel really cold and there's no visual impact. So how do you add these levels to your home? Well, when placing your furniture and pieces, think in terms of low, medium, and high.
Low are those pieces that sit on the floor like a basket, which you could fill with those cozy blankets, chunky furniture where there's not much airflow underneath, like a big chunky couch and rugs. Obviously rugs are laying flat on the floor, so they're as low as you can get. That medium space is filled with pieces that sit in the middle third of the wall. So if you took your wall and you split it into thirds, this is right in the middle. And those are things like your tables, your TV, if it's sitting on a stand or your artwork, things that you see right at eye level when you walk into a space. And then high things are the things that draw your eye upward in a room. So that's things like curtain, crown molding, ceiling lights, really tall plants. Things like this are high items and they draw your eye upward. So by mixing those different levels, low, medium, and high, your home will feel more cozy because it will feel like a purposeful space. One that is put together with intention. So that's tip number two, creating levels.
Tip number three is adding texture. You can make your home feel super cozy by adding the right textures, so too many sleek, flat or shiny surfaces. Make a space feel cold. This makes me think of something like a hospital or the dentist office, a doctor's office, something that's really cold and sterile, but on the flip side, too many competing textures can make a home feel frumpy. Kind of like the quintessential granny house with Afghans everywhere. That's what we're trying to avoid. Both of those really extremes. Nothing too cold and nothing too frumpy. So how do you add texture in the right way? Well, rugs are an amazing way to add texture to a space you can use fo for shag carpets or wool or jute rugs, anything that really breaks up.
If you have a wood floor and you can even layer rugs on top of carpet, they can just add that next dimension. Another way to add texture or through fuzzy throws and cozy blankets. These are amazing. One way I have seen this done really well and I really like are adding faux fir throws over a chair. This is very European, very Scandinavian where you see a sheepskin thrown over a chair at a coffee shop or I'm on a dining bench. It's very inviting and it just takes the chill off of that surface. When you go to sit down, makes you warm and cozy. Another way you could do this is to drape a thick crocheted wool blanket over the back of a sofa. So here you're combining that first tip of layering with adding a texture. So as you're bringing all of these tips together, they definitely will start to work in together.
And the last way we're going to talk about adding texture is to do so through your textiles in your linens. So these would be things like your curtains, your table runners, or even a soft throw pillow. You want to think of these as items that your hand can't resist touching. So if you have a child, you know this is like they have a lot of fuzzy blankets and they really like that kind of stuff. So is there something you can add to your room that your hand just wants to touch? It's velvety and it's soft and it just can't resist. So that's tip number three, adding texture.
Tip number four for adding coziness to your home this year is to work on your lighting. Now, I am not gonna lie. Lighting can be one of the trickiest elements to conquer in a space. Good lighting can make you feel welcome and want to sit for hours and have a chit chat. But bad lighting can make you feel like you're being interrogated or thrown out of a nightclub after last call. None of us have enjoyed that experience, but lighting is an is especially important in a room like a living room where you need to have multiple light sources, brighter ones for larger gatherings and smaller and dimmer lights for more intimate gatherings or a night in table lamps are great for this. They can bring that light down from the ceiling down to your eye level and make a room feel very cozy. Okay, so how can you set a cozy mood with lighting? You want to avoid that overhead fluorescent lighting. That's kind of the office space, the hospital lighting. We don't want that in our homes. You want to utilize warm light bulbs like yellow light instead of cool light bulbs, which is more of a blue light and you want to let the natural light prevail whenever possible.
Now sometimes this is hard to do, but try to keep your windows open, let that light flood in and just fill the space during the day. And then of course at night we're going to have to fill this in with artificial light from lamps and things like that. So additional lighting can be used overhead if you need to light areas for an a. But if you have areas that need abundant lighting, um, so like we were saying, a big gathering in the living room, if you're cooking, your kids are doing homework at the kitchen counter. That might be a good time to have some overhead lights on. You'll need some task lighting for things like reading. If you're sitting in a chair and you're doing some stitching or you're reading, or you're crafting, you'll need some task lighting and then accent lighting for areas that you want to be more intimate. Lighting that can be on a dimmer is also amazing. And if you can't install a dimmer, you can get those three-way light bulbs so that they turn onto three different settings based on what's happening in your space at the time. So that's number four - Lighting.
Number five also relates to light, and this is lighting candles. Candles are one of the secrets of the Hygge movement inspired by the Danish, also known as some of the happiest people on earth. So they might know a thing or two about being cozy. Candles can transform a space by adding light and warmth through fire. If you have kiddos at home and you're nervous about lighting real candles, I totally get it. The fake candles these days are pretty convincing. You get the light and the sense of coziness without that risk of fire. Okay, so here are a few ways you can use candles for coziness.
