How to Make Your Home Cozy Like Grandma’s House
There are actually some super practical things you can do when searching for how to make your home cozy. I’ve spent years learning how to make our house feel like a cozy home and now I’m sharing all of my tips with you!
Have you ever noticed how some homes just feel cozy? And you find yourself wondering what makes them special… what gives them that cozy feeling?
When we first moved into our farmhouse it was anything but cozy. In fact, my dad’s actual words when they were helping us move in were “This place would make a great haunted house.”… nothing says home sweet home like that!
But over the years (with lots of mistakes along the way) we have found our own “style” and what sets a true home apart from all the houses in the world and I am sharing all the lessons I’ve learned with you.
This post is all about how to make your home cozy.
How to Make Your Home Cozy
How to Make Your Home Cozy and Inviting
When it comes to how to make your home cozy and welcoming we have something we need to keep in mind…
The most important people you want to welcome into your home are the ones that live there. Our families should feel invited into a warm, cozy and safe place away from the chaos of the world.
Of course we want to be hospitable and create a warm atmosphere for guests in our homes, but we can’t forget that the day to day hospitality to our families is more than the perfect wall decor or end table.
A home that truly feels cozy and inviting will have an atmosphere of peace about it. It doesn’t strive for the approval of others. You can tell that there is family culture steeped into the walls, because the people in it truly feel at home there.
We will dive into all the easy and practical tips for how to make your home cozy, but we can’t forget the people that make it a home in the first place!
What does cozy mean to you?
Not every home will have the same version of coziness, but the atmosphere will be similar. Warm, authentic and welcoming are some terms that can describe a home that is truly reflective of the people in it.
When you set out to figure out how to make your home cozy, you need to figure out what you actually like. Not what style you think will impress people or that of your favorite influencer. Something often reads cozy because it is genuine to that person and their interests, personality and habits.
When we first moved into the farmhouse I went through *many* different style genres. I had always been interested in interior design and remember designing my bedroom as a little kid and even “sourcing” things from Ikea and other big box stores, but as an adult I didn’t know what my style was.
To be honest, the reason we bought this old farmhouse to begin with was because at the time (2017) Fixer Upper was all the rage and I wanted an old farmhouse too. I pictured lots of grey and white “farmhouse” style with shiplap and neutral accents everywhere. So that’s what I went with and you know what? It never felt true to us.
To make matters worse I even kept my husband from being able to have any say in the way things looked in our home. I was so worried about it being “Instagram worthy” that any personal or not quite curated item left me frustrated that the aesthetic of our home was ruined.
It started with some antlers on the wall. He told me he was putting them up and didn’t care if I liked it or not (bravo to him, I needed to be put in my place!) and the rest was history. He started voicing his opinion on more and more things in our home and now it is absolutely cozier than ever, because it is a true reflection of who we are.
Our house is no longer one specific style. You really couldn’t search a term on Pinterest and find anything that reflects our home accurately. But you know what it is? Cozy. We have gotten more comments from visitors about the coziness of our home in the last year since we decided to beat to the tune of our own decorating drum than ever before.
All of that to say, a home that is truly cozy can’t be purchased in the big box store. It takes time, patience, a lot of trial and error and a whole lot of love to make a house into a home.
How to Make Your Home Cozy on a Budget
Let’s face it, you probably don’t have all the money in the world to go out and overhaul your house into coziness all at once… you’re in good company!
And honestly, the houses that are decorated all at once rarely scream “collected and homey”. If you think about the places that made you feel safe and warm (Grandma’s house or that of a childhood friend), they were added to over years and years.
Believe it or not, there was once a time where people didn’t view everything (including the place they called home) as temporary and disposable. People were invested in where they were and didn’t bat an eye at the fact that they couldn’t have everything they wanted for their homes in an instant.
In our microwave culture, be a slow cooker. Know that things worth having usually take time and patience and that’s part of the fun! When you have patience on your side you can hold out for the perfect things that will make your home cozy. And now some tips on finding those things…
The budget home… where to get it?
It seems like there is nothing that hasn’t been touched by inflation these days. You know it’s bad when the prices are soaring at your local thrift stores (Goodwill, I’m looking at you).
When even a throw pillow is upwards of $30, how does someone on a modest income find the means to cozy up their home without dipping into the 401k to make it happen?
Obviously the cheapest things you can get are free, so let’s start there. Every day people are throwing out or giving away perfectly good items. You wouldn’t believe the things my husband has even brought home from our local dump! A great place to search out these deals are on Facebook. Facebook Marketplace is a great place to start and even a few minutes a day searching for items on your list will eventually turn up some free or very cheap listings!
Another Facebook tool that was new to me this last year is a local Buy Nothing group. Most towns have them so just search the name of your town or one nearby and add “buy nothing” to the end. You’ll likely discover one where everyone in the group is giving things away. I have scored some great things and even offered plenty of my own items up for free when I no longer needed them. It’s a great way to slowly collect items with very little investment. Then you don’t feel guilty if it turns out to not be the right fit for your home.
Next is thrift stores. While Goodwill has retail-like pricing these days, you’d be surprised at the prices that you can still find at the mom and pop thrift store, especially the church run ones! We have a local church thrift store near us that has literally decorated half of our house. They have odd hours, but the prices are so cheap that I will often rearrange our schedule to get there.
Lastly is Facebook Marketplace for items that are really high quality, although maybe not thrift store prices. I have scored beautiful solid wood furniture, wool rugs and so much more via Marketplace. Often if I am searching to replace a large item in our home with something more our style, I will list my current item and be able to pay for the new one with no out of pocket cost!
