Filling Your Home with Warmth

Many people believe that creating the perfect cosy atmosphere requires a thick plush carpet, but a fully fitted carpet can bring plenty of problems to a house. In this blog, we consider why a tiled floor with a rug is often far more suitable, as well as other aspects that can make your home wonderfully cosy.

THINKING ABOUT HYGGE             

If you haven’t heard of hygge until now, you’ll love learning about this new Danish trend. Hygge is a design style which is determined by a quality of cosiness and comfortable atmosphere that promotes contentment and well-being.

The next question that often follows is how to pronounce this strange – but much needed – word, as you’ll surely want to share hygge with your friends and family, the answer to that is ‘hoo-gah’. There are plenty of ways in which you can bring ‘hoo-gah’ into your home design, but first we’re going to talk about the hygge state of mind.

Hygge is helped by cosy furnishings, but it requires some effort from the people involved too. If you’re settling down in front of the fire on a comfy cushion, wrapped in a rug with a hefty book – it’s hygge if you’re happy. If you’re out walking the dog through golden-leafed woods – it’s hygge if you’re happy. If it’s getting dark outside and you’re smiling because you’ve lit the candles – it’s hygge.

In other words, if you truly want to fill your home with warmth, you must consider hygge as an ongoing pursuit. It might mean consciously buying extra chocolate at the shop or going out of your way to find a candle scent that you love.

WHY RUGS ARE BETTER THAN CARPETS

Now that we’ve discussed what it is to think hygge-style, we can move on to how to coordinate a house that embodies hygge. We’re going to start with why rugs are more hygge than a fitted carpet.

Fitted carpets look great, but theyhave plenty of disadvantages compared to a plush rug. For example, a fitted carpet can be very hard to clean, and you’ll want to clean it often if you have pets. Cleaning a carpet means getting down on your knees, crossing your fingers and hoping that scrubbing the carpet cleaning solution into the fabric will do the trick. If the cleaner fails to remove the stain – be that wine, a pet-related disaster, or just dirty boots marks – then you have a problem on your hands (and your carpet). Do you get the professionals in to remove your stained carpet and fit a new one, costing you lots of money and time, or do you heave a great sigh and hope that the stain doesn’t cause you grievances daily?

The maintenance issues that a carpet brings is anti-hygge, but the thick plush between your toes is very hygge, so how do you compromise? The solution is easy when you lay down Victorian Floor Tiles and adorn them with a heavy shag pile rug. If you keep the rug around thirty centimetres away from the edge of your sofas, then you will be leaving plenty of room for drinks to be spilt and easily cleaned without damaging your beautiful rug.

A rug is also far easier to clean, simply drag it outside, hang it up on the washing line and beat the dust out of it. The fresh air will also help to remove any musty smells, which can be very important if you have a pet.

If your rug ever gets to a stage where it is too far gone to be an enjoyable feature of your room, you can throw it out or deliver it to a charity shop and replace it by yourself in the same afternoon. Unlike a fitted carpet, you won’t have to rely on the help or skills of anyone else to replace a rug.

You may even find when you peel back the rug that the atmosphere of your room changes quite significantly, which can be good now and then if you need a change. All you need to do is roll away the rug and hide it behind a sofa and voila – your room is already looking fresh and different to how it was five minutes before.

COLOURS AND TEXTURES

Creating a hygge home is also about how you combine colours and textures. For example, if you use Victorian Canterbury pattern tiles, then you are already using some warm hues in your flooring. You may want to add to this by using deep browns and wine reds elsewhere in your furnishings to bring the theme together.

Adding a few dense velvet cushions will add depth to your room. Alternatively, you could consider a large-knit blanket for maximum feelings of cosiness. A mini hot-water bottle appearing here and there will also suggest warmth and provide warmth too when in use by you or one of your guests.

There is plenty that can be done to make your home feel warm and cosy throughout the year but don’t forget to think about the utility of all that you are putting in your home when you are designing it. We’ve shown why rugs are better than carpets; now it’s up to you to consider what other elements of your home could be improved to craft a perfectly hygge house.