We’ve had our first real snow of the year today and even that was only around for long enough for a quick snowball fight before the sun came out and started to melt it!
We made the most of it though and had a family snowball fight in the front garden while the dog looked through the window at us in disgust because he hates the snow. 😉
Even after just a few minutes outside in the cold, it was lovely to come in to our warm and cosy living room and snuggle up under the blankets and it got me thinking of other ways that we’ve made our house into a cosy and welcoming home.
Here’s just a few of the things we’ve done that you can do if you want to make your home feel snug and cosy….
Get those throws and blankets out.
I love snuggly throws and blankets and the cold dark days of Winter are the perfect excuse for getting as many as possible out. We have a couple of big fluffy ones on the beds upstairs which the kids prefer to use instead of their quilts in the Winter and we have some lovely ones in the Living Room downstairs.
Nothing makes a house into a home like family photos!
I have photos in most rooms of the house and they’ve all been carefully chosen from the hundreds that I take every month! They all capture family moments that I don’t want to forget and it would be such a shame to leave them on a memory stick, never to see the light of day again. I have everything from printed canvasses to super modern glass frames with some lovely white shabby chicness in between and I’m currently thinking about adding a photo wall on the back wall of my staircase.
You can’t beat fresh flowers.
Fresh flowers at any time of the year are beautiful but I appreciate them all the more when the skies are gray and there’s a chill in the air. Having flowers in the house makes me smile and I’m sure I read somewhere that it’s a proven way to lift your mood. You can often pick them up reduced at the end of the day in the supermarket and although I’ve seen some really grotty half dead ones reduced before, the majority of them are still in great condition with lots of life left in them. These are my bargain daffodils which cost under a pound for the lot….
Light your candles.
Another thing I love to do when it’s dark outside is to get the candles burning – there’s something so relaxing about the flickering flame of a candle, isn’t there? I also love the smell of my house when I’ve had my favourite candles burning – Yankee Candle Baby Powder is my favourite at the moment.
Declutter your clutter
I’m in the process of de-cluttering in a huge way – I’m doing it room by room and decor wise, I’m trying to only keep the things that that mean something to me. I’ve bagged up so much of the ‘stuff’ that we’ve accumulated over the years since I started and I much prefer the way the house is looking at the moment. I’ve also taken some of my photos out of old mis-matched photo frames that I seem to have collected and have them ready to be framed in nicer frames when I finally get around to my photo wall.
I have these little beauties on a shelf in my kitchen surrounded by my favourite family photos and it looks great as well as being a great talking point whenever anyone comes into my kitchen.
Add your own homemade decorations
I love things like our red and gold pom pom which we made and hung on our curtain rail a few Christmases ago – I couldn’t bring myself to take it down when the rest of the decorations so it’s been up there for about two years now.
White walls with lots of colour
This is probably a bit controversial but I love white walls with colour from wall canvasses and wall art. I’m currently in the process of working my way through our house and painting the walls white. I bought the biggest tub of white paint that you’ve ever seen for about £40 (it cost more as I bought the wipe clean can cope with everything paint) and it’s so far done the downstairs toilet and the hall, stairs and landing. Next week I’ll be doing the kitchen with it and hopefully Master Frugal’s bedroom if I get chance.
What do you do to make your home feel snug?
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Image credit: Shutterstock, tomertu
