Come on in, my cozy friend! Today, we’re diving into the pursuit of a cozy home. Our homes are the places where we spend most of our time - especially if, like me, you also work from home! They are the spaces where we find refuge after hard days, where we invite our community in for celebrations (or just puzzling and drinks), and where we start and end each day.
So in the pursuit of a cozy life, home is an easy place to begin.
So, what is a cozy home?
Perhaps this is an annoying way to answer the question, but to quote my favorite Wes Anderson film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, “of course it depends.” A home is personal and sacred, shaped over years and even decades to be the ultimate reflection of you. To me, your home serves as The Museum of You, where you can walk in and feel surrounded by what brings you joy and peace.
As long as it’s personal, intentional, and welcoming, you’re well on your way to a cozy home.
A cozy home does not have to be…
…big. Whether you live in a studio apartment, a tiny home, or a little cottage like mine, I believe that every home has the potential for coziness.
…maximalist. Listen, I love stuff and I love looking at my stuff. But you can absolutely have a minimalist home and lifestyle and still achieve a cozy feeling.
…cottagecore. Let’s just get this out of the way. While my love for the cottagecore aesthetic runs deep into my core and I find it to lend itself extremely well to cozy living, it is not at all the only cozy aesthetic.
…finished or perfect from the start. You’ll hear me say this time and time again: home takes time. Think of your home as a living being, growing and changing as time goes by just like you are. In all honesty, a home is never really finished and it certainly will never be perfect.
Curating your museum of you
Here’s an exercise I’ve found helpful in curating a personal style for your home. Go around your home and select the 10 items that speak to you the most on a visual level. These can be anything - a piece of art, a wooden spoon, a plant. You’re looking for items that you look at and think “wow I really love the design of this.”
Once you have your items, lay them all out together on a flat surface and consider your collection. Are there certain colors, textures, or themes you’re drawn to? Take a photo of your collection. Congratulations, you’ve just made a mood board.
This is also great to do with a partner or roommate. Pick 10 items each, then swap and pick your top 5 items from your partner’s pile. Together, you’ll come up with a core idea of the vision you’re going for.
Here’s what my husband and I came up with when we did this exercise. When I look back at this photo and then around my house, I can see the connections extremely clearly.
Our collection includes: Our Everdell board game, a plant in a grecian bust, a leather bound book, a chemex, my flower crown from our wedding, my grandmother’s hand mirror, and my favorite Hill House dress. As such, our home is filled with shades of green, natural wood tones, soft textures, books, gold accents, and general woodland vibes.
To take this one step further, I can’t recommend enough taking the time to come up with a whole home color scheme. I got this advice from Elsie Larson of A Beautiful Mess and never turned back.
A cozy home is collected but shouldn’t feel chaotic. Having a core color palette helps to ensure that everything can flow together and gives a sense of cohesion room to room. It also really helps with making sure you’re bringing things into your home with intention.
However, none of us are perfect. I am still haunted daily by the purple and orange rug that I bought for my kitchen, when this is my house’s color palette:
Your cozy home starter pack
Now that you have your whole home mood board and color scheme, the fun begins: curating your THINGS.
Creating a cozy home does not mean buying a bunch of things just to fill your home. I beg of you, do not do this. Only bring items into your home that speak to you at a deeper level and you feel you will love for years. Of course, taste and aesthetics change and that’s okay. But what we’re avoiding here is the lure of fast furniture and micro trends that have a harmful impact on the environment and don’t even really make us feel very good. (To be clear, this doesn’t apply to utility items though I do always enjoy a cute version of a useful thing.)
Alright, the overconsumption disclaimer is out of the way. *steps off of soapbox*
Choosing items that could go anywhere in your home allows flexibility to change with the seasons or with your mood or just for fun. I’m a huge fan of the concept of “shopping your home” and achieving a new look just by moving things around.
Here are the things I believe belong in every cozy home:
Books - I have books in every single room of my house. I read a lot of books, so it’s nice to constantly be surrounded by my hobby, but I also use my books as decor. Around Halloween I pull out all my orange and black books and use them as the base for my coffee table and shelf styling.
Soft Goods - Even if you have the most minimal aesthetic of all time, if you’re going for cozy, you need to add texture and layers to your home. Curtains, blankets, and throw pillows will make a world of difference to soften your surfaces. They can even all be the same color beige, just with different textures.
Vintage, Antiques & Heirlooms - To achieve the collected look that I personally associate with coziness, you’ll need to bring in something old. This could be thrifted finds, antiques, or things passed down from your family. I love this as a way to make your home uniquely yours.
Art - Here’s where we get the most personal. Art is subjective and can look different in every home. But you’ll have a hard time making an empty white box with nothing on the walls feel cozy (though it’s not impossible!). You can invest a lot or a little here — but either way it will take time. My house is filled with art I’ve been collecting for over a decade that includes museum posters, Etsy prints, my own paintings, family photos, and a couple pieces of original art.
Plants - If you want your home to feel like a living being, it’s only natural to bring in something alive. Even one plant has the power to reduce stress and help you feel more connected to the natural world. Just be sure to make a plan to keep them alive (or neglect them until your partner takes over like I did, whoops)
Lighting & Candles - Finally, I feel extremely passionately that a candle or a well placed lamp can create Peak Cozy. The warm glow just softens everything and helps you to slow down a bit. Scented candles can change the whole feeling of our homes. I have great news for you - next week, I’ll be sending out my ultimate guide to candles, so make sure you’re subscribed!
I hope this helps you to see the coziness that already exists in your home and gives you some ideas for how you can move further in your own pursuit of cozy.
Finally, here’s this week’s cozy moment for your spirit:
If we’re talking cozy homes, I would be remiss not to provide you with inspiration from one of the most cozy homes I’ve ever seen. You won’t expect who the duo is that lives there.
Until next time,
Kyli
I desperately want to see the purple and orange rug.
I LOVED this. I now want to drop everything to find my 10 favorite things and have my husband do the same.