The darker days and cool, crisp mornings mean one thing: winter is just around the corner. Even if you’re living in sunny Los Angeles, the temperatures are beginning to drop and the lingering summer heat is on its way out. And as the season changes, it can be hard to keep your spirits up during these dark and dreary months. Fortunately, with a few simple interior design tricks, you can cozy up your house and stay warmer, and happier this winter.
To help you transform your space, Redfin asked interior design experts from across the country for our advice on creating a cozier home. Check out what we had to say so you can make your home cozy as the cooler, darker days set in!
Start by creating a warm and inviting ambiance in your living room
Make your sofa cozy and inviting. In my home, it’s where we have plenty of family time on cold short days and long evenings. Refresh, renew, and revamp decorative pillows along with an extra throw for everyone to feel cozy. - HK Interiors
Have blankets easily at hand by your couch or lounge chairs. I recommend buying blankets that feel cozy, match the rest of your decor, and keep you warm. Snuggling up to a warm soft blanket on a winter night next to a fire can make you feel taken care of and bring back wonderful childhood memories. - Maggie Minor Designs
Make your fireplace a focal point. With a lit fire, cozy blankets, your favorite beverage, and beautifully grouped coffee table books, who could resist taking a bit of quiet time to savor the moment and delight in life? Our SegretoStone mantles, made of a natural plaster mixed with fibers and polished creating a beautiful luster, are the perfect place to gather around this holiday season. - Segreto Finishes
Welcome nature indoors
Plants make a house a home, especially during the colder winter months. There are many plant options available to fit your space whether you may be looking for plants that like more sunlight, low light areas, pet-friendly, along with various colors, growing habits, and sizes to fit your specific needs. There is something about bringing the outside nature indoors that makes a home feel cozier during the wintertime and certainly increases the level of energy, happiness, and life. - Indoor Plants
Add natural elements for contrast and texture. Give your space some personality by mixing in wood accents with natural elements to make your space feel warm and cozy. Use wooden candle holders to display the flickering soft glow of candles on your mantle. Blankets in chunky knit, throw pillows, and woven baskets in earthy tones are some ways to instantly add texture which will cozy up your space. - Woodka Interiors
Incorporate lush green plants. I love to add extra greenery to my space year-round, and especially in the winter months. Nothing makes me feel happier than having lush green plants around me. Adding a few spider plants, ivy, or fig leaf plants to your space will enhance the aura during the harsh winter months. - Drea’ Custom Designs
Make your home feel cozy by mixing up textures
Luxurious textiles and jewel tones can transform a space. To adapt our clients' homes for cooler weather, we love layering different throws and pillows with luxurious textiles. Rich jewel tones also bring a layer of warmth to a room, and combining these two makes any room so cozy. - Kati Curtis Design
Use throw pillows and blankets with in-season textures. For winter, think velvet, faux fur, corduroy, chenille, crochet, cable-knit, and so on. My favorite way to change up my throw pillows is with inexpensive pillow covers. I just switch them out with the seasons or whenever the mood strikes. - Jessica Welling Interiors
Wondering how to make your home cozy? Cashmere, cashmere, cashmere. In addition to our usual fall colored cushions, dimmed lights, and lit up fireplace, the most important place on the coziness scale is cashmere. Treat yourself to a heathered cashmere bedding for an unbeatable feeling of warmth and luxury. Add a cashmere throw, a good book and a hot toddy, and you are set for the ultimate cozy night. - Interiors by Popov
Warm and earthy textures will make your home feel comfy. Adding warm, textural throws and blankets, as well as a "winter" collection of accent pillows adds depth and richness to a room. Earthy greenery and woodsy stems add a natural touch to any décor, whether as a tabletop accent or welcoming guests at your front door. - Britt Design Group
Incorporate cozy colors and channel all of your senses
Let the changing color of the leaves influence the hues within a home’s interiors. It’s surprising how much the warmer tones in pillows, blankets, and details around the house will evoke coziness and warmth. The organic inspiration can also be taken one step further by layering natural textured baskets to house any extra pillows and blankets and updating vases with cuttings of eucalyptus or other large-scale green branches. - Beyond Interior Design
Make tweaks to your home that will appeal to all your senses. Incorporate the smell of pine, cedar or cinnamon, add sounds of a crackling fire or soft, seasonal music, add a mix of textures from rugged logs to plush textiles, and serve up the traditional flavors of the season. We also love flickering flames so light a fire or go a little over the top with candles. - Decor Steals
Change up the color of your walls. Paint your bedroom, dining room, or powder room a deep rich hue like Sherwin Williams Urbane Bronze or Benjamin Moore Backwoods to obtain the feeling of a big, welcoming hug. Dress your walls by displaying a gallery wall of black and white family photos for the ultimate home-like environment. - DesignStiles
Lighting is key when making your home cozier
Lighting is my favorite way to cozy up a home on dark winter days. You can brighten up dark corners with a new floor lamp, set a table lamp on a console, or even drape a string of holiday lights over a mantle or bookshelf. For an afternoon lift, try a grouping of battery-operated pillar candles, which can be set to turn on at just the right time. - CAVdesign Interiors
Layer your lighting. Add small lamps on bookshelves or mantels and add larger lamps to end tables or consoles with dimmers. Use sconces to light hallways, in the dining room, over a fireplace mantel, or install them on built-in bookshelves, facia or vertical stiles in a repetitive arrangement. - Worthington Interior Design
