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How to Make your House a Cosy Home this Autumn

Stacey Sheppard is a freelance writer and award-winning interior design blogger. She started her blog - The Design Sheppard, in 2009 and is now ranked as one of the top interior design blogs in the UK. We are thrilled to have Stacey as a guest blogger for us. Over the coming months, Stacey will be taking us through the trending interior styles, how to get our homes ready for autumn and all things Christmas. This month, Stacey shows us how to make our homes cosy this autumn.

As summer draws to a close, it's time to turn our thoughts to creating a cosy home in preparation for autumn. As we prepare to cut back on our energy usage, we're looking for clever ways to keep our homes feeling like that warm and snuggly sanctuary we need them to be through the colder months. We may need to turn the thermostat down, but we can certainly ramp up the comfort by opting for cosy home accessories and implementing some cosy home decor ideas to make sure that our homes allow us to embrace hygge this winter.

So what makes a cosy home?

"Hygge" can be roughly translated from Danish to mean "cosiness". In essence, it means creating a warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people. I don't know about you, but this is exactly what I aim to achieve over winter. I'm getting ready to hunker down and transform my home to embrace comfort, pleasure, and warmth. 

According to the Danes, Hygge is very subjective. It's not about what something looks like or even about material things necessarily. It's more about how things make us feel and about creating a sanctuary where we can take refuge from everyday life. I think we're all going to need this as we head into autumn.

How do we create a cosy home?

Simple. It's all about the atmosphere and how we feel in the space. So, think about what brings you the most joy, pleasure and comfort and bring those things into your home, whether that's a freshly brewed coffee to enjoy in your favourite mug, a soft and fluffy pair of socks to keep your feet warm, or a large snuggly blanket to curl up on the sofa with whilst you read your favourite book. 

There are certainly things that we can do from a home decor point of view to crank up the comfort and pleasure. For me personally, it's all about texture. Finding ways to bring texture into my home immediately makes it feel cosier no matter what time of year it is.

So, let's take a look at 10 ways to make your house a cosy home this autumn.

1. Add area rugs

Rugs are particularly great if you have cold hard floors at home as they instantly bring warmth and comfort into a room. They look great and add style and personality, but they also feel good underfoot especially if you choose a deep pile rug that is soft and fluffy. 

Choose a rug that works with the style of your home and with the lifestyle of your family. Afterall, how much joy and pleasure would you get if you were constantly worrying about your toddler spilling their lunch on your new white Berber rug? 

If budget is an issue and you can't afford to invest a new large deep-pile area rug, instead buy a few small ones and place them strategically around your home where you are most likely to be barefoot, for example beside the bed or in front of the sofa. You can also layer your rugs to get the comfort levels right. 

If you need help finding a rug in the right size or material, check out this handy rug buying guide.

2. Select satisfying scents

Whilst cosy rugs indulge our sense of touch, satisfying scents satiate our sense of smell. This is where olfactory memory comes in. Scientific research has proven that smells have an exceptional ability to trigger memories, a phenomenon that has become known as “the Proust effect”. We now know that scent, emotion, and memory are closely intertwined. 

When it comes to creating a cosy home, think of the scents that you associate with happy memories. Maybe it's drinking mulled wine with your closest friends and family at Christmas? Perhaps it's carving pumpkins with your children for Halloween? Or maybe it's lighting sparklers as you watch the bonfire burning in the darkness. Whatever memories bring you the most joy to recollect, consider finding a reed diffuser or an essential oil diffuser that can spread the associated scent throughout the house.

3. Choose comforting colours

One of the big trends that we recently predicted for A/W 22 is comforting colours. What we meant by that is earthy autumnal colours such as terracotta, ochre, burnt orange, umber and chocolate along with camel, caramel, and cognac. 

However, colour is subjective. What one person finds comforting may not be so comforting for someone else. I personally feel comforted when I'm around darker and deeper colours that take inspiration from nature. I tend to gravitate more towards blues and greens which make me feel calm and serene, whereas the reds and orange tones mentioned above tend to make me feel on edge and a bit jittery as they are too energising for me.

So don't follow trends when it comes to choosing cosy colours for your home. Instead, follow your gut instincts and listen to what your body is telling you. Tap into your body's reaction and decide which colours make you feel cosiest based on how you feel when surrounded by them.

4. Tap into tactile textures

This is a game-changer for me. I am all about texture, so this is my top tip for creating a cosy home. Think tufted cushions, chunky knit throws, heavy, quilted bedspreads, and shaggy sheepskins. Basically, we want anything that makes you want to reach out and run your fingers across it. 

