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The fall is a perfect time to cozy-up your home with a little hygge charm.

It’s a season revolving around taking pleasure in falling temperatures and nature’s changing colors: you get your fire crackling, you wear knitted cardigans, you drink hot chocolate.  You’re also likely to spend more time at home, relishing the warmth and comfort of your own sanctuary.

With this in mind, why not revitalize your home with new features and colors? Find inspiration in these irresistible decorating ideas …

Breathe New Life into Furniture with Throws

Now that colder weather’s settling in, add throws to your couches and chairs to cultivate a warmer, more inviting feel.

Not only do these bring more textual diversity, and make all those cozy evenings on the couch more comfortable, they can also inject more color – go for browns, reds, and oranges to reflect the season.

Hang Wreaths to Bring the Outdoors In

A selection of wreaths hung around your apartment or house will nurture some rustic hygge goodness, emphasizing the ‘earthy’ feel of the season.

You can either try crafting your own (a fun, cost-effective hobby for all the family) or buy beautiful, authentic pieces made with organic materials. Try to incorporate a variety of different colors to suit each room’s look. .

Invest in New Rugs

Alongside throws, rugs are a must for fall. A tightly-woven, plush piece brings more comfort underfoot and adds different texture (especially helpful on cold, sleek hardwood floors). Put it in front of your hearth to make sitting in front of a roaring fire truly irresistible.

A rug can also brighten up a room with minimal effort. Accents of red, gold, and green are terrific options to reflect fall’s diverse palette.

Keep Your Lighting Ambient

Ambient lighting is a powerful aspect of the hygge mindset: a subtle glow can transform the entire look and feel of a room.

Place one or two lamps around your lounge, especially beside your favorite chair for reading in – few things are quite as cozy as snuggling beneath a blanket with an engrossing book. The trick is to provide enough illumination for comfortable visibility without filling the space with glaring light.

Add lamps with rustic wooden stands for a true rustic charm, and consider housing candles in vintage metallic lanterns. Embrace this approach in your bathroom too – and treat yourself to long, relaxing soaks in the tub.

Display Your Firewood

Keeping firewood on display serves an obvious practical purpose – eliminating the need to venture outside for another few logs – but also cultivates an authentically-rugged aesthetic.

Keep your firewood in tightly-woven wicker baskets in the corner of your lounge or kitchen, or stack it on either side of your hearth.  This makes even the most modern apartment or house resemble a countryside cottage.

Scatter Cushions Across Your Furniture

To reinforce some blissful fall comfort, place scatter cushions on your couches and chairs. These make your furniture more inviting, and diversify your textures – try to mix a few different materials together (such as velvet, wool, and satin).

You can also use cushions to introduce more colors, raising or subduing the brightness for a more eclectic look.

Follow these fall decorating ideas to make your cozy afternoons and evenings at home more luxurious, relaxing, and blissful than ever!

Rugs have the power to transform the entire look and feel of a room. In a bedroom with hardwood floors and little decoration, a rug brings more texture and layers. In a homely lounge decorated with the hygge mindset, rugs heighten the warm coziness to another level.

However, choosing a new rug can be somewhat intimidating if you’ve never bought one before. There’s also no one-size-fits-all rug for every room and décor, either – you have to find the perfect size for each space.

Here’s everything you need to know …

Decide on the Layout

Do you want your rug to lie between your coffee table and seats, framed by the furniture, or would you prefer to have legs sitting on the rug instead?

There’s no right or wrong, but you need to make sure you measure with this in mind. In a small room, an oversized rug will draw more attention to the limited space, while a small rug will do the reverse for a big room. Having your furniture’s legs on the rug will make the suite feel like one rather than separate components, and minimizes the amount of bare flooring visible for a warmer, more comfortable layout.

Decide on which arrangement will suit you best, and then measure accordingly. If you want your couch and chairs to sit entirely on the rug, measure between the two from a couple of inches behind each. This will frame the furniture and keep the seating area neat.

If you’d rather have your rug floating between furniture, make sure it’s nicely framed: leave more than a couple of inches from the seats and the rug’s edge. Usually, 5’ by 8’ is a safe bet, giving you plenty of room to play with.

Balance Floor Space

Whether you choose a big or small rug, make sure you balance the amount of floor space around it for symmetry.

Even if you have to adjust your seating area a little, such as pushing your chairs closer to your couch, an even layout avoids a disjointed aesthetic. It’ll also make sure your rug looks intentionally small rather than the result of poor judgment on your part.

Rugs for the Bedroom

Rugs are a popular addition to the bedroom. If you plan to fit one underneath your bed (to prevent unwanted movement and add extra comfort underfoot), you need to leave extra space for framing.

