8 Things to Cozy Up Your Home

It's officially cold.  With these temps, we are busy cozying up.  It's not too hard to do in our little house, considering four of us sleep in one bed. {he, he}  Five kiddos and two adults in one house sometimes makes for a good way to heat the house with just our own breath alone.  Lol.  But no, really, with winter coming on and knowing we'll spend SO much more time in the home...I REALLY find it important to like spending time in it...do you?  Here' my list for making the home cozy with a few simple changes.

1.  Fur Throws.  I really love the faux ones.  We love the sheepskin pelts too.  We have about three or four of the faux throws and we still sometimes fight over them at our house.  They are great to curl up in when we sit on the porch, or when we sit on the leather couches in front of the t.v.

source via Nicole Stormer

{I would love for our kingsize to look like this}

2.   Change out the pillows.  Bring in some warmer textures like velvet, fur, wool, tweeds. Deeper colors too.  I love the look of this....Layer.  Layer. Layer.

source  

3.  Books.  Aren't these pictured above pretty?  I have a friend who collects old leather bound books and these are hers.  *want* I especially love the warmth they give off.  I imagine each of them to be as great as the likes of Charles Dickens. Read candlelight or by the fire.

Will was lovingly rearranging our book shelf just last night.  It gets dis-sheveled looking pretty quick in our house.  Before I met him, I only had books out that looked pretty.  No significant meaning or use to me.  But Will quickly changed that and made our house look smarter in more ways than one...Using both...Books for show.  Books to read. I LOVE that.  :) 

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4.  Branches.  More Bushy ones really create an impact.  Like this one above that I did for a client.  I always love magnolias.  And even though they dry out pretty fast inside the house, they still look really pretty all dried out.  Last year,  I drove around town looking for a tree, because I think I'd depleted my sisters in years past.  ha.  So, I finally found a huge magnolia tree,  knocked on the door of that personal property and when the lady came to the door,  I offered to pay her for a bundle of branches and asked if I could help myself.  She was so nice and declined taking the money, and said to instead donate the money to my favorite charity.  How nice is that?  I find that if you just ask, people are more than happy to help.

Sara Pratt via Pinterest

5.  Healthy, Seasonal Snacks setting out.  Pears, Oranges, Pomms, Nuts.

Ana Mineiro via Pinterest

6.  Activity Stations.  You gotta have this!  Growing up, that's what my mom had for all of us nine kids.  The dining room table was always the hub for everything.  Art, Puzzles, Dinner, games...  Even if there are no kids in your house though, it's still a good idea. Another one of Will's ideas was to put a pad of paper and pencils in each room.  For jotting ideas on, making lists, and writing notes.  I LOVE this idea and have found that I get more creative with these incentives laying around.

7. Baking Materials for the Kitchen.  Not from a box.I guess this is an extension of the activity station, but it's a whole other area that feeds all of your loved ones in your life.  Here are my two girls above.  Eleanor is the baker at our house.  She also bakes all the goodies at Tea Bar and Bites.  She's SO good at it. I love how she makes our house smell good and that she takes little Syl under her wing.  So much can be said for getting in the kitchen.  And, as you can see, our kitchen is by no means fancy.  Just a place to get messy and dream.

8.  GOOD movies.   And while we're on the topic of baking, I'll bring one movie up that I'm sure everyone has seen.  Julie & Julia.  It was a good one, huh?  I'm sort of a.d.d. My family makes fun of me because I usually either fall asleep or lose interest in most movies before the movie is over.  Because to me, unless it's a REALLy good movie, I can't hang on to watching it.  SO, this brings me to my question for you.  Share some of your favorite movies.  I would love to add them to my wishlist on Netflix.

What are you doing in your homes to cozy up?  

I hope you have a happy Thursday.  

xx

sharon