Cozy Room Decor: How To Make Your Home More Cozy For Fall

Make your home more cozy for fall on a budget with these easy decorating tips that don’t cost a lot of money and will have you curling up with a book in no time!

how to make your home feel cozy

Now that fall is upon us, it’s time to get prepared for colder weather.

Which takes a lot of work on my part…I’m definitely more of a hot weather summer person!

But one of the things I do like to do in the fall is make my house feel more cozy.

That way it looks and feels warm inside even if it’s cold outside.

So if you’re like me and have to psych yourself up to deal with winter, hopefully some of these fall decorating ideas will help you to make your home more cozy, too.

1. Use Textured Fabrics

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Faux fur cushion and embroidered fabric cushion on a sofa

Textured fabrics such as faux fur, chenille and velvet are soft to the touch and make a space feel warm.

Draping a faux fur throw or a chenille blanket on your sofa makes it look like a cozy place to curl up.  And if your feet get cold, there’s a blanket within easy reach.

Or try swapping out some of your cushion covers for ones with textured fabric.

2. Add Warm-Toned Metals

gold candle holder and small mirrors on a table

Warm toned metals like gold and brass add a warm glow to any room.

And that warmth helps to add to the cozy feeling we’re often looking for in fall.

Picking accessories that have some texture to them (like this candle holder) increases that feeling even more.

3. Light Candles

Candles on a table

Speaking of candles…they add that warm look which makes a room feel cozy, regardless of how you display them.

This is one time when flame-less candles just don’t cut it.

They don’t add ambiance to the room in the same way that real candles do.

4. Add Scent

Smell is one of the most powerful senses, so adding a scent that reminds you of fall (like pumpkin spice) will make you want to just hang out in your home.  

Which is why a lot of real estate agents have scented candles burning during an open house.

Potpourri, incense, or scented candles can all do this…just choose the smell that you like the best!

5. Hang Curtains

Canopy bed with blue and white toile curtains

Along a similar line, adding curtains to your space will help to soften it and make it feel more cozy.

This is part of the reason canopy beds appeal to so many people.

White velvet curtains behind a blue velvet sofa in the living room

Installing curtains all the way across the wall gives a similar feel to the room in general.

I usually take the velvet curtains in my living room down for the summer. But they’re going back up now!

6. Create a Reading Nook

Reading nook in a bedroom

Set up a corner in the room with a comfortable seat, a cozy blanket, a reading light, some good books, and a place to set a drink.

It will look so cozy, you may even find yourself reading more 🙂

Window bench with a faux fur cushion

Somewhat enclosed spaces, like the window bench in my office, seem to have built-in coziness…take advantage of it by making it a good place to sit.  

You can find the instructions for building this window bench HERE and see my office makeover HERE.

7. Put Down Area Rugs

Upholstered chair with a cozy area rug under it

There’s something about having softness under your feet that makes you feel cozy.

If you have hard floors in the seating area of your room or around the bed, consider putting down an area rug to add some comfort (it’s hard to get out of bed if you know your feet are going to hit a cold floor!)

Black and blue area rug in front of a black velvet sofa

The area rug in my den adds drama to the room and provides a cushy place to rest your feet.

8. Switch Out Your Cushions

Blue and white chaise in a bedroom with down-filled cushions

Adding a couple of down-filled cushions where you don’t usually have them helps to make your home look cozy.

Lumbar cushions are particularly good for making chairs, sofas and chaises more comfortable.

And if you really want to go all out, replace the stuffing in the seat cushions with feathers, too.

It’s like sitting on a down duvet. You’ll never want to get up!

9. Turn On Some Lamps

White dresser with pink roses and a pink lamp shade

Avoid overhead and fluorescent lighting if you want your space to look cozy.

Lamps or sconces give off more flattering light that makes people look and feel better.

Lamps provide warmer lighting | How To Make Your Home More Cozy

Use dimmers on all of your lights to help you provide the ambiance you want in the room.

10. Light a Fire

Blue and white arm chair beside the fireplace

If you have a fireplace, lighting a fire is a quick way to make the room look and feel cozy.

Who doesn’t like to sit in front of the fire with their drink of choice and relax, especially if it’s cold outside.

If you don’t have a fireplace and want one, you still have a few options.

One is to buy an electric fireplace (like the one above).  They can be installed on pretty much any wall and have come a long way since they first came out.

The flames can be pretty realistic and many of the units produce heat like a fire as well.

The great thing about electric fireplaces is that they don’t have to be vented. So you can fit them in anywhere you have space.

Or you can create a faux fireplace by putting up a mantel and adding some candles like I did in my bedroom makeover.

I think just having a mantel makes the room feel more cozy. And lighting all of those candles helps 🙂

11. Paint A Dark Color

Office painted in Farrow and Ball's Brinjal

If you want that cozy feeling all year round, try painting one of your rooms a dark color.

As I mentioned when I was talking about choosing a color scheme, using dark paint on the walls can help to make a room feel cozy…just like light paint helps to make it feel open and airy.

Den with the ceiling painted black

If you really want to go all out, paint the ceiling dark too (like I did in my den). I love snuggling up on this sofa with a blanket and a book!

Want to try this but a little afraid it will be too dark? Read my tips on how to decorate a dark colored room.

Try out one or more of this tips and your home will be feeling more cozy in no time!

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How to make your home more cozy

Have comments or questions on how to make your home more cozy?  Tell us in the section below.

This post was originally published on November 21, 2016 but was updated with new content on February 12, 2024.


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4 Comments

  1. Jennifer Flakus says:

    In the last picture (with the fireplace), there is a gold side table with a gold candle and two gold decor items that look like suns. Do you recall where you got all of those items?

    1. Wanda Simone says:

      Hi Jennifer…they all came from HomeGoods. I haven’t seen those exact ones recently but you might be able to find something similar there.

  2. Great tips! I have a few things I do here, too. :). I added plants. They have really changed things for the better in the house to make it cozier. I have a mix of real and nice quality fakes. I think adding a collection of something you love is cozy, too. I have vintage milk glass, a collection of pretty vintage teacups, old books, and a record collection. :). I think choosing the nicest version of everyday items is cozy as well. With my silverware I have the prettiest I could afford to meet the need. I picked the nicest pots and pans in a cohesive look. I also think decluttering is cozy– not having too much in a small space, unless you are a maximalist style person. But the maximalist is not a hoarder but a decorator with deliberate choices. Just plain mess is never cozy! I think an overall atmosphere is part of what defines cozy, too, a quality you can’t quite put your finger on, but that feeling that comes over you in certain homes. My dream for our home is that every day you feel like the leisurely Sunday afternoon nap feeling when you are here, a serene space and cozy to be in.

    1. Wanda Simone says:

      Thanks for the additions to the list, Tracie! Your home does sound cozy 🙂