Homes can be many things, some impressive for their size, some for their location. Homes being the owners or tenants castles, it’s no surprise everyone wants to live in a nice home. Over the physical size or location, homes need to be inviting, cosy and happy. Here are a few hints and tips to keep your home feeling an amazing place to spend time and relax.
Clean Up
It’s not everyone’s favourite task, but keeping your home clean will go a long way to making it feel cosy and inviting. A quick de-clutter as part of a routine followed by dusting and hovering regularly will prevent an accumulation of junk and mess in your home. Simple things like emptying bins and keeping laundry out of sight will make your home easier and more comfortable to live in. Small things like keeping a doormat and taking off your shoes when coming indoors will help keep the grit and dirt from daily life outside your home. Kitchens can take some of the hardest use in a home and are now with modern lifestyles an area that we often spend time in. With this in mind try and keep the kitchen clean at all times. Don’t leave washing up in the bowl or the surfaces unwiped. Be clean and reap the rewards of cosiness.
Smells Nice
Our sense of smell is well known to affect our mood especially when we are relaxing. Though you may get used to the smell of your home, it is very inviting to smell sweet floral smells over stale laundry. A few subtle room fragrances in the home can help you feel warm and loved as you enter a room. Overpowering artificial fragrances are not great so keep things subtle. Air your home often to keep that fresh feeling throughout the year.
Soft To Touch
Make sure the areas of your home that you spend time relaxing in are comfortable. Hard floors and leather sofas are great for keeping the place dust-free and easy to clean but they lack the luxurious feel that softer fabrics and floorings offer. Use throws and rugs to give areas of cosiness to a room. This gives you a balance of being able to easily clean your home but keeping it soft and cosy at the same time.
Be Creative With Lighting
A lot of the time we spend in our homes is spent during the evenings when natural light isn’t available. Choosing subtle secondary lighting to enhance the comfy feel of your home really helps bring an ambience of calm and cosiness. Reflected light can be softer in areas where you sit and relax. Smaller individual lights can be used in the evening to avoid the glare of an overhead light that needs to provide adequate lighting for the whole room to be used for living as well as relaxing. Many modern LED lighting systems offer a range of almost endless colours and are dimmable to the exact brightness you need for the chosen area.
Stay Warm
Having your home at a comfortable temperature is key. We don’t have extensive periods of hot weather, but we do have long periods where our houses need heating to make them comfortable and cosy. Central heating certainly wins in this area being popularised in the 1950’s, it has been a feature of our homes since. The way that heat is achieved has changed a lot since the 1950’s and with every change has come greater efficiency. If your central heating system has not been updated in some time it will undoubtedly pay dividends in cosiness and reduced running costs to have modern controls and a modern high efficiency boiler installation. Nothing helps keep your home cosy and inviting more than warmth.
Pick Colours Carefully
Choosing colours for your home can have a massive effect on how it feels to be inside. Keeping lighter colours for utilitarian spaces in your home will make them easier to light and differentiate them from the living areas of your home. Choosing where to make a statement with colour can be tricky. If you are wanting to feel cosy, be mindful that strong colours in different areas of your home will have different effects. Staying clear of clashing colours will ease how your home feels to your eye. Often paint manufacturers offer matched ranges of colours with suggestions for feature colours and subtle backgrounds so you don’t have to worry that what you have chosen will work together.
