How to Bring Hygge into Your Home This Winter

Hygge is the Danish art of cozy home-making. Pronounced "hue-gah," this home trend has grown in popularity as the focus on self care has skyrocketed in recent years. There is no direct translation for the Danish word, but hygge is more of a feeling, anyhow. Creating hygge means creating a feeling of intimacy and warmth, finding joy and comfort in your home space, and making your surroundings inviting for yourself and for dear friends who pass through. The aesthetic is more than a home decor trend, hygge is a lifestyle. It means enjoying simple pleasures, staying in bed for that extra hour, taking up a new hobby, enjoying a good book, and, most of all, it means taking a moment to breathe. 

If the past year has taught us anything, it's that having a home space you love is more important than ever. Be it to safely see the friends and family you love, or to pass time inside responsibly social distancing, 2020 has emphasized the value of being present and embracing joy. With the cold indoor months ahead, there has never been a better time to switch up your home decor to something that makes you feel warm and invited each time you walk through the door. Here, L'OFFICIEL gives you eight steps to bring hygge into your home this winter. 

A key element of hygge is the embrace of nature, from lighting to decor choices. Wooden accents and furniture help to create the cozy cabin feel, and including plants will open and liven up the space. 

While the ideal lighting for a purely hygge space is natural light, whenever that isn't possible, look for fixtures that will softly diffuse the light to create a warm glow throughout your space. Even the color palette should embrace warm, natural tones. Think creams and cocoas when picking pieces for your home. 

Add depth to your space with cozy layers that help soften the room. From a wooden coffee table to a waffle-knit blanket, all layered over a plush fur rug, this type of variety and balance of different textures will help maximalize the cozy and inviting feeling central to this Danish style. 

Called the "hyggekrog," a cozy nook to curl into with a blanket, a cup of tea, and a book to read is essential to curating the perfect hygge home. Especially in the cold winter months, nothing is more appealing than a space dedicated to feeling comfortable, cozy, and relaxed.

The best way to create your hyggekrog is with layers. Adding an array of pillows and blankets in warm neutral tones, and perhaps even tacking up a string of fairy lights, will add to the inviting energy of your new nook. 

Perhaps the simplest way to add this Danish aesthetic to your home is by upping your candle game. Glowing candlelight is the perfect addition to any space looking to add warmth, and embrace more natural, cozy scents if you're looking for more than just lighting. The smell of a freshly baked apple pie, coffee in the morning, or sweet tobacco and vanilla will add an extra layer of warmth to your space.

When you picture a cozy night in, chances are the image of snuggling up in a blanket with a good book comes to mind. That's because this idea is a prime element of hygge. 

Books invite you in to sit and settle down for a while, and require you to be present in order to disappear into their pages. This idea of comfortable presence is central to embracing hygge both in your home and in your life. 

Not only should your common living spaces and bedroom be a warm and inviting sanctuary, but your bathroom should be as well. Adding candles, fluffy bath robes, warm lighting, and a sound system all work to turn your bathroom into an at-home spa environment. Even if you don't have the clawfoot tub of your dreams (or a bathtub at all), you can add personal touches and warm elements to bring hygge to your bathroom.

Hygge is not about maximalism. Rather, it is about creating an inviting and cozy space free of clutter that will help you enjoy your present self and the presence of family and friends around you.

Ridding your space of excess clutter is a key step in creating hygge. Discover clever storage solutions to hide away extra objects that you may still need, and purge the things that you don't. Here, you can ask yourself some questions popularly presented by Marie Kondo: does this object bring you joy? Do you use it? If not, it might be time to reevaluate the space it holds in your home.

While keeping it simple is key, a large part of this Danish style is the pleasure and joy that your space, and the people and things in that space, brings you. Evoking nostalgia, a feeling often associated with warm and cozy memories, is a large part of creating the inviting feeling central to hygge. 

Perhaps put up a simple but sentimental display of family photos or travel paraphernalia, like old post cards. Add natural elements to the wall hangings like a wooden picture frame to ground your decor in the neutral nature tones of the hygge style.