There are so many ways to make a home extra warm and cozy during the miserable winter months. Some are more involved than others, but even just making one or two tiny changes can improve things over this season.
Keep the drafts out and the warmth in
For windows that aren’t double-glazed, it might be a good idea to keep those pesky breezes out of your home. If the budget won’t stretch to new double-glazing, perhaps a similar effect could be achieved with some floor length, lined curtains, made from a heavy fabric, like velvet. A lovely, rich color could really improve the look of things, and will make your home seem warmer.
Door draft stoppers are another great way to keep out the cool breezes, and anyone with reasonable skills at handicrafts can make them without too much trouble. Anyone who isn’t nimble-fingered will be better off buying a couple of lovely stoppers, in patterns with either similar or contrasting colors to the rest of the room.
Weather-stripping is that coil of sticky-backed rubber or foam that goes round the inside of the door or window frame to keep the elements out of your home. It’s available from any hardware store and is inexpensive – certainly worth fitting.
Light up that space
Lighting is important when it comes to making a home appear cozy. Cooler lighting makes the place seem colder, so warm yellow-gold colors of light are a great thing. Even the odd featured orange or red lamp can bring a warm glow to the rest of the room. The other side of lighting is that if it’s adjustable, say with a dimmer switch, it’s possible to give the room a different ambience depending on the time of day.
One style of window décor that is very much in vogue at present is the use of solid shutters instead of curtains. Total control of the lighting can be maintained with these, no matter what time of day it is. Plantation shutters come either fixed, or with moveable louvers. Fixed shutters can be opened during the day for the maximum light, or closed for those who want to sleep during the daylight hours. Louvers can be gently opened or closed, letting the maximum light in when the sun is shining, and blocking out the nasty weather when necessary.
White or light-colored wood shutters can make a room seem larger and cleaner, especially because they’re fitted into the window recess instead of taking up wall space like curtains. The other preference is to give them a feature color, picking out a vibrant color in the carpet or similar.
Improve the all-over ambience
Anyone lucky enough to have an open fire in the living area can make a home very cozy during the winter, but traditional fireplaces are not always fitted into modern homes these days. The next best thing is a multi-fuel or log-burning stove. They’re enclosed, so there is less mess all round; smoke won’t blacken the walls and the soft furnishings the way an open fire might. They also provide a lovely ambience and color to the overall look of the room. They do require professional installation with a stainless steel chimney being fitted to an outside wall if an internal flue is not available. This can be quite expensive but log burners are a good investment as the heat they give off is often sufficient to heat the whole house.