As winter sets in, some rooms can start to feel cold, even when they aren’t. But simple design tricks can help warm things up – sometimes even literally, saving you money on energy costs, and helping you do your bit to “live green.”
- Try adding throw rugs on floors, or exchange several smaller rugs for one larger one of deeper, richer pile
- Add decorative cushions to couches, chairs, and to pretty up your bed.
- Think of texture: heavier curtains at the windows are one idea, but pattern (tapestry prints, for instance) and thicker, heavier materials, even in monochrome, create a lushness that pale cottons and other summer fabrics lack (but will cast to (fresh) winds when spring returns).
- Similarly, if tablecloths dress your end tables and storage trunks, consider putting the cloths away for winter and replacing them with woven or rag scatter rugs – or take your cute from the Victorians with small, lusciously-colored Turkish ones (they don’t have to be antique!)
- Toss a blanket across a couch. Not only does it make the room look more inviting and cozy – it makes you cozier in it!
- Add darker accessories, focusing on rich colors like scarlet, sapphire and topaz.
- Piles of books add another element of coziness and warmth – don’t be shy about leaving them strewn about here and there (just not lying open – you can ruin them!)
- Play up any dark wood accents in your home, from floors to headboards. Add a pretty area rug on a stair landing to focus attention on the dark floor there.
- If your taste tends towards the minimal – lots of black and white and gray – and a splash of red: a shiny ceramic vase from Droog Design or the MoMA Design store, or bright orange (okay, it’s not really red) bittersweet arranged in a dark corner can work wonders.
Now light a few candles, curl up on the couch under the blanket, gather up a couple of the books you’ve left spread about, pour yourself a cup of tea, and enjoy!
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