7 Ways on How To Make a Room Feel Cozy and Relaxing

I have written a long post on the many different ways you can make a room look bigger. This post is going to do the exact opposite – it is going to show you how to make a space feel cozy, secluded, and relaxing. You might want to do this because you have a small room, and instead of trying to make it look bigger you can embrace the size and make it truly feel like a cozy place. Or you are doing this because you just want to create a more relaxing room. Either way, the ideas in this post will help you transform your room into a cozy relaxing space.

1/ Relaxing Colors

If you want to create a cozy room, then you’ll want to paint the walls a nice dark color (such as navy, rose, or a dark grey). Not only will this make the room feel cozy, but it will also make it look more luxurious. Darker colors make a room feel secluded, relaxing and cozy. While light colors make a room feel bright, spacious, and livelier.

If you only want to create a relaxing room at night, then an alternative is to paint the walls white. When night comes you can turn on a modern mood lamp (get yours here) that will paint the walls in a relaxing color.

2/ How To Create Cozy and Relaxing Lighting

Avoid using ceiling lights when you want to create cozy lighting in a room at night. You can hook your ceiling lights up to a dimmer switch or how about using table and floor lamps instead. For a more whimsical look, hang up some string lights or use LED string lights wrapped in lace.

The ultimate way to create relaxing lighting is to use candles. To reduce the fire hazard, put your candles inside of a lantern. Or use a large glass bowl filled with water and have fairy lights float in it.

3/ Ways to Soften the Space

The more fabric you can add to your room, the softer and more relaxing it will feel. Some ways to do this include:

Bring natural light in during the day but have privacy at the same time by using sheers or lace curtains.
Hang up a tapestry on the walls (or frame a piece of fabric)
Create a canopy by hanging fabric down from the ceiling
Layer area rugs

4/ Ways to Bring in Natural Materials

You can bring warmth and color into a room by using natural materials. Add wooden pieces either by having wooden furniture pieces or decor items (wooden planters, wooden storage containers, wooden picture frames, etc.).

Bring in shades of green into the room by having potted plants. You can even create a curtain of plants by hanging pots of plants down from the ceiling.

5/ How To Hide Things Away

You don’t want to have a messy space if you’re trying to create a cozy room. So you’ll want to hide everything out of the way, and be left with just the pieces that create a relaxing environment.

Maybe you can’t hide everything out of sight. Instead get good looking matching storage pieces. This way they will also act as decor pieces for the room. Here are some good looking storage ideas:

Wicker baskets, hampers, and trucks
Enamel or galvanized buckets
Wire baskets or glass jar.

Another way to hide things is to have a room divider. Maybe you have a home office space or gym equipment in a bedroom or living room, or laundry machines in a bathroom. All of this can be hidden away when not in use. Hanging up a curtain is one way of doing this, book shelves and folding wooden dividers are some other options. Have a look at my post here for more ideas: Ideas Mood Board: DIY Room Dividers.

6/ A Sanctuary in a Sanctuary

The whole room doesn’t need be a completely relaxing and cozy space. Instead you could carve out a little cozy nook instead. This could be a reading nook or more of a day bed – just a small secluded space where you can relax.

This nook can be created in a corner of a room, by a window, under the stairs, or built into a closet space. Or how about just hanging up a hammock. And to close yourself off from the rest of the house, hang up some curtains, or put up some book shelves, or check out the DIY room divider post I linked to above.

7/ Inspiring Place

Surround yourself with inspiring or memorable art pieces or photographs. Do this by creating a gallery wall, hanging up a collection of framed pieces. You can check out my vintage gallery wall post or my Pinterest gallery wall board to see examples and ideas on how to create your own.

Here are some other posts to get more ideas from:

image credits 1/2/3/4/5/6