Interior design inspiration for cosy winter homes

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Most of the year I want my rooms to look more spacious, clean and bright. But when winter looms, I suddenly get the urge to start decorating in stronger colours and wishing that rooms were smaller and more cosy. Have you ever noticed how snuggly you feel when you’re in a country pub in December? Okay, some of that might be down to the roaring fire but a lot of that feeling of warmth and cosiness comes from the deep colours on the walls and the dark wood furniture. So today, I’m taking interior inspiration from some gorgeously designed dark rooms in order to recreate a cosy feeling at home.

Image by End of the Row

Where in your home do you want to feel warmest this winter? It’s a safe bet that you’d love to have a cosy living room. It’s one room where you’ll be spending more time during winter evenings. In the summer the bright kitchen with patio doors flung open onto the garden seems like a lovely place to spend long summer evenings, but in the winter the tiled floor and lack of soft furnishings can feel too cold. This is precisely why I prefer to cosy up in the living room on dark winter evenings. And this is one room where you can really go for it with darker colours.

Image from Design Sixty-Nine

Walls can be painted in muted tones of dark red, purple, denim or green. These colours will make the walls feel closer and the room, although appearing smaller, will gain a warmer atmosphere. Deeper shades offer a ‘heritage’ look during the day and you can benefit from the cosy feeling in the evenings all year round. There’s no need to cover every surface with dark paint however; simply painting up to a picture rail will actually give the impression of extra height in a room when combined with a pale colour above. Quality carpets add cosiness to cold floorboards and can add a feeling of warmth underfoot without going the whole hog painting walls. Darker carpets offer a feeling of opulence and are less likely to show up stains and muddy footprints over the years!

Image by End of the Row

Next up is the bedroom. Of course you want to feel warm and safe in your bedroom so deep colours will help you feel cocooned at night. Deep tones can actually help you sleep better because the room will appear darker and more like night-time even when it’s light outside. If you want to take advantage of this, avoid warm colours which encourage creative activity and plump for deep blues and muted greens instead which create a calming, serene environment. Choose matt paints for the bedroom as colours appear softer and more restful when they are flatter as they absorb more light.

So what do you think? Will you consider decorating your home in darker tones? Not only will rooms feel more cosy during the winter, but they will continue to be warm and snuggly in the evenings, and may help you sleep more soundly, all year round. Okay, when you’ve got small rooms to start with, bold rich colours might make spaces feel oppressive but you don’t need to decorate every wall – just one richly toned feature wall will make all the difference to your home this winter. Let me know what you think of this trend and get in touch if you too have deep colours in your home – tweet me your photos to @cassiefairy.

This article is a sponsored collaboration. The pink links in the content indicate a sponsored link or information source. The blog post reflects my own experience and the sponsor hasn’t had any control over my content 🙂