Here's How to Prepare Your Home for Winter

When considering how to make your home winter ready, it’s worth bearing the Danish and Norwegian concept of hygge in mind. The term denotes a sense of cosiness and comfort, both of which are essential when transforming your home for the winter months. Candles, fireplaces and warm blankets are all key to the idea of hygge, but here at Plum Guide we’ve also come up with some other helpful tricks for creating a snug winter environment. So whether you plan to gather round the kitchen table for a hearty meal with friends, curl up with family on the sofa, or escape from the rain with a good book, here’s how to prepare your home for winter, the most wonderful time of the year.

While summer design trends are all about white walls and soft furnishings in muted shades, winter is the time to have fun with colour. To make your home winter ready, pick rich hues that sit close to red on the colour palette. Think deep violets, dusky pinks and rusty oranges, or check out our guide to the psychology of using colour in your home.

Don’t be afraid to play around with pattern, too. Clashing big, bold prints on wallpaper and bedspreads with colourful artworks and statement furniture, like you can see in this Copenhagen home, will create a vibrant yet warming space.

What could be better than stepping in from the cold to a warm home filled with the smell of cinnamon and cloves? In winter, swap the fresh, citrusy scents of summer for those that remind you of the holiday season. Look out for earthy scents such as cedar and birch, or sweeter berry scents and spiced fragrances. Diffusers, candles and home sprays are all great ways to introduce scent into your home, but with rich smells like these, be careful not to make it too overpowering. Alternatively, burn incense sticks to fill your rooms with a comforting, woody aroma. Choose incense that contains frankincense or myrrh for the authentic scent of Christmas.

Flickering candle flames introduce an unbeatable sense of cosiness to a space. Consider arranging candles of different heights in the corners of your home to bring light into the darker areas. Or angle a mirror behind a flame for a seemingly never-ending glinting effect. Elsewhere in your house, dot lamps around the rooms so that you can adjust the lighting levels as the darker evenings draw in. Settling into a comfortable armchair to read under a lamp on a winter’s day is arguably one of the season’s greatest small pleasures.

Swaddling yourself in a thick blanket is a surefire way to feel snug and prepare your home for winter. Luckily, blankets can also be used to create a welcoming environment in your home. Your living room is the best place to play with soft furnishings. Layer up throws and cushions in different textures, colours and patterns to create a space that is both comfortable to use and comforting to look at. In particular, if your colour scheme is neutral or Scandi-style, piling up fabrics will help make the space feel warmer and more homely.

Rich fabrics are the way to go when making your home winter ready. Think velvet sofas, leather armchairs, woollen blankets, sheepskin throws and cowhide rugs, just like this home in Paris. While in summer you’ll favour light drapes over your windows, consider adding heavy curtains in a luxurious fabric to keep the heat in throughout winter.

One of the most charming ways to create a cosy home in winter is through an open fire or wood-burning stove. But if you don’t have a working chimney, or a fireplace, it’s still possible to bring the illusion of a roaring fire into your home. The best way to do this is to artfully stack a pile of chopped wood on a stylish log rack, as you'll find in the living space of this home in California. As well as giving the suggestion of a rustic fire, the rusty tone of freshly cut wood will add warmth to your space.

Why not make the most of the season’s natural produce by replacing colourful blooms with a selection of winter greenery? Consider draping a garland made from pine tree branches over your mantlepiece for a wintery display, or create a table runner with pine cones, winter berries and eucalyptus. And of course, leave some mistletoe under a doorway for Christmas Day.

Don’t forget about your outdoor space whilst looking to prepare your home for winter. Creating a comfortable area outside, similar to Made of Wood's set-up, means that you can spend evenings watching the sun go down, socialising under the stars with a mulled wine, or toasting marshmallows with the kids after dark. Naturally, a fire pit is the ultimate winter garden accessory, and makes dining and drinking outside a delight. Alternatively, a bio ethanol burner box is an eco-friendly source of warmth for your outdoor space. But even if you don’t have a fire source, thick blankets and throws will keep guests warm, while scattering lanterns around your garden furniture and draping fairy lights along the garden walls will also create a cosy environment so that you can enjoy winter outside.