Minimalistic, expansive, and clinically white living spaces may look aesthetically pleasing to some, but a living room should live up to its name and be a comfortable room to spend your time in. Achieving this doesn’t have to be difficult. Here are five fabulous ways to make your living room significantly more cozy.

Dim The Lights

The very first thing to do, if you currently do not have one, is to install a dimmer switch for the main overhead light as the bright and intimidating glare makes you feel alert and wide awake, rather than cozy and relaxed. Candles on candlesticks or subtler tea lights are a beautiful and inexpensive way of adding texture and warmth to your lighting aesthetic in the room. Plus, they can be extremely relaxing.

Seating

Rigid and structured styles of sofas and chairs are aesthetically what the majority of people strive for in their living room. However, there are several alternative forms of seating that can transform your living room into a more relaxed and chilled-out space. A beautiful and extremely snuggly option is to invest in an oversized and incredibly soft bean bag. The added bonus of giant bean bags are the flexibility they provide; in just a few minutes, you can completely transform the look and layout of your living room.

Rugs & Throws

Rugs are a fantastic and relatively easy way to add comfort and warmth to your living room and when carefully chosen, the right rug can really bring the whole design aesthetic of the room together. Faux fur rugs are the ultimate in softness and warmth and are available in a vast range of sizes, shapes, and colors, as are thick, high pile shag rugs (which are also shed-resistant.)

Decorative throws will add both style and supreme comfort to the room, especially when oversized and draped over the sofa and chairs.

Declutter

If you desire to feel truly relaxed and at peace in your new oasis of calm, one of the first and most important things you need to do is to rid the room of all unnecessary clutter. Obviously, this does not mean ornaments or holiday souvenirs, rather more piles of paperwork, random clutter under tables, and essentially anything that is not either decorative or functional.

The added bonus of decluttering is, from now on, your living room will require significantly less amount of dusting.

Faux Fireplaces

If you are fortunate enough to have a built-in, authentic fireplace, then you are already over halfway to creating the cozy living room of your dreams. If not, however, consider investing in a faux, decorative fireplace as they are far more effective and impressive than they are given credit for generally.

An unused fireplace is ripe with opportunities for enhancing your room’s comfort levels. Whether you choose to entirely fill the space with rustic, treated logs or an ornate candlestick display, there are a plethora of ways to use your empty fireplace space to add warmth and coziness even without a working fire.