Guest Post: 7 Best Tips to Make Your Living Room Cosy With Aubrey Bay

Hi everyone,

I’ve been considering hosting guest posts on my blog for a little while now, so when I got talking to the dream duo at Aubrey Bay, I thought why not? The husband and wife team make incredible soy candles and here Amy shares her tips for a cosy living room. Enjoy!

7 Best Tips to Make Your Living Room Cosy

Add some texture

Often stark environments are created by sharp lines and bare walls. Breaking this up can be easily achieved by introducing linens, cotton and lightly stained wood.

If you have a wooden floor, a rug can be a great addition to a living room especially if you stick to neutral tones. Woven materials work well, too. By going neutral and using woven materials the risk of the rug clashing with the room will be minimised.

To finish off your textures, no living room is complete without a copious scattering of cushions and a throw.

By introducing cushions and throws, no matter if you’re alone or in company, cosiness is assured.

2. Curb the hard edges

When we use a lot of hard edges, in a living room, we can create a colder and harsher finish.

The more curves we introduce in a room the more it feels like a nice, warm hug.

I often get curves from the arms of the sofa or even small tables. But if you do have angular furniture, then we can rely on the cushions we have already added.

Scatter them around, pile them high and you’ll hit the cosiness brief.

3. Include your personal touches

Although we can make a living room cosy through design, it’s always best to bring in personal touches to make it your own. This takes it from the pages of a magazine to something that belongs to us. And being cosy boils down to ownership. If it doesn’t feel you, then it won’t be a space you’ll enjoy.

Display photographs of the family and friends. Picking up some beautiful frames to show off these special people and moments in your life can be a great ongoing activity to develop the room.

If you’ve been travelling or picked up some interesting keepsakes and trinkets, put these on display. This brings our personality right into the space.

Why not try introducing printed canvas wall art? This can be a great way to bring colour and texture into a room and bring it to life.

4. Introducing a touch of greenery

Introducing plants into our homes always brings life into a room.

Plants are living things. They move, grown and interact with our home in ways that enhance our lives. It doesn’t stop there; they even interact with our bodies and minds, too.

Studies have shown that plants boost mood, increase productivity, clean the air and reduce stress.

5. Attack your stacks

Stacks of bills and small mounds of paperwork have a habit of collecting in our living rooms. Before we know it, we can be sitting there, on an evening, passively wondering what they are and what we need to do about them.

Without knowing it we have invited a anti-cosiness bad guy right in the heart of our homes.

Attacking your stacks will instantly boost the cosiness factor of your living room

6. Avoid a corridor effect

Sometimes, when we have a long thin room, it’s an easy mistake to make by putting in long, even, dark sofas. If you find you do have a long thin living room, a great idea would be to have a corner sofa.

An L shape sofa will instantly create a cosy corner and you have sidestepped the dreaded corridor effect.

7. Get lighting right

When choosing to light a living room, I opt for warm white or soft white light bulbs to create a warm, cosy light.

Turning off the main lights can stop bright glare which makes you feel alert and awake.

To make sure your living room is adequately illuminated, try layering your lighting with different light sources to create an inviting setting.

Having accent lights, maybe in the corner of the room or on a table, can help set the scene with a softer, more diffused light.

Focal points on side tables are easily created using a lamp. Your eye is drawn around the space to those inviting corners which otherwise would go unloved.

I love having some well-positioned candles to create that cosy night in vibe and fill the room with beautiful scents. I’d always recommend using a clean-burning wax like soy to protect your soft furnishings from soot. For more information on candles and the benefits soy wax, you can check out our post.

When it comes to candles, a little luxury goes a long way!