Embrace the cooler months with luxuriously comfortable interiors
The nights are drawing in, and there’s a chill in the air – winter is here. It’s the perfect time of year to cosy up at home. We look at how to create inviting stone cottage winter interiors with a luxurious feel using warm, natural materials and neutral tones.
Cosy up with colour
No matter the time of year, colour is one of the most powerful ways to influence the mood of a home. And it’s a simple design element to introduce to any room. Soft furnishings, décor accents, and artwork are all ideal vehicles for colour.
Muted, neutral tones inspired by nature can help create a cosy stone cottage winter in your home. Natural shades of taupe, forest green, camel, coffee, mocha, wheat, eggshell, and nutmeg lend an earthy warmth perfectly suited to the season.
Or, harness colour to evoke the cooler seasons’ stormy skies, crisp mornings, moody oceans, and wintry landscapes. Classic hues, like deep navy, cool grey, and timeless black and white, are supremely versatile and never go out of style.
Embrace comforting textures
Texture is sometimes overlooked in interior design and decoration, but it can be used to great effect to create a warming winter home. Dial up the comfort level in bedrooms and living areas with plush cushions, blankets, throws and rugs in tactile fabrics like wool, velvet, sheepskin, and linen. Meanwhile, furniture and accessories crafted from natural materials, such as leather, timber, rattan, and kubu, bring an earthy warmth. Pieces that suggest antiquity or feature an aged patina hint at an elegant, lived-in level of comfort.
Perfect patterns
Pattern has enjoyed a renaissance in interior design and decoration in recent years, thanks in no small part to the rise of the cottagecore aesthetic. Classic patterns like tweed and tartan are perfectly at home in a cosy cottage winter interior, while timeless stripes lend a fresh crispness. Floral patterns and prints in autumnal tones work a treat, too. The kitchen is the perfect place to play with pattern and create a cottagecore mood. Try experimenting with rich, traditional lustres, like copper and brass, and sweet decorations that evoke a farmyard feel.
Luminous lighting
As winter heralds the arrival of the shortest and darkest days of the year, our homes’ lighting takes on a new level of significance. Done well, lighting can create the most welcoming of homes, even in the depths of winter. If you’re lucky enough to have a working fireplace, it’s hard to beat the inviting warmth and glow of a roaring fire on a cold midwinter night. Candles are another way to achieve a cosy glow. Flameless and smokeless candles offer all the joys but none of the hazards of the real thing, while scented candles impart fragrance as well as luminescence. Candles massed together on a mantlepiece, sideboard, or coffee table convey an air of luxury and give a wonderfully evocative glow.
A statement table lamp (or two) is another stylish way to boost the cosiness of your living area or bedroom this winter. UK House Beautiful magazine reports that lamps with sculptural or textured bases, such as rattan and carved or ridged designs, are gaining popularity. Or, try a distinctive floor lamp. For maximum elegance, opt for an antique brass chandelier.
For the love of nature
One of the biggest movements in interior decor in recent years has been nature-inspired, or biophilic (meaning nature-loving), design. The trend has seen indoor plants increase in popularity as we all seek to bring the outside in. But cut flowers or potted plants aren’t always practical, particularly in the colder months. That’s when high quality, life-like artificial plants and flowers come into their own. A cluster of artificial maple leaves hit the perfect autumnal note, while an elegant arrangement of artificial magnolias or a lustrous faux fiddle leaf fig lends your home all the beauty of the real thing without the maintenance. Even striking branches or driftwood artfully displayed in a rustic pot or vintage wooden bucket can add to your pretty winter aesthetic.
Looking for more winter interiors inspiration? Visit our Warmth in Winter Style Guide, browse our Warmth in Winter Collection, or pop into one of our stores in Collaroy and Bundall.
