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Winter is a time of seasonal reflection and cultivated cosiness – warm foods, luxurious fabrics and time spent indoors. In order to enjoy the season to its fullest, here are ten things you can do to ensure your home is at its most comfortable in the cool.
Window Dressing
Awnings are a stylish and functional way to keep your home warm and watertight in winter. One of the benefits of installing awnings is that they not only provide shade from the rain and elements, but they also help regulate the temperature inside your home in summer too – making them a truly worthwhile year-round investment.
Throw Away
The use of throw rugs and blankets in your home will provide a sense of comfort and cosiness, while also adding a stylish touch to your decor. Throw rugs and blankets come in many different textures and colours, and can transform your living space from a cold, drab room into a cosy castle.
Warm Glow
An often unconsidered way to bring warmth to your abode is through the use of lighting. Warmer-toned lights (often amber or yellow in colour) add a fire-like haze to your home, without the danger. Warm-toned bulbs can also be purchased for lamps.
For the ultimate in comfortable winter light, strike a match and light a candle. The crackle of the wick and the scent of melted wax are a perfect panacea for any winter blues.
Shoot The Breeze
Airflow is a major issue year-round, but in colder months, there’s less incentive to open a window and encourage airflow. In order to prevent dampness and constant condensation, on dry days try to open a window in one part of the house. Fans are also an effective way to encourage movement of air – point them towards walls or at the periphery of a room.
The Doors
Internal doors and room-dividing doors are effective barriers for temperature control.
For example, a heater or fireplace in a room will be more effective if that space is enclosed and shut off from surrounding rooms. If you’re trying to cut down on energy bills, heating only the spaces that you use is a great way to save money. Shutting doors and using under-door draught stoppers is a brilliantly basic way to do this.
This Heat
The glow and smell of a fireplace during winter is one of life’s more simple pleasures.
If you live in a home without a fireplace, a gas heater is a great way to capture some of the romance of flickering flames. Gas heaters can be installed in almost any space and are effective warmers – they’re also great for helping dry damp winter clothes.
Baked Goods
Warm baked goods are a surefire way to scent your home with cosiness.
Other than the warmth of an in-use oven, hot food provides a sense of comfort and live-in calm. Cakes, cookies and baked bread are all great wintry foods, as is a boiler of health-giving soup. Load up your trolley and get cooking!
Spice Is Nice
On the topic of scents, a great way to invoke warmth and comfort to your home is through the use of seasonally relevant scent. Winter-warming smells include vanilla, cinnamon and wintergreen – each of these suggests either freshness, sweetness or comfort. Find a scent or a blend that suits you and find a way to dispense it. Candles, oil burners and incense are all effective, no-fuss methods.
A New Pallette
A new season can often lend itself to a new colour pallette.
For winter, colours that suggest warmth are reds, burgundies, spicy oranges and deep browns. Using these colours to refresh your soft furnishings will impart a hint of warm and well-being to your space.
Floor It
There’s not much worse than a cold, concrete floor on a winter day.
Floor coverings like rugs, runners and carpets can all dress up a depressing, cold floor, while providing you maximum comfort underfoot. Look for rugs with natural fibres or a high pile for maximum warmth and luxury.