To really get the most out of this tactic, try to incorporate contrasting textures. Maybe a linen sofa topped with velvet cushions and a teddy bear blanket, or a corduroy armchair adorned with bouclé cushions and a chunky knit blanket?

5. Opt for natural materials

Natural materials help to add warmth and authenticity to an interior so if you are replacing any items in your home opt for natural materials where possible. Materials like wood, bamboo, rattan, cork, seagrass and jute are all great materials to choose. 

Not only are they warm to the touch and highly tactile, but they have the added benefit of being sustainable and renewable too. 

It has also been proven that natural materials are good for our mental and physical health and well-being as we can harness the many benefits of biophilic design when we use them in our homes.

6. Welcome in warm lighting

Lighting is extremely important for creating a cosy home atmosphere in the Autumn/Winter season. As the daylight slowly fades and the dark evenings draw closer, we will rely a lot more on our artificial lights than we do in the summer months. So, it's important that these lights not only illuminate our spaces but that the quality and colour of the light create the right atmosphere. 

Using the main overhead ceiling light is often too harsh in the latter half of the year so we tend to steer clear of ambient lighting if we want to create a sense of cosiness. Too much lighting can make us feel uncomfortable, so we need to get the balance right. 

Try opting for a mix of task lighting for when you need focused light and accent light for when you want to draw attention to particular areas of the room. This could include table or floor lamps, wall sconces or picture lights.

Warm lighting is definitely preferable for cosiness so make sure you choose bulbs with the right colour temperature. For a warmer more golden glow, choose bulbs with 2,800 Kelvins or less. 

It also helps if you have your lighting circuit on a dimmer switch so that you can easily regulate the amount of light at the touch of a button.

7. Collect cosy candles

Candles are also a great way to get that cosy home atmosphere and we can take inspiration from the Danes again who are Europe's biggest consumers of candles, burning through 6 kg per person every year. It's not surprising that they rely on candles for cosiness though as the cosy glow cast by candlelight is unparalleled. 

The flickering light emitted by candles stimulates our senses and for many people, it helps us to feel relaxed. There is also something very attractive about the crackling sound of a burning wooden wick.
 
You can opt for scented candles if you want to maximise the impact. I suggest burning candles that smell of pumpkin, apple, cinnamon and nutmeg or those that have woody, herbal notes that remind us of the forest.

8. Choose cosy curtains

This year more than ever, we will be wanting to keep draughts out so that we can keep warm. Curtains not only reduce draughts from windows, but they also help to reduce the loss of heat through the windows. Opt for thermally lined curtains if this is a real problem as they can help to reduce heat loss by as much as 25%. 

Drawing the curtains and shutting out the cold dark evenings is a cosy event in itself. It gives us the feeling of cocooning ourselves away in the safety and warmth of our own homes.

Single Thermal Blackout Curtain with Eyelets

9. Dabble with dried flowers

Dried flowers are a great addition to a cosy home in autumn. As the leaves fall from the trees in shades of red, brown and gold, dried flowers allow you to bring the colours of nature indoors. Whether you opt for pampas grass, bunny tails or dried ruscus or wheatgrass, dried flowers bring texture and life into the room but in a much more subtle and softer way than fresh houseplants.

If you are on a budget and don't want to splash out on dried flowers you can always bring foraged finds into your home. Collect up branches, pinecones, acorns and conkers and make an autumnal display yourself.

10. Fit a firepit

And last but not least, we'd better not forget the outdoors. Whilst we all tend to retreat indoors during the Autumn/Winter season, spending time outdoors in fresh air is good for us. If we have a garden, there is no reason why we can't cosy up that space so that we can still use it in the colder months. 

Investing in a good firepit or patio heater will ensure that we can stay warm outside whilst still enjoying time spent with friends and family watching the fire and maybe even sharing some smores. 

If you are looking to create a cosy home this Autumn, you can search, discover, compare and love furniture from 110+ furniture retailers and over one million products with easy-to-use filters and expert advice so you can easily find your perfect item with ufurnish.com.

For more style inspiration to create your perfect home, follow ufurnish.com on Instagram and Pinterest, or to search furniture retailers across the entire market, simply click here.

Stacey Sheppard

Created By

Stacey Sheppard

Stacey Sheppard is a freelance writer and award-winning interior design blogger. She started her blog, The Design Sheppard, in 2009 and it is now ranked as one of the top interior design blogs in the UK. She has written for various print and online publications including Livingetc.com, Warehouse Home, Devon Home, Taste Buds, and Designer Kitchen & Bathroom magazine amongst others. She has appeared on panels for industry events, judged industry awards and featured on national TV as an interiors expert. She has a particular interest in Biophilic Design and bringing nature into our interiors and how this can have a profoundly positive effect on or mental and physical health and wellbeing.

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