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Mid-winter temperatures got you running for an extra blanket? Adding another blanket is just one way to up the cozy factor in your home. There are many more things you can do to make your living room look and feel warmer; everything from your color palette to your décor is game. Introduce a few of these cozy living room ideas and watch the winter blues melt away.
Warm Materials
A rich wood ups the cozy factor exponentially. Many other natural materials do the same. Anything warm to the touch or warm to the eyes like terra cotta, brick, and textiles adds to the comfort of the living room.
Wood floors, a brick accent wall, or fabric wallpaper all soften a space and invite you to curl up and enjoy a winter day in relative comfort and ease.
Mood Lighting
Lots of light, especially soft, warm light, is necessary to make the living room feel inviting and comfortable. Of course you need ambient, task, and accent lighting but go beyond that to create coziness with lighting.
Layer in more warmth in your lighting by opting for diffuse lights instead of direct spotlight type lighting. Dimmers also soften up lighting and add a dimension of intimacy. Use more lighting lower in the room rather than overhead. That means lamps and hanging lights like pendants and chandeliers.
Soft Textures
Anything that invites touch is a great way to warm up the textures in your living room. Tufting on the sofa, velvet upholstery, high pile rugs all add softer textures that make your space psychologically feel warmer.
Add soft accessories too. Knits are great for blankets and pillows. Matte ceramics and woods also provide softer textures that invite warmth.
Warm Palette
Lean toward warmer shades in your color scheme. Even neutrals cast a warm or cool undertone that you should pay attention to if you’re aiming for a snug environment.
Warm grays, off whites, and browns are always winners as well as colors influenced by them, such as terra cotta, mustard, or sage. Gold or bronze metallics warm things up, as well as earthy reds and oranges as accent colors.
Inviting Layout
You can create a cozier feel by adjusting the primary function of your living room layout. For instance, instead of orienting the room around a TV, try making a fireplace the focal point. Arrange furniture to invite conversation.
A sectional sofa enwraps the space like a hug and suggests the most meaningful part of the room is the people in it. Create vignette spaces like reading nooks to further increase interaction with things other than cold technology.
Fireplace
A fireplace creates instantaneous warmth and coziness. Just seeing dancing flames puts you in a comfy frame of mind. The soft light also adds to the ambiance.
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The fireplace also adds to the physical temperature of the living room. Use an electric fireplace as a supplementary source of heat to take the edge off especially bitter days in an environmentally friendly way.
Enveloping Patterns
Patterns have a way of drawing you in. They ground a space. Depending on how you use patterns, you can create an enveloping sort of feel that makes a space feel cozy.
A patterned wallpaper clearly defines the walls and draws the room into itself which creates a sensation of closeness. A patterned rug brings the room down to earth instead of opening it up to be lost in an airy design. Patterned lampshades, drapery, upholstery, etc. all add some level of this phenomenon. Add it gradually until you reach your desired level of coziness.
Traditional Style
Traditional styles tend to feel warmer because they are familiar and often related with times in your life you associate with comfort. Channel a bit of grandma’s house or a bygone era of comfortable extravagance with some traditional style.
Furniture in the traditional style is one of the easiest ways to introduce this type of warmth. Curved lines and ornate detailing will do it too. If you worry about going overboard with traditional looks, just add a few traditional accents. Antiques are a great way to do this. They tone down more modern vibes with historical and storied items.
Increase the cozy factor in your home with one (or more) of these cozy living room ideas. There are cold nights ahead; you’ll be glad you did.
Want more living room ideas? Check out the latest living room trends at our blog.
