Cosy Home, Living room idea for Winter plus Win Giant merino wool blanket

Yes, officially it’s that time of the year, so let’s start the cosy home features! Last year, I have shown you how to cosy up your living room with furs and textures. This year, I am back with Swift Cover with a new #swifthomehacks: cosy home ideas. I decided to do up my living room. Mainly, because I find it more challenging to style living room than the bedroom. Unlike bedroom, living room in my home it’s an open space connected to 3 other functional spaces so making this area as it’s own independent and cosy space, is something I really wanted to do.

As you can see my living room got little updated since last year of a new (well, second hand) corner sofa but also I have done a little DIY effect to my stool. It’s a fairly small space as believe me, this is a very small yet wide seat corner sofa. Last year,(you can read Cosy, winter ready home) I kept grey and brown tones and this year, I wanted to brighten up this space. There is no surprise here, I have used pink tones (obviously!) but I’m quite pleased by how adding copper to this combo, made this space looking really nice.

So, here my Swifthomehacks to create a cosy home:

Textures. This is the first thing you should pay attention to. Fur cushions, throw or even rug ( read here how to style fur rug and you can see that sheepskin rug it’s not only for floors. Also, bring home other textures like velvet but also wool! I think velvet particularly and wool are very 2016 textures. You can see now in shops velvet shoes, dresser and trousers- it’s really trendy material! Now, let’s jump to a product that will blown you away! I wanted this blanket since I spotted this on Instagram last year. This is a chunky merino wool giant blanket and mine is from Saint Wools ( read at the bottom how to win it!). Saint Wools owner Lana, was kind enough to show us the method of making the blanket. It’s all made by hand in a similar way as you would use traditional knitting needles. If you know how to knit, then you can try to make at home. Lana photographed the way she did my very own! So, here you can not only steal the idea of how I styled my blanket but also see how it was made. Check out this fun video as well.

A video posted by Saint Wools (@saint_wools) on Nov 5, 2016 at 8:07am PDT

DIY giant merino wool chunky blanket throw tutorial

Slogan and pattern cushions. I love typography and this season, any motivational slogans are super trendy! It goes well with my theme and let’s be honest, any floral patterns or summery stripy cushions will not be the same. Take off the covers, hide them and replace with textured or more wintery pattern and add animal print like reindeer etc. Top tip. Don’t spend money on expensive cushions. Buy once a good quality small cushions and in the future look our for cushion covers only! It will save your space and wallet! As seasonally you just put your covers to wardrobe next to your bedding, and you can change as many times as you like. Cushion covers are also much cheaper! Don’t miss my mixing patterns post, where you can learn how to mix and match them.

Bring the fun. Who said pompoms are for summer? I couldn’t walk away from my new pompom cushion when I saw it at Primark £7! You could also just use pompoms as a feature over your mirror or window! Add some fun, it’s not only about fur, candles and hot chocolate! ps. You can make your own pom poms as well! Super easy!

Funky mug. As we talked in the last sentence about hot chocolate then a quirky mug is a must! I am a serial mug addict! I have a bit of collection now but I always get bored of them and let’s be honest how many times you can Instagram the same mug, he? So here, I went to Manchester Market centre and grabbed MadebyAnd ceramic mug with a hand knitted mug jumper ( or mug hugger) I came home with my new purchase and I felt it was missing something, despite that I loved the detail of the knitted ‘jumper’ I needed that special touch. I looked around and found a permanent marker and the idea was already in my head! So simple, took 5 min and voila! Add hot chocolate, marshmallows and you done baby!

Candles. You can’t forget them. you need them. Without them, there is no cosiness! I am only joking, but in reality, the best feeling and relaxation you will get if you lit some candles. The aroma, the warmth and ambience you get from candles will automatically make you unwind and just pause for a second. I have lit several candles, from Yankee to Amara. Just be careful not to burn yourself and always make sure the surface you place candle is protected.

Slippers and comfy pyjama. Don’t forget these. While you create your super comfy corner, you really want to wear something comfy and get into the mood to 100%, even if just a one night a week and the rest of week you wear jeans and have a quick coffee on a sofa.

Pay attention to surrounding. Don’t just style your seating (sofa or chair) place candles around your space as well. Bring the atmosphere to the whole room. I have brought more copper items to reject the light but if you colour scheme is different, then, of course, bring any colour but don’t forget the metallic. I got my Tom Dixon candle holder from Amara goodie bag and love it!

Ah, while doing my photo shoot for this post, Mary kept photo bombing each photo! Because he was constantly moving, each photo came up blurry, but I snapped this one and decide if he really wanted to be the star, here you go Maru, enjoy 😉

Win Blanket Giant Merino Wool chunky blanket!!!

( you can buy it here Saint Wools)

SwiftCover is giving you a chance to win a chunky knit bedspread to keep you cosy in winter

For your chance to enter this free prize draw, all you need to do is:

1. Follow us on Instagram (www.instagram.com/swiftcoveruk ); and

2. Share a picture of your cosiest room using the hashtag #SwiftHomeHacks

Would it be your living room, bedroom or somewhere else in your home? Show us on Instagram.

The free prize draw opens at 10am (GMT) on Monday 7^th November and you will have until 11.59pm (GMT) on Wednesday 30^th November 2016 to get your entries in for a chance to win. The winner will be chosen at random.

Before going any further, please read the terms and conditions. Once that’s out of the way, make sure you visit our Instagram page to enter.