5 décor tips that will warm and cosy up your home for the rainy season

warm living room

It might be cold and wet outside, but your home need not reflect this energy. With a handful of smart styling tweaks, your haven can become an inviting warm space that feels like a hug to everyone who steps in.

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It has been a few weeks since the rain clouds gathered in fervour – heavy clouds that hung low and heavy in the sky, which eventually belched open. As a result, the country has been experiencing a long-awaited downpour, and with it, several hours of cold weather.

That said, it might be cold and wet outside, but your home need not reflect this energy. With a handful of smart styling tweaks, your haven can become an inviting warm space that feels like a hug to everyone who steps in.

Here are five styling tips you can consider to cosy up your home during this rainy season (including some pro tips):

Layer up with throw blankets

Throw blankets are functional and aesthetic during this rainy season. Their aesthetic appeal is in how when they are layered up together, instantly make a space seem warm, cosy and inviting.

Throw blankets are functional because they keep you warm as it rains outside. Imagine just curled up warm and dry under your blanket while you hear the rain pattering outside accompanied by bolts of thunder. Delicious.

Pro tip: 

Go for chunky throw blankets in fleece or wool, and layer them on the foot of your bed, draped across the seat and back of your couch or folded within sight in a sisal basket.

Burn scented candles

Hunkering down indoors while it rains outside is the perfect scene for some warm scents indoors. And what better way to achieve these scents than by burning your favourite candles?

Burn candles in your living and dining room, on the nightstand of your bedroom, in the bathroom… pretty much any space in the home is candle-burning space.

Instead of buying large jar candles, buy small jar candles and buy a variety of different scents. Burning one scent continuously can tire your senses, even if it’s a scent you love. Learn how to burn them properly so that you get value for your money.

Pro tip: 

Go for warm scents that are hand-poured here in Kenya, these scents evoke nostalgia. For example, scents evoke a sufuria-brewed blend of Kenyan tea. Or Kenyan coffee. Perhaps even githeri.

Switch out your lighting for yellow bulbs

Another way to cosy up your home is to add more movable lighting to your space. Say, more floor and table lamps. A well-lit space makes it more inviting and cosy, sometimes even warms it up.

A more budget-friendly option is to switch out all your white bulbs for yellow bulbs. Yellow bulbs have a soothing cosy ambience that is gentle to the eyes. It also infuses your space with a rich glow.

Pro tip: 

Yellow bulbs in the supermarket are labelled as ‘warm’ and white bulbs ‘cool’. Go for the warm bulbs with low wattage, anything below 10 watts. Also buy energy-saving bulbs, to manage your cost of electricity.

Add more rugs

Rainy days mean cold floors that are harsh on your feet. To cosy up your home and make your feet feel better, add more rugs to the frequented spaces that have bare floors. Say, in your bedroom, near the dresser and wardrobes, in your toilets, on the corridor, in your home office, at the kitchen sink… and so on.

Pro tip: 

These rugs are seasonable rugs, so don’t spend so much money on them. You will fold them up into storage when the rains are gone.

Buy rugs that are not as heavy as your regular living room rugs but still have some density to them – imagine a very heavy floor blanket. Also make sure they have an underside grip for your safety, to prevent slipping.

Bring in warm colours on throw pillows

And lastly, switch out the covers on your throw pillows and use covers that have warm colours, colours that evoke warm sunny days. These are colours such as orange, yellow and red. It’s even better if these colours are combined with patterns and prints that compliment your couch’s existing styling.

Also experiment with different fabrics such as suede, faux fur, boucle and wool. Little details on the border such as pompoms, fringes and ruffles also add cosiness.

Throw pillows are more for decorating than for the function of offering back and neck support. With that in mind, experiment with different shapes of cushions – lumbar, round, square and rectangular.

Pro tips: 

This is a seasonal purchase that will be used again when the weather changes – buy different covers for different shapes and for different seasons of the year.

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