50 Cozy Ideas To Make Your Home More Inviting

Home is where the heart is, and if your heart isn’t cozy, it might be hard to get into a cozy headspace. There are about a million different ways to make your home both cozier and more inviting; we’ve brought together some of our favourites.

To make your home cozier, we’ve got to understand what the word means. A place that’s cozy is a place that’s comfortable, relaxing, and welcoming. You can use all of a person’s senses in order to make them feel welcome in your home.

The Front Door

1. Keep your front porch, steps, and/or door neat and tidy; be sure to shovel the walkways in the wintertime. How easy it is to get into your home will influence how welcome people feel.
2. Show guests they’re welcome by using welcome mats or signs. They can say “Welcome”, “Hello”, “Glad to Have You”, or anything that makes them (and you) feel good!
3. Climate permitting, get some plants near the door! Plants don’t just look amazing, they smell great, too; a front door teeming with life is a welcoming sight.

The Entryway

1. Keep the entryway relatively spacious. You want enough room so that guests can comfortably take off their coats and shoes.
2. Consider a small area rug in the entryway; something with a soft fabric is a good idea, though you might opt to put it far enough back that people aren’t tempted to walk on it with their shoes. This gives guests something comfy to tread on when they walk in.
3. If there’s room, put a plant in the entryway, much for the same reason you want a plant at the front door. A cozy home might have plants almost everywhere.
4. When room allows, consider having a small candle lit near the entryway when you anticipate guests. Candles literally emit warmth, and if you get a scented candle, you can get some very welcoming smells, too.
5. Keep your entryway closet well organized. Make sure you have enough space for guests to put their shoes and coats without guessing at where they should go.
6. Accent the wall directly in front of your entryway. You might use a painting, wall fabric, or a vibrant paint color; the first thing people should see when they walk in the door is an inviting site. You might even consider a small end table with a candle and plants by that wall (at this point, you’ve probably noticed certain recurring themes).
7. For a creative way to make your home cozy, buy a bunch of inexpensive, fluffy slippers and make them available to guests on a slipper rack. Nothing says cozy like slippers!

The Hallways

1. Make sure your hallways are clean and free of clutter. Stepping on a Lego is the opposite of coziness.
2. Hang things along your hallway walls - paintings, family photos, or even floating shelves you can put knick-knacks (or small plants!) on.

The Living Room

1. Area rugs are a must. Bare floors are not cozy and they look empty. Choose fabrics that feel good to the touch.

1. Layering rugs can be a lot of fun; this adds depth to the textures in the room and gives people something else to feel. Opt for firmer rugs on the bottom and softer rugs on top.
2. Make sure all of your furniture is spaced out enough to be easily accessible; having to squeeze your way between a coffee table and other people’s legs to get to your spot is quite uncomfortable.
3. While big rooms don’t necessarily feel cozy (though they can), big furniture often does. Opt for large sectionals, couches, and armchairs.
4. Find furniture with lush, textured fabrics, like velvet. When your couch feels like a nice place to cuddle up, you’ve got a cozy thing going on.
5. Let there be light! Use floor lamps to brighten up a space, get table lamps for more warmth, and keep blinds open to allow natural light to filter through.
6. Opt for floor to ceiling curtains; they can add a pop of color and texture to the room - almost like an accent wall that you can open and close.
7. Have blankets everywhere; they should be on almost any piece of furniture you can sit on. No house is the perfect temperature for everyone, and blankets, besides being functional, add color and texture to the room.
8. Where blankets go, pillows are always close behind; you should have throw pillows all over the place. Yes, you’re basically encouraging your guests to snuggle up for a nap, but what’s cozier than that?
9. Living rooms should feel lived in. By whom? By you, of course. You should place your favorite knick-knacks on mantle pieces and bookshelves, showcasing your personality while adding lively conversation pieces.
10. Speaking of bookshelves, a living room full of books is a lovely idea. There’s nothing cozier than curling up with a warm blanket and a book; place them on bookshelves or on coffee tables.
11. Wood can add a rustic and sophisticated look to your living room; rustic furnishings tend to feel comfortable and lived-in. Opt for wood tables and let some of your wood floor show if you’ve got it.
12. Pay special attention to how you paint your living room. Opting for a tonal palette can be a great move; it will let your furnishings and decor shine.
13. You might paint your ceiling. White is the most common color because overhangs are often white, and painting a different color can draw the eye towards the ceiling. That said, light ceilings can make your room feel taller, and darker colors can make it feel shorter, so you can adapt the color of paint to the size of your room.
14. In an apartment where you can’t paint? Globe Property Management maintains a number of apartments, and they recommend using removable wallpaper or wall fabric to add depth and color to the room.
15. If you didn’t think we were going to mention plants, you haven’t been paying attention. Big plants that go all the way up to the ceiling, small plants on your coffee table, succulents, flowers, whatever moves you. They smell good, they look good, and they bring a room to life.
16. Candles are important here, too. Scented, unscented, big, small; they help illuminate a room, and you can feel their warmth which is especially nice if you don’t have a fireplace.
17. Get an essential oil diffuser to change the smell of your living rooms; use invigorating scents in the daytime and soothing scents at night.
18. Consider how your guests will be seated. You can do large communal seating or you can do circle seating, where everyone sits around a round surface.
19. Instead of getting storage bins, get ottomans with soft fabric; they double as storage space and a place to rest your feet!

Guest Rooms

1. Make sure the beds are always made and wash the bedding if you know guests are coming over.

1. Lighting principles apply here, too; use table and floor lamps and consider task lights in case your guests like to journal.
2. A small bedside table with a plant is an absolute must.
3. Make sure the entranceway to the guest room is clear, and leave plenty of space to get into the bed.
4. Clear out the closet before guests who are staying for a long time come over so they know exactly where to put their clothes.
5. Predicting what colours guests will like is impossible, so angle toward dark, deep, soothing colours for the walls.
6. Don’t leave the room too bare even though it’s a guest room! Add a comfy chair if there’s space for one and put some paintings on the wall.

Dining Room

1. Paint your dining room with yellows and reds if you want to stimulate appetite; there’s nothing cozier than a delicious meal!
2. Make sure there’s ample space around the table for your guests to get in.
3. Decorate the dining room table a bit! Get a vase full of flowers and a nice tablecloth; consider a cornucopia for particularly festive occasions.
4. Area rugs can help you separate the dining room from the living room and kitchen in open concept homes.

Kitchen

1. Make sure to have something good cooking when guests come over! You might have them over for lunch or supper, or you might just bake cookies. No matter how you do it, food is, without a doubt, one of the coziest things you can offer.
2. When planning a dinner party, have an easy task for guests who want to join you in the kitchen to do. That way, you’ll have help and they’ll have someone to talk to. Make sure there’s enough room in the kitchen for them and that the task isn’t so important that you can’t do it without help.

Miscellaneous

1. Pets are wonderful, and though you shouldn’t get a pet just to make your guests feel comfy, a friendly dog or cat can make guests feel at home.
2. The flipside to the tip above, if you have a pet, make sure to let your guests know beforehand in case they have allergies or fears.
3. Make sure your space is well-stocked with snacks (and even medicine), so your guests want for nothing when they come over.
4. Music is one of the most comforting things; make playlists when you plan on hosting parties tailored to your tastes, and your guests’. Make it easy to turn the music up or down.

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