In the height of summer, as temperatures in many places soar, feeling cosy at home might not be your first priority. And yet already, we see the hours of sunlight gradually shortening in the northern hemisphere, the evening twilight arriving earlier day by day. If you will forgive this writer’s headlong dash into autumn (though it is just around the corner), perhaps you will read this piece and park it for future reference. 

Feeling cosy: ‘my home is my castle’.

Feeling cosy, is to feel comfortable, warm and relaxed. There is much truth in the cliché ‘my home is my castle’. It is the place where I feel most safe and secure, cosy and warm. Here, my thinking is reasoned and rational, my emotions engaged and balance restored. At home, my well-being is central. In this sense, cosiness and well-being go hand in hand.

In a European Commission report on well-being, the ‘quality of residence’ was related to one’s well-being, with notable factors including: ‘size, the interior or decor, the idea of a comfortable and pleasant dwelling… owning a healthy and eco-friendly house [and] liking the home you are in,’ (Well-being, 2011). If feeling cosy is feeling comfortable, warm and relaxed, then we should love where we live and want to spend time there. If this improves our well-being, it is a wonderful bonus.

We can make a reasoned assertion that a well-designed interior will have a positive impact on feelings of cosiness. But what constitutes a well-designed interior? There are a number of components: light, sound, smell, temperature, texture, context, interaction, connectivity, decoration and furnishings. Each of these components should relate to one another and to the individual. An interior without substance, one that is vain and concerned more with appearance, is unlikely to foster a heartfelt sense of cosiness—you are less likely to feel cosy in a contrived space. Rather, the aesthetic quality of an interior, one that is carefully considered, encourages a sincere relationship between the individual and their space, so influencing their sense of cosiness and well-being.

With any cosy space you should want to do one thing: linger. In lingering, we absorb what is around us, noticing how it makes us feel, enjoying the small, but crucial details: the flicker of a candle’s flame, the soft fabric of a cushion, the warmth from a table lamp, the rich flavours in a sip of wine. It is a quiet moment of perfection, a moment when you feel calm, cosy and at peace.

In LZF we know all about cosiness.