Winter is soon here, at least if you live in the northern hemisphere and especially if you live in Scandinavia. There are not many hours of sunlight with the sun setting early. Working from home and with fewer than usual social interactions due to covid-19, it makes November 2020 an especially challenging time.
I believe a warm and cosy home can really make an impact on your mental health in times like these. Cherishing the small things you can do in a home to make it cosy and warm makes the darkness and the dark times not seem as dark.
To help you through this time, the autumn and winter months, here are my best tips to make your home feel a little warmer and give your mental health a boost.
1. Warm and decorative lighting
I think the best way to make your home warm through a hard autumn and winter is lighting. Lighting can really set the tone in a home and change your mood. Have you noticed when a restaurant changes its ambience from daylight to evening? They often lower the lighting, bringing small table lights out or light candles. They do this to change the atmosphere in the room and make it warm and cosy when it’s dark outside. This is something you should also do in your home.
When it’s dark outside, which is most of the time in Scandinavia in November, you should lower your main lighting and bring out smaller lamps. Try also to use light bulbs that have a softer light. Also try to use candles or fairy lights as well to areas of the rooms that normally just stay dark, like the corner of a room.
One of my best tips is to buy electric candles that you can put in every room, and I mean every room. Hallway, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen. Since they are led lights can you leave them on even though you leave the room.
2. Soothing Music
The next tip to survive the dark autumn and winter, is to play some soothing music. Examples on this could be jazz and classics like Frank Sinatra or classical music. A lot of soundtracks from movies and series are also great examples. Though keep the spirit of the music light and relaxing. Playing music from a death scene will probably not make your home feel warm and cosy.
I normally put my Alexa on in the kitchen and play a jazz playlist that is a free list from Amazon. It’s such a great way to lift the spirit with music like this when your day working from home is over.
Here is a link to my Amazon Alexa (affiliate link)
3. Enjoy small moments when you have daylight
Normally, I only have daylight in working hours in November, December and January. In 2020 are these hours spent in my home, since this year we are all working from home. I think it is important to cherish some small moments in your home when you actually have some daylight. Make sure that you have a cosy and warm place to enjoy the little bit of daylight just for a minute or two throughout the day. I think it also makes you more productive to spend 5 minutes away from the computer screen.
To enjoy the daylight, find a place in your home like a window post ideally facing east or south. Decor the space with some pillows, some blankets and perhaps a comfy chair. Bring you coffee or tea and enjoy the little bit of light you have. You can also bring a blanket and your coffee outside your front door, if it isn’t too cold.
4. The smell of baking
I’ve always loved introducing new scents to the home, as with music and light, changing the scents and smells can alter the mood. I love burning scented candles in a home when it’s dark outside. It can bring you memories of warmer and lighter times. But I think the best smell you can have in a home are from baking. Coming into a home that smells of freshly baked goodies is simply devine and will definitely put a smile on your face, even at dark times.
I’ve become really into baking lately and bake 2 to 3 times a week. It’s actually quite easy to make time for baking when you have done it a couple of times before and you know the basics of what’s needed. My tip is to do it at the same time as you are making dinner and then put the mixture in the oven while you are eating or straight after. In total, it saves you a lot of time! My favorites to make in autumn are cinnamon buns and apple pie. I love the smell of cinnamon.
5. Push Christmas forward
In many ways, I believe that Christmas makes the dark winter more survivable. And the reason for that is that it contains a lot of the points I’ve mentioned above. It brings in decorative lighting with the Christmas tree, the garland and in Scandinavia the traditional Christmas star in the windows. The Christmas music is light and happy and soothing for your mental state and the smells during Christmas are just divine! Christmas is also about cherishing the small moments and coming together.
Therefore, why not push Christmas forward a little bit this year? A little more joy will not hurt anyone? My advice is to start with the Christmas lighting, then add some soundtrack music from Christmas movies. Then move into Christmas decorations and the Christmas baking afterwards. I’m definitely planning to learn some old Norwegian and English Christmas baking this year.
Want more inspiration? Here are my favorite finds for a cosy Christmas last year
I hope you are doing ok in this difficult time and making the most out of this. A home with a heart can really make an impact when everything else outside is dark.
