Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines cozy as 1. Small, comfortable and warm, 2. Friendly and pleasant. 3. Suggesting or showing a closeness. Who wouldn’t like a living room that embodies these attributes, especially in cooler months? Getting warm and comfy is so much more than just turning the heat up. Warmth comes from surroundings, which should be pleasing for all the senses. Here are 10 easy steps to a cozy living room.
Colour scheme for your cozy living room
Consistence of colour choices is what makes your living room welcoming and homely. Some of the colors to choose from are warm golden yellow, ochre, terracotta (brown red), deep coral (orange red), scarlet, deep red, olive green. These hues pile up to coziness and warmth. The colours that should be avoided and better kept for bedrooms are pale yellow, cool red, pink, violet, blue, grey, black, white and cream.
Use natural materials for a cozy living room
Timber floors and wooden furniture brings up the antique feel while preserving comfort and closeness. In order to achieve the illusion of a country retreat, choose rich woods like walnut, cherry and oak. Lighter colour woods like pine and maple are best saved for something else.
Cushions for quick coziness
There is no cheaper or easier way to restyle any room than cushions. You want warmth and softness so, don’t spend too much on intricate knitting patterns and sequins. Cushions are for cuddling and tumbling all winter day long. Select your favourite style and fabric and match them to your living room décor. In winter time, more is definitely more, not less. Think leather, suede, velvet, wool and heavy cotton knits.
Rearrange the furniture with seasons to achieve the cozy look
While summer living accents indoor-outdoor connection, maximizing the space and creating the airy and atmosphere, in winter the situation is quite the opposite. The summer arrangement does not provide sufficient warmth and space for intimacy when the nights get chilly. In winter, you need to lose yourself in that sofa, pull down the blinds and grab a wool blanket. Bringing your furniture closer together can create a more intimate atmosphere. This needn’t mean cluttering the room, rather, involve a few comfort accessories, like a side table, ottoman or footstool.
Mood lighting: another easy step to a cozy living room
It was long established that coziness comes from ambience in the first place. Much of how we feel comes from lighting. A ceiling shade or a lamp can make the difference between too much light and too little. They come in all sizes, and some floor or table lamps are a work of art. If you’d like to change the light intensity, for example to have one setting for reading and one for cuddling, invest in a dimmable switch. Although power saving bulbs are very popular, like fluorescent tubes, their operation is based on very high frequency flickering, which is tiring to the eyes. You definitely want to have good old incandescent bulbs in your living room.
Rug time
Of course, there is no warmth in a room without an area rug. They look great either on timber floors or natural stone tiles. Apart from providing softer footing, making it more comfortable to move around, rugs Sydney vendors recommend the use of rugs to subdue echoes and reduce ambient noise. As I said, living room color scheme has to be simple and homely. Pick up one with a few tones of the same hue, for unimposing but harmonious effect. And if you choose a thick, bushy one made of pure wool, nothing will stop you from curling up on the floor after a glass of red wine, especially if you have a fireplace.
Fireplace Idyll
Definitely a centerpiece of a cozy living room people dream about. Crackling with idyllic unison with lush carpets, soft cushions and soft, dreamy lighting, it is irreplaceable in winter nights. They come in all sorts of sizes and shapes, so you will surely find one that fits your living room. Maybe it could be a traditional one, surrounded by rustic natural stone, cottage style tiles, or modernistic but not less cozy, open style gas fed or gel fire burners that have flames rising from a bed of volcanic rocks.
The key to having a cozy living space is it its adaptability and room for rearrangement from season to season. While some changes depend more on your budget than your good will, most of them are easy to perform, with creativity running amok.
If you liked this article on easy steps to a cozy living room. you’ll love other ways to decorate your house and make the entire home a cozy place to come home to.