Moments that give you a warm, cozy and happy feeling

That feeling of coziness always gives me a warm feeling. Lying under a soft blanket on the couch while watching a movie or reading a book. Or those late evenings after a hot summer day. It’s still warm and very nice to be outside, you have a nice drink and a late night snack or dessert, you can smell the scented candle to keep the mosquitos away, you can hear the crickets in the background and you feel very satisfied and joyful in this moment. I can name a lot more of those moments that give me a warm, cozy and happy feeling inside. Hopefully this will give you some ideas for a cozy interior and decor in your house.

Decorating a cozy house

“I wanted to create a minimalistic, but cozy and warm atmosphere in our house”

In Holland we lived in a house that was built in the 30s and was already very characteristic. In Spain our house is the opposite. It’s modern and very clean and needed a very different approach with decorating than our previous house. What I love about our house is that it’s very light, the rooms are not big but spacious and filled with daylight. The main colors in our house are light and warm colors, like gray and sand colors. But with all those light colors, the atmosphere in the house can become a bit too bright and sterile. I wanted to create a minimalistic, but cozy and warm atmosphere in our house.

So what can you do to create a minimalistic and more cozy and warm atmosphere in your house?

Create mood lighting in your house

Our house came with light bulbs with almost white light. It makes you think of fluorescent lighting, which is not cozy and warm at all. We replaced all the light bulbs immediately with warm soft yellow shaded (not fluorescent) light bulbs. This already gives your house a more calming atmosphere.

Use pillows and blankets

A sofa can look a bit plain, but if you put some pillows and a blanket on it the sofa looks more inviting.

Making it cozy with pillows and a soft blanket

Create a cozy corner

We have a corner sofa which divides the sitting area from the rest of the living room. This is our cozy corner and last year we added an electric fireplace in our cozy corner. I love the smell of a real fireplace, but for now the electric one does create a cozy atmosphere. What I also find very cozy is a rocking chair on a fluffy rug with a side table.

Wooden or wood look interior

We used to have a wood look floor, but in Spain our house has big light gray tiles. Not cozy at all. My husband made a bar of wood in the kitchen and we have a light oak wooden dinner table. This gives a much more warming look.

Rugs

Because the shapes of the house are all straight and we have big gray tiles, we have a round rug in our cozy corner and a round rug underneath our dinner table. Because the round rugs break the pattern of the tiles, the accent is not anymore on the tiles this way.

Sheepskin rug

We have a few fake sheepskin rugs to decorate the interior. For me this really creates a warm and cozy atmosphere. We don’t have the rugs on the floor but on some chairs at the dinner table and on some chairs at the bar.

With the wooden furniture and the rugs yout get a warm vibe

Flowers

We have light colors in our house and sometimes I want to add color, but I don’t want the colors to be overwhelming in our interior. I have fake flowers that I change every now and then, when I want to use different kinds of colors.

Giving it a little colour

Interior spray or scented candles

Especially when we have finished cooking we want a nice scent in the house. We have different kinds of scents. In spring you would want a different kind of scent than you want around Christmas time (pumpkin cookie scent). 

Photos

I like a few photos in the house. I’m not a fan of posed photos, but I like the spontaneous ones, or the not so perfect selfies that bring you back to that moment. Above our piano the wall looked very plain and I decided to make a photo wall. My husband helped me to make the big frame and I filled it with photos. Every few months I update the frame and replace some of the photos.

It’s the memories that make your house a home

“For me it’s the small, simple things that made our house feel like home”

But it’s not just the possessions or the cozy decorations and interior that make it feel like a cozy and warm home. It’s my family and the memories that give me a warm and cozy feeling.

In the beginning our house was just a house, but now it’s a home with already so many memories. For me it’s the small, simple things that made our house feel like home. Breakfast at the bar, sushi in front of the tv, our daughter studying at the dinner table, baking cookies, pies etc. in the kitchen, our cats walking around like royalty, bbq and dinners with family and friends and so on.