Making Your Home Christmas Cozy

If you want your home to reflect that warm and cozy feeling that only Christmas can bring, it can be as simple as adding a few personal touches that appeal to the senses. Often, you can rearrange or bring out items you already own, or buy a few simple home accents that aren't very expensive. Here are some of my favorite ideas on how to make your home warm and cozy during the Christmas season.

Christmas Herbs

AROMA

Have your home smell nice. Air out your home, even in the dead of winter. You've heard of spring cleaning? I also do a bit of fall cleaning as well! Something I do before Thanksgiving every year. Clean your carpets and upholstery to remove any odors. Do some serious deep cleaning; dust, vacuum and disinfect your home; top to bottom. Once good and clean, bring in scents through candles, essential oils, flowers or simmering potpourri. A crackling fire makes a home cozy, too. Use dried herb bundles for added scent. To make the bundles, use dry herbs and natural materials, such as rosemary, lavender, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks and eucalyptus. I’ve seen some bundles made with pine cones added to various dried herbs. You simply cut your dried herbs to about 10 inches and bundle them together with the stems facing the center of the bundle. Tie the bundles to a cinnamon pine cone using raffia. Place them in the fireplace as fire starter or when your fire is smoldering for fragrance.

Christmas Baking

FLAVOR AND TEXTURE

Display a bowl of fresh fruit and vegetables, candy or nuts. Grow some herbs in your kitchen. Add a few Christmas home, garden and food magazines or your favorite hardcover cookbook to your table. Create a cozy space to use as a reading/hobby/game area. Cook and bake at home more often. Do you have cookie cutters put away in a drawer? Bring them out and place them in a pretty, clear glass jar and show them off. Add softness with afghans or throw pillows made from fleece, chenille or velour. You could even change out your towels, throw rugs or your shower curtain in your bathroom.

Listening to Christmas Tunes as you Decorate and Bake

SOUND

Play Christmas music on a regular basis. I have over 8 hours of Christmas music saved away on my Rhapsody account. It's long enough to last through parties, gift wrapping sessions and hours spent in the kitchen while I'm baking. I leave it playing most of the time, turned down low  to not be a disturbance but loud enough that guests can  hum along and enjoy. Most music sites will allow you to listen for free. Pandora, Spotify, Rhapsody....find one you like and create your very own Christmas music list.

Family Heirlooms surround a lovely Christmas Tree

VISUAL

Visually striking rooms are a good place to focus our time.   Sight is the most popular sense and will round out your cozy Christmas home nicely.!!! Pick up and put away the clutter.  You and your family, as well as others, can't appreciate your holiday house buried under years of clutter. Remove the excess and enjoy the home you have. If you feel like it, rearrange a room or two. Add a few natural accents such as a wreath, dried flowers or a living Christmas tree. Frame a few of your favorite Christmas scenes, photos or family artwork. If you sew, throw a festive slipcover over a tired old chair or red curtains at your kitchen sink. Shop secondhand stores, looking for Christmas accessories such as a vintage tablecloth, dishes or ornaments. Then turn up the warmth meter with a handful of candles and some great mood lighting. 

All of these things are simple, accessible ideas that will enhance your home and let all of your senses speak, telling the story of  'your' very Own Cozy and Warm Christmas Home!

HAPPY DECEMBER!

ENJOY!

~THE DOMESTIC CURATOR~

RONDA