The Homebodies Guide To Surviving Winter | AD
As a certified homebody if there is one time of year that I thrive in at home its winter. When the weather is less than desirable outside, it naturally means that we’re all more likely to spend more time wrapped in our favourite blanket on the sofa, either watching our most loved series on Netflix or reading whilst grazing on a tin of Quality Streets. So here is the homebody’s guide to surviving the colder months and ensuring your home is as cosy as possible.
SET THE SCENE
Whilst in general, I prefer a minimal aesthetic when it comes to my home and our interior style, something that I cannot resist doing is making things feel extra cosy when the colder months roll around. Putting the Christmas tree up is always something that brings me a lot of joy, as that soft warm glow that comes from the lights is undeniably welcoming and helps make the dark days not feel so dreary. Even when we’ve packed away the Christmas tree, we always tend to keep the festive lights out a little bit longer, so we can hang onto the warm glow throughout January and February. These are undeniably the most miserable months and when we need to add the most glow to our days. Whilst the Christmas tree and festive lights make the downstairs feel wonderful it can often make the upstairs feel a little sad, which is why I try and make our bedroom feel like a cosy sanctuary. This means switching out the light summer duvet to the heavy cloud-like winter one and adding a thick throw over the top, so we can stay as warm as we possibly can on the cold evenings. As well as switching out the quilt, I also like to change out our duvet set for something like flannelette or jersey. I find that is what keeps the warmth in the most, rather than lightweight cotton, which we tend to prefer in summer.
THE ULTIMATE COSY ADDITIONS
As I said, I like to keep things quite minimal in our house, so everything that is in it has a purpose and is used. But there are a few cosy additions I like to make to our home when the temperature drops that help make things feel super cosy;
•Blankets: There are always a couple of blankets on our sofa as Josie and Edie love to snuggle up in them, but the large snuggly faux fur throw always makes an appearance in winter and it’s the best to curl up in after a long day.
•Loungewear: Technically this isn’t something that you put around your house but it’s undeniably one of the best things you can add to your wardrobe for staying warm throughout winter. The more you look like a teddy bear the better in my opinion.
•Candles: Having a dreamy scent wafting throughout the house is something that is desirable all year but winter is the time that you get to bring out the super cosy scents like vanilla, almond, blackberry, and amber. The flickering glow of a candle is something that I absolutely love having around me when it's dark and miserable outside.
•Lights: As I said, we tend to keep the fairy lights out once we’ve put the Christmas tree away. We like to pop some around our fireplace too, as well as having a set wound around our bed.
THE NOT SO EXCITING ESSENTIALS TO ENSURE YOU GET THROUGH WINTER
It wasn't until I moved out that I realised that winter-proofing your house for the colder months goes further than stocking up on cosy blankets and lighting as many candles as you can. There are some super important things to bear in mind, like making sure your outside pipes won’t freeze and crack. You also should ensure your boiler is in good working order so your house is warm throughout the colder months. Last year our boiler broke in the depths of winter and it was absolutely awful; for two weeks we had no hot water and no heating. Having your boiler break at any time of year is stressful enough but during winter it's obviously worse as it’s when you rely on it the most. Across December 2019 and January 2020 Local Heroes have boiler finance options from as little as £24, which is awesome at this time of year when we’re all feeling the strain of the festive season on our finances the most.
HOW DO YOU PREPARE YOUR HOME FOR WINTER?
This post is in conjunction with Local Heroes but all thoughts are my own
