There’s a difference between a place where people live and a place that feels like home. Homes need to be warm, inviting, and comforting. Of course, it’s the people we live with who make us feel that way, but it doesn’t hurt when the physical atmosphere encourages good feelings.
Let’s check out 4 great ways to add warmth to a home.
Wood Furniture
There’s something about the natural, beautiful qualities of wooden furniture that make people feel instantly comfortable. No wonder the hygge atmosphere of coziness, comfort, and conviviality with friends and loved ones is so often associated with log cabins and wooden furniture.
Leading craftspeople like Woodcraft have a range of beautiful, hand-made pieces to fit every room and style. From stately, timeless looks to modern, sleek lines, solid wood furniture can look very different, but it’s also comforting and warm.
Lighting Matters
In a basic and practical sense, lighting helps us see. It also does a lot more than that. Natural light can brighten our mood and our home. Lightbulbs that emit a soft light, not the harsh clinical whiter light, can really make a difference, too.
If your home is short on windows, mirrors can be a great way to distribute natural light and create a warm effect. Maybe for fancier occasions or when entertaining, candles can create a fun, striking atmosphere. Be mindful about how you light up your spaces. It matters more than you think.
Aromas
There’s a reason that realtors are known to spray kitchens with products to smell like fresh cookies. Whether this is an urban legend or real estate agents today really do this, we all understand that the comforting smells make a home feel warmer and homier.
Obviously, people prefer good smells in a home to bad ones, but the way that smells can instantly transport you across time and space is a fascinating subject featured in some of literature’s best works, such as In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust.
Proust wrote about involuntary memory, how you can be minding your own business one day when, suddenly, a smell triggers a flood of memories you forgot you had. Our sense of smell is a powerful psychological trigger.
Mind what your home smells like, and people will simply enjoy spending time there, even if they don’t necessarily attribute it to the smell.
Food and Drink
Real warmth in a home means hospitality, and offering guests something to eat and drink is hospitality’s cornerstone. You don’t need to lay out a feast every time a friend or relative shows up, but you do need to provide at least the basics.
Offer to make them tea, coffee, or serve water. You should have some healthy snacks or some food you know they enjoy eating. Don’t be perfunctory about it, and provide food and drink simply because etiquette says you should.
Rather, you want your friends and relatives to visit your home to enjoy themselves. That’s what a really warm home is all about.
