How To Make Hard Surfaces In Your Home Cozier

Surfaces like steel, marble, glass and chrome may look sleek, clean and modern, but they can also seem cold, sterile and uninviting. It isn’t just the way they look, either. Hard surfaces are naturally colder than soft surfaces. They also reflect sound (instead of absorbing it like softer surfaces), creating echoes. Hard surfaces don’t just make your home look cold and uninviting; they make it feel and sound that way, too.

A home should be the place you feel comfortable letting your guard down and showing a softer side. Just take a look at how a cozy home encourages action star Jason Momoa to trade his tough-guy persona for something a little more comfortable.

 

 

You don’t have to sacrifice your favorite decor style to make your home feel that comfortable. It’s more about softening the look by integrating plush fabrics, warm lighting and natural materials into your design. Here’s how to implement this idea when decorating some of the most common hard surfaces in your home.

Tile And Hardwood Floors

Area rugs have a number of benefits from helping a space feel grounded to adding a burst of color and bringing warmth to hard floors. Use area rugs and runners on tile and hardwood floors throughout your home to provide more insulation, create a soft barrier between your feet and the floor and to help absorb sound. Double up on these benefits by adding a rug pad underneath. Rug pads also help prevent slipping while protecting the floors beneath them.

Floor pillows aren’t just for meditation. They offer the same heat- and sound-absorbing qualities as area rugs, but also add an extra seating to your space.

Along with what you put on your floors, consider, too, what you put on your feet. Carry the coziness with you by wearing plush slippers while you’re in your home. Get a few pairs and keep them in places you take your shoes off, including near the door and by your bed.

 

 

1. Safavieh Tulum Bora Contemporary Rug – $17.09 – $234.49
2. Intelligent Design Square Floor Pillow – $31.99
3. Tempur-Pedic Acelynn Slippers – $59.95

 

Interior Walls

One way to add soft touches to the walls is by hanging artwork. But don’t add another hard surface to it with a framed or metal piece. Instead choose artwork made on a large canvas. For an even softer eye-catcher, decorate with a macrame wall hanging.

A unique visual piece to any room, a moss wall increases comfort in multiple ways that are backed by science. In addition to creating a thick layer of insulation and blocking outside noise, a moss wall can help clean the air in your home, reduce stress and maintain stable moisture levels.

1. Pink Sky High Gloss Unframed Wall Canvas – $44.99
2. Mkono Large Macrame Wall Hanging – $28.99
3. Moss Acres DIY Preserved Reindeer Moss Panel – $68.00

 

Windows

When you see sunlight streaming in through windows, you can’t help but feel warmth – literally. Sunlight enters spaces through windows and heats any surface it hits. On sunny days, throw open the shades and let it pour in to help heat the floors and space in your home naturally.

For times when the sun isn’t shining, use thick window treatments to add softness and block out the cold. Velvet curtains add a richness to any room while also being functional. Don’t want to add too much luxury to your space? Opt for thermal drapes instead to block drafts and dampen sound.

1. Twill Blackout Curtains – $16.99
2. Wontex Thermal Insulated Curtains – $34.99
3. Cherry Home Velvet Curtains – $61.98

 

Kitchen And Dining Room Tables

When it comes to kitchen or dining rooms tables, our ideas of comfort typically migrate toward visions of smiling families sitting around the table enjoying a large meal together. But a table doesn’t have to host family dinners every night to look and feel like it does. To make a hard table a little cozier, add layers of fabric. Cover it with a tablecloth or lay out a runner, then add cloth placemats. Set out place settings and top each plate with a nice cloth napkin. Add a soft centerpiece, like plush flowers, or light a few candles. If you have metal or wooden chairs, add cushions to the seat or cover them with slip covers. You could also replace them with upholstered chairs. Adding a bench increases available seating, making it look even more inviting.

1. Woven Dobby Stripe Table Runner – $20.99
2. Solino Home Linen Dinner Napkins – $29.99
3. Highland Dunes Silk Hydrangeas Floral Arrangement – $47.99

 

Desks, Tables And Shelving Units

To make these hard surfaces cozier, it’s all about adding the right accessories. That can be as easy and inexpensive as adding a few low-maintenance houseplants and canvas or leather-bound books and opting for pottery instead of glass or chrome accessories.

If you have empty spaces in shelving units and under tables, fill them with storage bins woven with natural materials like palm, seagrass, jute or cotton. Use them to store soft blankets, towels or other materials, depending how you use the room.

1. Golden Pothos Plant – $14.38
2. Booth & Williams Authentic Decorative Books – $99.00
3. Artisan Vase Collection XL Jug – $129.00

 

Headboard And Bed Frame

To some, a bed is the epitome of comfort and coziness. But if you have a hard headboard, visible metal bed frame or a too-firm mattress with little bedding, the place you lay your head at night may not look like the optimal place to do so.

The easiest way to add soft touches to your bed is to swap your thin bedding for full comforters or duvets, thick sheets and bulky pillows. Along with the basic sleep needs – sheets, pillows and a comforter – add a layer or two of decorative elements that emphasize comfort. These could include velvet, cable-knit or faux fur pillows and blankets. You can also make your mattress look more cloud-like by laying down a pillow-top mattress topper.

To hide bedframes, use a bed skirt or install painted or upholstered wood around the frame. If you have room at the foot of your bed, add an upholstered bench or shelving unit with drawers or cubbies that fit fabric storage bins.

A headboard can be a bedroom’s statement piece, but you don’t want it to give the wrong statement. To make it an eye-catcher and a declaration of ultimate comfort, try some of these tricks. To instantly soften up a hard-surfaced headboard, simply hang an extra throw blanket or terrycloth spa robe on the corner. If you’re feeling crafty, make a simple fabric streamer garland with scraps of different fabrics (or purchase one) and hang it from one corner of the headboard to the other.

If you’re willing to do a little more work, you could apply decorative molding to your headboard to add a little romance to your design and get rid of harsh lines. For a unique design that adds a touch of personality and warms the heart, decoupage your headboard with sheet music, pages from your favorite novel or love letters collected throughout the years. Of course, the easiest thing to do is to replace your current headboard with an upholstered one, but that can be pricey.

1. Ling’s moment Rag Garland – $16.99
2. Layla Tufted Bench – $240.00
3. Cheer Collection Cable Knit Throw Blanket – $81.49

 

Now that you know how to make spaces in your home more comfortable, let us show you how comfortable financing your dream home can be. Get started with Rocket Mortgage^® by Quicken Loans^® today.

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