How to Make Your Home Comfortable
A home that is comfortable is a huge step in the direction of coziness. If you, or your guests, can’t relax in your home then it is a good sign that it’s not comfortable or cozy.
Simple things that can make a home more comfortable are layouts of furniture, places to sit and have a conversation, clutter that is under control (you won’t find me having everything perfectly tucked away at all times, we live here after all), or even something as simple as having something to offer those in your home (a warm drink, blanket, etc).
But the truth is, no matter how much effort you put into decor or hospitality, a home that is not clean simply will not feel comfortable, so let’s talk about that.
A clean home is a comfortable home…
The way I heard this described to me really opened my eyes to the way people experience my home, so I’m going to share it with you.
God gave us senses. Sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. When something is offensive to the senses it immediately makes us feel on edge. This is the view we should come at our homes with when caring for them and creating a comfortable atmosphere for those living in our homes and guests alike.
Does this mean our homes have to be spotless at all times? Absolutely not. But if we are on a quest to make our homes cozy, then we need to create daily rhythms that will keep our home feeling peaceful and relaxing.
For us this looks like staying on top of chores like laundry and dishes, blasting some music and doing a speed tidy of the house after lunch, daily vacuuming and tidying and a few other bathroom and kitchen cleaning habits.
Your home does not need to constantly look like a showcase, but it does need to not offend the senses God has given you and those in your home if you want to maintain a cozy and comfortable atmosphere.
On Hospitality – How to Make Your Home Cozy for Guests
Many of us weren’t raised learning how to show frequent hospitality in our homes, so what makes a home cozy and hospitable?
Think back to visiting a relative that always made you feel welcomed and cared for. Maybe it was Grandma’s house… what was so special about that place? Try to close your eyes and remember what you felt, smelled, heard, tasted and saw. Maybe it was a soft couch you could curl up on with a thick quilt, a warm chocolate chip cookie made just for you, a special drink or a faint tune from the radio in the background with Grandma humming along.
The things you remember as nostalgic were your senses being comforted in that special place. That should be our goal when having people in our homes. To make them feel safe, loved and cared for. As I once heard someone say, the goal is to “bless our guests, not impress our guests”. If you approach homemaking and hospitality as a way to show off, you will never be blessed by it yourself and your guests will sense your poor intentions too.
Practical ways to cultivate cozy hospitality…
- Don’t apologize for your home not being perfect. This makes people feel like they aren’t welcome in your home unless it’s spotless and may make them insecure about having you in their home.
- Create daily rhythms for tidying so you aren’t scrambling to clean when someone stops by unexpectedly. Nothing like knowing your bathroom hasn’t been cleaned in weeks when the Pastor’s wife stops by!
- Be prepared with snacks or drinks. It can be something simple like a bowl nuts and a glass of water. I love keeping my chocolate chip cookies or scones in the freezer so I can pull them out and bake them any time I need them. Most guests would happily accept a warm cookie and a cup of coffee!
- Don’t rush around getting things done while your guests are there. They came to see and talk to you, not watch you halfheartedly listen to them while you go about your chores.
- Practice hospitality with your children. If an adult comes over to visit with you, teach your children how to not be disruptive. This takes time and having people over fairly often, so give yourself and your children some grace if things don’t go as well the first few times.
- Relax. Nobody is judging your home, your dish towels, your dust bunny or your messy windows nearly as much as you are, I promise.
7 Ways to Make Your House Feel Like Home
- Stop worrying about the latest trends (unless it’s Grandmacore, now that’s a trend I can get behind!). But the truth is, copying someone else’s style or a current trend feels inauthentic. You can absolutely take inspiration from trends and styles, but copying and pasting something from someone else’s home will never read as genuine. Plus, trends always go out of style eventually!
- Add some cozy lighting. Dim lighting with lamps (avoid LED bulbs, you can find incandescent ones at Lowes or other hardware stores), candles or string lights gives an automatic cozy glow to a home. There’s a reason Christmas feels special with the all of the warm lighting!
- Bring in color – The days of millennial grey are coming to an end. People are waking up and realizing that color is far more cozy! Don’t be afraid to add some to your home. We repainted our living room last year from an off white to Ruskin Room Green and the difference it made was incredible. Our dining room is blue and our kitchen is a sunny yellow now. Don’t be afraid to mix and match different rooms, that’s how you get a homey look!
- Soft textures really level up the coziness of a room. A comfortable couch or chair with a soft pillow or a thick quilt in the winter can make anyone feel comfortable. If you’re comfortable with it, search for vintage couches and chairs secondhand. You can often find really interesting prints and furniture that’s a lot more comfortable (they don’t make stuff like they used to).
- Personal touches – If you want your home to feel authentically cozy you have to make it personal. Whether it’s family pictures throughout your home or personal trinkets, anything that screams you will instantly make your house feel like a home.
- Add a lot of what you like – Collections are making a comeback! A glass front wardrobe full of antique quilts, lots of candlesticks scattered around, a wall full of cast iron… all of these are examples of adding what you love into your decor and making it personal to you.
- Don’t let your walls stay blank – Nothing says temporary like a house with nothing on the walls. Don’t be afraid to put nail holes in them! It’ll be okay, I promise! Lots of pictures, antique wooden racks and shelves, cast iron, you name it.
I hope this post inspired you in how to make your home cozy!