You want to use multiple sizes of candles to create dimension and interest, um, candles that are all the same height. Again, you wanna use the low, medium and high levels as well as different sizes of candles. This actually add texture and interest. You want to place candles throughout a room. If you only have one area for candles, that's fantastic, but to make the whole room cozy, you can spread them out around the room in different little groupings and that really lights up the whole space. Another way for using candles for coziness is to use candles that don't require candle holders. This is the wannabe minimalist show, so I'm going to try to give you tips that help you cut down on that clutter. And if you use pillar candles, those are a much better option because they don't necessarily need a candle holder to go with them.
And then finally make sure the scents of the candles coordinate and they don't compete against each other. For instance, you probably wouldn't want to light a tropical scented candle with a forest scented candle. The scent probably wouldn't go together very well and it just wouldn't give you the best cozy vibe if you can. Use scents that all coordinate and go together. So that's number five. Lighting candles.
Number six also has to do with fire. So speaking of that fire, try to light a fire in the fireplace if you have one. Just the mention of a fire crackling in the fireplace fills my heart and mind with cozy visions. Gazing into fire lowers your stress levels and the heat produced by that fire warms your home from the inside out. So if you're lucky enough to have a fireplace, you absolutely owe it to yourself to use it.
So let's look at how to use a fireplace to add coziness. Even if you have a non-working fireplace, you can still fill it with candles for the same effect. It won't be quite as warm and it's not as easy, but you'll still get the same sense of a fire in the fireplace and having that coziness. Or if you do have a real fireplace, wood-burning or gas burning, try to place some seating near the fireplace to get that full cozy effect. And if you are not able to rearrange your furniture and it's not positioned around your fireplace, add a few floor pillows. That's a great way to be able to just kind of Nessel up, read a book, sit by the fire, and just enjoy it. All right, so that's number six. Lighting a fire in the fireplace.
Tip number seven for how to add coziness to your home is to add life to your space with live plants. No, I do not have a green thumb. In fact, I have a really hard time keeping plants alive. So this is definitely one I'm working on in the new year. But all homes can benefit from some greenery in them. And I'm always amazed at just how even a little touch of a plant life can make my space feel so much more inviting. Great. So how do we add plants to our home? Well, if money is tight, consider growing a plant from seeds. Did you know that you can grow a small avocado tree just from the pit of an avocado that you ate? If you have enough patients, it will sprout and grow into a live plant. Although it won't bear fruit, but the plant is still lovely.
You can add plants to your space that are native to your area. So the upkeep is minimal and it's nicer on the environment. So now that we're in California, succulents are a big thing. It's surprisingly enough, I haven't even been able to keep those alive. I think I'm watering them too much. So we're going to go back to the drawing board in 2020 and spiking. Keep even a succulent alive. But if you have a Brown thumb like I do, you can still add live plants in the form of cut flowers. Even a small bouquet from the grocery store really perks up a room so there's no excuse. So that's number seven for making your home feel more cozy is adding life to your space with plants. Tip number eight is to make your bed a relaxing retreat.
Just the thought of cozying up in a nice, soft, cuddly bed. Ah, it just makes my heart smile. So your bedroom is your Oasis after a long day, and it's where you spend at least a third of your life. Now I'll be at most of that is unconscious if you're sleeping. But since our rest and relaxation is paramount to our wellbeing, this space really should be of the utmost importance to us. All right, so here's a few tips on how to make your bed cozy. One, go ahead and invest in comfortable bedding. I absolutely love organic cotton sheets and a linen duvet cover over a down comforter. But I understand that that's not in everyone's budget. Do your best to get quality bedding. I promise you will not regret it.
Tip number two is to have pillows you love. Life is way too short to sleep with. Uncomfortable pillows. If it's been awhile since you've got a new pillow, do yourself a favor and get a new one that you love. Trust me, it's worth it. Number three, embrace the messy bed luck. I know we're trying to teach our daughter how to make her bed every day, but when you look at pictures of cozy bedrooms, are the beds perfectly made or do they look like you could dive in and snuggle up right? Probably the latter. And then number four, have only the number of pillows that you need. A few extra pillows are nice for those times you want to cuddle in bed and watch a movie, but resist the temptation to fill your bed with pillows that you have to remove every night in order to get to sleep.
This automatically conjures up that scene from Along came Polly where Ben Stiller and Jennifer Anniston are taking the pillows off the bed and she just looks at him like he is crazy for spending so much time on those pillows every night. And that is what I'm thinking here. Have the pillows that you need to have your bed be comfortable for you, but don't overdo it just for the sake of trying to make it pretty. All right. That's tip number eight. Make your bed a relaxing retreat.