The rug should be big enough to surround the bed, equal on all sides. Measure accordingly, but if you can’t get a rug to suit the exact dimensions, go for bigger than smaller – this will bring a more attractive, neater look than a rug hidden away can.

If you plan on having your rug at the foot of your bed or in the center of the room, consider a round design. These are very stylish, and in a smaller size can look incredibly homely and warm.

Rugs are crafted to bring added warmth, texture, color, and comfort to your home, so finding the right size is vital. Don’t be afraid to seek professional advice before investing, and always pay attention to those all-important dimensions.

Hygge, the Danish concept of enjoying the small pleasures in life and creating a warm atmosphere, can help us all build a home in which we can truly relax.

You can do this with your choice of furniture, colors, textures, and – crucially – lighting. A soft, ambient glow will cultivate a cozy atmosphere and bring a more luxurious feel to any room.

Designers and brands today offer an extensive variety of lighting options, giving us all a choice of ways to embrace illumination in the hygge mindset.

Install Dimmer Switches

Adding a dimmer switch into a room allows you to personalize the lighting to your exact taste or mood: simply soften the bulbs’ glow by turning a knob without having to ‘settle’ for the standard setting of an average overhead fixture.

Embrace LED Lights

LED string lights are easy to find, and create a beautiful effect in almost any place they’re hung. Drape these around your hearth, over a mirror, or around the banister on your staircase to bring a soft glow and draw attention to specific fixtures.

Another benefit of string lights is the sheer range of colors available. Blues, reds, greens, yellows, whites, and more are all widely stocked, with the cables themselves often featuring distinctive designs.

Fit Corner Lamps

Light emanating from the corners of a room is much more relaxing and comfortable than a single overhead glare. Invest in a selection of freestanding lamps for the corners of your lounge, bedroom, or dining room for an ambient effect.

Corner lamps are particularly effective when overlooking your favorite reading chair, providing enough light to see by yet still seeping out into the wider room for that relaxed feel.

Under-Cabinet Lighting

Under-cabinet lights are incredibly stylish and simple to install. Though these are popular in kitchens, spilling light across worktops with a simple tap, they’re equally effective elsewhere in the home.

Nurture a warm, cozy atmosphere by placing under-cabinet lights on your bookcase or under a shelf in the center of a wall – these give you an extra source of illumination when needed.

Candles are a Perennial Favorite

As well as low-key electrical light, candles are a terrific option for cultivating a homely, relaxed atmosphere.

There’s a wide variety of types available, with different shapes, colors, and sizes, so don’t be afraid to experiment if you want to leave them naked. On the other hand, you might prefer to burn candles inside lanterns. Vintage designs, incorporating glass and metal, have a rustic charm that can contribute to your overall aesthetic.

Make More Use of Your Fireplace

Of course, you can always rely on the soft, comforting, warm glow of a roaring fireplace to create a luxurious atmosphere.

Not only is the crackling sound delightful, but the flickering light helps to evoke a romantic, natural effect, bringing the simple joy of sitting around a campfire into the home. If you’re trying to emulate a rustic, countryside cottage aesthetic, the light of a burning fireplace is an absolute must.

Each of these options has the power to transform any room, creating the blissful ambiance you dream of. Experiment with different methods and switch from one to the other to keep your lighting scheme fresh.

In winter, it’s vital to fill the home with warmth, comfort, and color. Blankets, scatter cushions, and throws in soft, tightly-woven materials all help to cultivate a sense of coziness and relaxation. However, while this has obvious practical benefits during colder months, adding greater texture to any room is a powerful style-choice all the year round.

Diverse textures in a room bring much greater visual and tactile depth. Both of these help to make a room far more appealing and inviting – and it’s surprisingly simple to achieve.

Focus on Comfort Underfoot

Rugs are an often-overlooked feature in the home. While hardwood flooring remains popular today, this can look sparse, cold, and uncomfortable in bare feet. If you’re searching for a way to make any room feel cozier, adding a rug is a simple yet effective option.

Choose a soft, natural fabric with a strong weave, to maximize the rug’s comfort. Earthy tones, such as browns and greens, will help create more warmth, especially with touches of gold or yellow in its design. A shag rug is a popular, stylish, comfortable choice, but explore a range of textures. Pay attention to its thickness, its feel against the skin, and the strength of its weave: you want a rug that stands up to years of repeated footfall.

Invest in Luxurious Curtains

Curtains can transform the entire look and feel of any space. Thin, worn, rough curtains in a faded color do little to make a room inviting or cozy.

