Transform your room into a Hygge paradise

Winter blues got you down? Reena Simon shows you simple tips to redecorate your home into a warm, productive haven worth hanging out in.

In 2016, after the birth of her youngest child, Reena Simon told her sister that she wanted to make her home feel comfortable, warm and relaxed. Her sister then told her about the Danish culture of Hygge, which involved turning your surroundings into a cozy, contented place.

Inspired, Reena slowly began to create hygge spaces in her Cardiff home, and launched Hygge for Home. She regularly gives tips on how to create coziness and warmth in the home through her Instagram, @hygge_for_home, which currently has over a million followers.

“In Denmark people love being at home, taking care of your environment and your house,” says Reena.

“The importance of quality time, and spending time with your family and friends is taught to them really early. The concept of Hygge at home is to have and create that warm, cozy and inviting space.”

So, how might one begin to achieve a state of Hygge? For a start, choose complementary textures for the home.

“The textures and the materials have to appeal to all of your senses,” says Reena. Fabrics like linen, velvet and sheepskin for your sofas or cushions (they can even be faux) create a feeling of softness. Reena also recommends candles as a very nice way to brighten up a home.

Another very important sense to consider is smell. Natural scents infused throughout the home ensure that it smells nice when you walk in, and gives you a relaxed and pleasurable feeling.

Reena states that one of the goals of hygge is productivity and organized clutter. “My house is not really busy, but when I arranged things to be cluttered around, and sorted in a neat way, it worked really well.”

Appeal to the senses

Can anyone create hygge spaces in their room? Reena assures it doesn’t require too much time or too many resources.

“The key appeal of hygge as a concept and a way to decorate is that you don’t need a lot of money. You can buy a lot of what you need for hygge on 10 pounds, but there are versions of them which are a hundred pounds as well – so it suits any budget.”

The concept of hygge is about creating cosy living, and Reena assures that the small spaces student rooms make it easy to achieve it.

“If I could go back in time to my student days, in my room, I would have nice soft bedding, and lots of nice cushions and soft blankets on my bed. We don’t normally get very big rooms with sitting spaces where you can sit and relax, so the cushions create that for you.”

For visitors, it makes for an amazing social space. A desk could work as a workspace of “organized clutter” – where all of the books and stationary are arranged in a creative way. Fairy lights can be put up around the room and lit up at night to create a warm vibe.

Creating your Hygge space

For the bathroom, Reena suggests putting laundry and toiletries in baskets to add visual appeal and organization to the room. She suggests having towels, and a fluffy bath mat, for your feet, which can be easily washed. In the months of winter, warmth can be easily created in your home through easy methods. She says that lighting can also be a useful ally to make a house more warm.

“In terms of more warmth, it’s all about the lighting. In the evening, the idea would be to not have any of your main lights on, and put on a lamp, or your fairy lights, which would have a dimmer light and create a very cosy vibe.”

To add brightness and colour to a room, Reena recommends adding pictures to create a “gallery wall” using command strips to prevent wall damage. “Artwork can really be wonderful to instil creativity in your house, it can be hung on the walls or just kept around the room.”  

Finding your Hygge

Before beginning to decorate, Reena advises a person to find their own style. “The first thing you need to do before decorating is to look at your own personality and wardrobe. What clothes do you like, what styles do you like, what colors do you like?”

While some people may prefer really minimalist style, others have really colorful personalities and colorful wardrobes. Reena advices people to think about every essence of what hygge they wish to create.

“I saw a massive change in my work when i started hygge. When I started in my home, it was really stark and bare. It wasn’t inviting, and I just wanted to go to coffee shops all the time to do my work. Now, with my house, I love working from home because i’ve made it so inviting and cozy that I love spending a lot of time here,” states Reena.

Hopefully, with the help of Hygge for Home and her valuable tips, all homes might achieve that state.