Tip number nine for how to make your home cozier than ever is to add wood pieces. Wooden pieces make a space feel cozy because when you get down to it wood makes us think of a ski lodge or a crackling fire. So too many metal items in your home can feel cold and competing fabrics can feel like a mess.
So bring in wood when possible. Just be sure not to overdo it. So remember, tip number one layer. You want to make sure you have different kinds of pieces working together, not all of one thing and not all of one size and not all of one level. Life is a mix and that is what this is too. So how can you add the right amount of wood to your home? Well, one you could incorporate natural elements like a wooden tree trunk footstool, a dining bench or a side table. You can accent your fireplace with chopped wood or you can use reclaimed wood as a picture frame. This would add texture, layers and levels. So much goodness along with that wood accent piece. All right, that's tip number nine. Add some wood elements to your space.
Tip number 10 for our cozy house is to keep slippers by the door. This was a habit we actually picked up while living in Germany. Now, all native Germans that we met had house shoes right by their door and our daughter even needed them at her kindergarten while we were already accustomed to taking our shoes off when we got home. Having a pair of slippers waiting by the door is such a wonderful way to be welcomed home. So how can you incorporate slippers into your cozy home? First, have a place to sit and remove your shoes at the front door. That's an immediate way to feel invited back home. Second, have a place to store your shoes by the entry when you get home so that everything has a place and everything could be put in its place to keep it neat and tidy. That way you can put on your nice cozy slippers and enjoy the rest of your evening at home.
And finally, I would suggest actually purchasing a few extra slippers for your guests to use when they are in your home. It's just such a nice little touch to be able to offer that to your guests. If you're wearing slippers and you offered them a pair of slippers, Oh my gosh, that would just be such a nice little touch and I would feel so welcome into someone's home. So if you want to go a little bit above and beyond, there's a tip for you. Get some slippers for your guests if you're going to be wearing these house shoes and slippers in your home when you invite them over. All right, that's tip number 10 keeps slippers by the door.
Tip number 11 is using warm wall colors. Now painting your walls may not be possible. It's actually not for me at the time of this recording as we are renting our townhouse. But if you can, paint is one of the easiest, quickest, and cheapest ways to update an entire space and give it a new cozy look. Here's how I'd recommend choosing your pink colors. I would actually use a favorite textile from within your home, like an area rug or a throw pillow. It's super easy to match paint colors these days. So if you can take in a clipping, bring the paint samples home, or you can take the pillow in and they can color match usually at the store for you. Tip number two is look for colors with warm undertones. You want to stick with tans and beiges and even griege works here. That's the gray beige color. You don't want anything that's too cool. So you don't want, um, a really stark gray color that doesn't have that kind of beige undertone with it. So just look at something that has those undertones.
Doesn't have to be all tan and beige, but something with that kind of an undertone you'll be able to tell at the store. And finally, if it's too drastic to have to paint your whole house or your whole room, maybe you have really tall ceilings in one room, kind of leads into the other. That's kind of the case with us with our townhome. Then consider painting a bold, warm color on one wall that would really change up the space, make it a lot cozier and give you a focal point. Plus then you don't have to paint your whole space or change your whole house at once. You can just do a little bit at a time, so that's tip number 11 use warm wall colors to change your space and make it super cozy.
Tip number 12 is add personal memories to your space. A home filled with love and putting photos and mementos on the wall displays that love to you and your guests. If you walk into your home and there's no art and there's no pictures of family, it almost feels like a model home. Have you ever had that experience when you've walked into someone's home and you weren't sure how long they'd lived there because they just didn't have anything that seemed really personal in the house? Well that makes your house cold and uninviting. So make it cozy by adding these personal memories to your space. So how can you do this? Well, for the most impact you could choose fewer but larger photos to display. Pick a few favorites. Don't pick every picture from this last year. Try to really edit and use a really um, discerning eye to pick your favorite pieces from the last year and just display one or two of them, blow them up, make them big, make them have a big impact on your space. Or if you have lots of pictures that are kind of similar, group those pictures together and then use similar frames to keep the focus on those images.
So I love those series of pictures. You have more than one child and you have similar pictures of each of them. I love seeing those displayed that way. Or if you have one child and they have different poses and you can display them all together, you can be really creative with this. And usually if you have a theme it has a lot more impact on the pictures. And then finally be creative with what you display. So one of our friends has a pair of their son's jeans from when he was a toddler and she framed them in a shadow box and put them up on her wall. And I love it. It was, it's such a cool way to display something really personal and just celebreate an amazing time in your life when your child was young and you have these really fun things.