Instead, invest in new curtains with a thick, heavy feel. Velvet curtains are especially luxurious, not only carrying a sense of elegance and sophistication, but also guaranteeing a gentle sensual-experience with every touch. The heavier and thicker they are, the better they’ll keep the cold outside, too.

It’s best to choose understated yet earthy colors when buying velvet curtains. Consider brown, burgundy, navy, or purple.

Experiment with Throws and Blankets

Placing a throw over your couch or armchair will breathe whole new life into older furniture. Not only does layering contrasting texture over another (such as velvet or wool over vinyl) create a more diverse tactile experience, it also makes any sleeker, colder materials warmer. You want to feel as if your couch or chair is a cozy spot to enjoy comfort at its most luxurious, and having a thick, heavy throw or blanket to hand does this beautifully.

A throw with a tight weave, made from organic wool, captures a natural, rustic feel. In even the most modern décor, a throw or blanket made from durable, soft material brings a much more welcoming warmth and comfort.      

While you should have a couple of throws or blankets in your lounge and bedroom, they’re beautifully simple to carry with you from one room to another; if it’s particularly chilly or you’re just loving the feel of it against your skin, you can drape or wrap the throw or blanket around you. Take the comfort of your favorite spot wherever you go.

Cover Bare Spots

Add texture and softness wherever you can, to bring much more diverse colors and comfort to any space.

Fit upholstery to any bare wooden chairs, throw velvet runners on your tables, fit bedskirts, and place scatter cushions on couches and chairs. All of this brings a cozier feel to any décor, encouraging a softer, more welcoming style. Think about luxurious hotels which favor rustic, homely coziness: layering is crucial for maximizing comfort and creating a relaxed atmosphere.

Millstrand Co. is dedicated to bringing more coziness and warmth into your life. We use only the strongest, most durable materials to keep you comfortable, snug, and stylish – building pieces that not only embrace timeless style, but are designed to last.

At any time of year, you want your dinner parties to be cozy, informal, and authentic: it’s a time to enjoy great food, great conversation, and great drink (be it wine, whiskey, or just fine coffee). Cultivating a real sense of warmth and home-comfort is crucial – but how do you do this?

The Importance of Texture and Color

Depending on the size of your house or apartment, you may have only limited space to host a dinner party. No matter how big or small your dining area is, a mix of textures and colors can transform the entire aesthetic and atmosphere.

Embrace the art of hygge: opt for a true coziness and comfort to make your guests feel at home.

Invest in thick, heavy curtains in an elegant color – burgundy, brown, purple, cream. Though each is starkly different, the weight and simplicity of these will keep any drafts to a minimum and add a soft, luxurious texture to your room.

You should also place throws, blankets, and plush cushions to any couch or armchairs in your dining area. Thick, tightly-woven wool (for example) create a feel of homeliness and snug charm, encouraging a warm, relaxed atmosphere even without a need to actually make contact.

Focus on Ambient Lighting

Go for ambient lighting every time. Don’t simply rely on your standard overhead bulbs – these may well be too stark and glaring. Instead, place candles along the center of the table; mount wicks in old wine bottles, lanterns, or vintage holders.

Don’t overdo it, though: be sure there’s enough lighting for your guests to see each other and their food without feeling like they’re under a spotlight.

Alternatively, wall lamps can create a relaxed atmosphere, and may be more practical than candles if you struggle for space on your table.

Avoid A Bare Table

Don’t leave your table bare: even the mot beautiful rustic finish may lack that all-important warmth. Add luxurious texture with velvet table runners, and provide thick napkins for your guests. Go for the softest you can find, for real comfort when wiping hands and lips.

Pay Attention to Your Seating

If you’ve ever endured a dinner party with nothing but cold, brutal wood on your behind, you’ll know how negatively uncomfortable seating can impact your experience. A great dinner with friends and family is all about being relaxing and enjoying the atmosphere.

However, it’s hard to do any of this when you feel you have to fidget constantly in an effort to find a comfortable position. If you only have bare, uncovered seats to hand, be kind to your guests, their posture, and their bodies – add texture and padding.

This may mean placing a cushion on the seat or investing in a cover: anything that provides a soft layer between your guest and the rigid chair itself will help them stay comfortable. Choose a thick, padded material that’s soft to the touch, such as velvet, and make sure it’s fixed to the seat somehow.

Cultivating a warm, cozy atmosphere for your dinner party is vital, but don’t put too much pressure on yourself. If you’re rushing to make everything perfect or fussing over your guests too much, they’ll pick up on it – and perhaps find it hard to relax and enjoy the atmosphere. Focus on taking things easy, enjoying your own space, and being with those you care about most.