So I just loved that way of how she honored that part of their lives together. Okay. And I have one more bonus tip for you. This is one that my parents do and we love it. It's so much fun. Every year when you take your Christmas tree out, add family photos to it, they have a bunch of ornaments that are all those photo frames and they fill them with all the family members. And our daughter loves finding them and looking at them and we love back at the memories and adding new ones to the tree and it really just makes the tree feels so personal and and just really inviting. It's really fun. Give it a try. All right, so that's number 12 adding personal memories to your space. I've got two more tips for you on how to make your home super cozy.
Tip number 13 is to declutter your stacks of mess. So nothing says uncozy more than a cluttered space that's filled with a mess of papers and things to put away. It makes your mind work in overdrive. It's constantly sizing up the space, making a to do list of all these tasks to complete and it never lets you relax and honestly, when I think of cozy, I think of relax. I think a relaxing, I think of being at peace and I think of just unwinding and rejuvenating. So cluttered doesn't fit in this picture. Here are some tips for decluttering those spaces. One sort, all of your items in the space using the five box method. I talked about this a lot in episode three of this podcast. So I'll leave a link in the show notes so you can check it out. Second, pack away, all of your stuff and set a day to deal with it.
If you need to get your home cozy right now, friends are coming over, you've got Christmas parties going on, just put it all away and we can deal with it at another date. Speaking of another date, if you really want to keep your foot to the fire, go ahead and join my decluttering challenge and I'll help you get through it. We'll start on January 11th. But, right now sort through your items as quickly as possible. If you don't have time, pack them away. And then three, join my decluttering challenge and I'll help you make sure that we go through your whole home starting on January 11th and you'll be done by the end of the month deal. Cool? All right.
And our final tip for making your home cozy right now is to surround yourself with the stuff you love. So your home is your personal sanctuary for you and your family. You deserve to have a filled with the stuff that you love and the pieces that make you feel alive. So go through your home and toss out or donate anything that weighs you down or makes you feel guilty. Life is way too short for that. The tip for this one is super simple. Just get to it. Look around your house, toss anything that you or someone in your family doesn't love and that's it. Simple as that.
That wraps up today's episode for 14 simple ways you can make your home extra cozy right now. Let's recap them shall we?
Tip number one was to add layers to your home, just like the accessories in your outfit layers, make your home feel purposeful.
Tip number two was to create levels in your home using that gauge of low, medium, and high. Make sure there's something at each of those levels within a space to make it feel cozier and inviting.
Tip number three was to add texture. Make sure that you're adding some coziness through fuzzy things that your hands want to touch.
Tip number four is lighting. This one can be one of the toughest, but you want to make sure that you have different kinds of lighting in each space. You want overhead lighting for overall brightness. You want task lighting for specific tasks, and then he wants small accent lighting for more intimate settings and gatherings with friends.
Tip number five is delight candles. Candles can make your space so cozy and it's one of the secrets of Hygge, so definitely look at doing that.
Tip number six is to light a fire in the fireplace if you have one.
Tip number seven was to add life to your space with plants.
Tip number eight was to make your bed a relaxing retreat.
Tip number nine was to add wood pieces.
Tip number 10 was to keep slippers by your door or how shoes as they'd called them in Germany.
Tip number 11 is to use warm wall colors throughout your space.
Tip number 12 was to add personal memories to your space using personal family photos and mementos from your travels or things that are special to you.
Tip number 13 is to declutter your stacks of mess. And if you need help, don't forget to sign up for my decluttering challenge.
And tip number 14 is to surround yourself with stuff you love.
And don't forget. If you'd like a cheat sheet with all of these 14 ideas, head over to LittleGreenBow.com/cozy. I'll make sure to send the cheat sheet straight to your inbox so you don't lose it again, that's at LittleGreenBow.com/cozy. And finally, if you found this helpful, I would love it if you would subscribe to this podcast and leave a review so other families can find it too. Next week on the podcast, we'll get back on schedule and discuss the psychology behind materialism versus minimalism. It's a fascinating topic and it will help you over the hurdles most people stumble on when trying to declutter. You won't want to miss it. See you then and have a very Merry Christmas if you celebrate.
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So this episode might be over, but we don't have to say goodbye just yet. Head over to my website at littlegreenbow.com for tons of great resources, freebies, courses, and a link to join my free one of the minimalist group on Facebook. Let's tackle this thing together, and if you love this episode, it would be really helpful if you left a rating and a review so more families can find the show too. Your awesome! Thanks and see you next week.