10 COZY HOME HACKS + DECORATING TIPS ☕Ideas + Inspiration For a Cozy Space!

Hi everyone, it is Drew here from Lone Fox. Welcome back to my channel. Today I have a more sit down video. I don't do these that often, but when I do them, you guys seem to really like them, so I thought I would do another one for you today, and it is no better time to do this than now because we're still kind of in the fall season, but transitioning like a little bit into winter time soon. Sadly, in Los Angeles, it's probably going to stay summer year round per usual, which is just dandy. Today I'm sharing with you guys 10 hacks on how to make your guys' space just feel the most cozy that it possibly can, which is something that I personally love and look forward to when I come home, just to have a very cozy and inviting environment. And let's just get into today's hacks on how to make your apartment cozy and just a place you love. I want to mention that these hacks are kind of in no specific order at all, but I'm going to try to keep them very, very short and to the point so you guys can watch all of it without feeling overwhelmed with information. Oh my gosh, guys, I also forgot. I created and designed this phone case. It might be something that's going to be on lonefox.com. I'm not sure yet. It has little DIY tools on it. I thought it was cute. I completely forgot this has been on my phone for like a week now. So the first thing I want to talk about is warm tones, and this kind of comes to more color palette-wise when you're decorating or designing or redoing your apartment space. I just personally have a huge gravitation towards warm tones, and these can be things that are in colors, in textures, in natural elements like in wood, things like that, just adding nice warmth to your space. So as you can see behind me here, for example, I have a white wall, which is pretty neutral, of course, but I try to warm up a lot of my space with a lot of just warm tone colors, so things that lean a little bit more yellow, a little bit more orange, a little bit more red, but I just personally like to decorate with a lot of warm tones. I edit my photos in a very warm aesthetic. Everything I traditionally do design-wise kind of just leans a little bit more warm. That's just my personal preference, and I also think it's great when you are designing or decorating and you want your space to feel very cozy. When I think of cozy, I think of very nice natural woods, I think of campfires, things like that, and all of those are very warm elements. This next tip kind of plays off the first one. The first one was kind of based on more color, but this one's a little bit more based on material slash texture, and that is using natural materials in your space. So what I mean by that is to use furniture that's composed of wood, that's a great natural element, wicker baskets, rattan, cane weaving, leather, wool, things like those materials are natural elements, they're not man-made elements, so they're things that kind of give a sense of the outdoors more on the inside, which is a very warm space. It almost in your head kind of plays off of like cabin vibes, but you can make it not cabin at all. So for example, this nice wood dresser here, it's super, super light, and I think that's a great way to introduce more natural tones is to introduce them in light ways. That's what I like to do at least. I don't really like dark wood furniture or dark wood floors. I kind of lean more towards lighter woods. I just like the way that they look, and I think they play a lot nicer with a more minimal or Scandinavian or just like boho vibe if that's what you go for. So definitely think about using some natural elements in your design space. This next one kind of relates to more if you have people over or you like to entertain slash it's kind of almost like a feeling of cozy. It's kind of weird. So basically this is just supplying extra seating spaces for your guests that come over. So the way that I like to do this and that I personally have is I have multiple floor pillows under my coffee table. I kind of stack them up and I think they look really cute. I actually have the ones from Urban Outfitters that are like the tufted ones, which I really like and they come in a ton of different colors. So those are definitely an option, but you can also just get like oversized pillows and just have these on hand for places for people to sit. So if you're having like a game night or something, or you can even do this just like honestly by getting a super, super thick, comfy rug, but not everyone wants to just sit on your hardwood floor, you know, like that's just not comfortable. It's not inviting. So have some floor pillows on hand or also just have a very, very thick, comfy, cozy rug under your coffee table slash living room space. And again, this tip was just kind of one that leans a little bit more towards if you have a lot of people over. So not everyone has the luxury of having a fireplace in their apartment. I have lived in I think four or five different apartments in Los Angeles and only one of my apartments, which is my current one, actually has a fireplace and it's not a real fireplace, but it does give off heat. It is like one of those gas ones that kind of have like the face fake logs in them. But you can also emulate the look of a fireplace by getting just a mantle or also you can get like one of the faux fireplaces. So I kind of looked them up. I'll link a couple below that I found that were not affordable, but they were on the cheaper side. Cause I've seen these up to a thousand dollars, but I definitely think if you want to add that kind of warm vibe to your living room and it's a little bit cold, adding like a fireplace is a great way. Even if it's not turned on, it just gives the vibe that it could be turned on, it could be warm, it could be cozy, but at the time we're keeping it cool, you know, from here on out and all of my future apartments, I'm really going to try to find ones that actually do have a fireplace. I just really like the way that they look and they can really just transform a living room. I think it's a very nice focal point as well. I never really like when you go to someone's place or go into someone's bedroom and it's just super bland. Like they have their bed there, they have their comforter, they have their nightstands, but there's just nothing. Like it's just very, very bland, I guess is the word you can say. So this tip here is kind of one that also creates a feeling when you go into a space. It doesn't exactly scream cozy, but it gives you that vibe, that internal feeling, you know? So this one is just creating a really nice lived in space and how you can do this is to just put a lot of your own personal touches to your space. So as you guys know, I have tons of stuff in my room. Like I have a ton of things up here. I have photos of my friends up there. I have books I like. I just have a lot of very personal elements. I have my fragrances that I love. I have all my jewelry over there. I just have a lot of personal stuff that's not exactly thrown in a drawer and pushed away and tucked away where you can't see it. It's more out and it's displayed, which I think really, really gives a vibe of cozy and just like lived in and a place you want to be, a place you like. Another great way to do this that a lot of you guys have probably seen in more like urban kind of boho design is to put Polaroid photos on your wall. You can pull out photos from magazines, put them on the wall. I love that when I go to someone's room and there's just so much to look at. It doesn't have to be overwhelming, but there's just a lot of personal touches, which I think it gives it a very warm and cozy and just very inviting vibe. Like it's just a place you want to be. So this next one is kind of one that comes and goes throughout the year and that is just to decorate for the holidays. This is a great way to just instantly warm up, cozy up, whatever your apartment. I've said warm and cozy a million times guys, so like honestly, don't kill me. I promise I won't say it anymore in the rest of my life after this video. That's a lie. A great way to do this is to just add a couple of festive touches to your apartment. So if it's Halloween time, go out, get a couple of pumpkins. I think that instantly, literally instantly just makes it look like you made an effort in your space. Getting a couple of real pumpkins is so affordable. I have the little miniature ones, which are not anywhere to be seen, but you guys saw them all over my apartment in my fall transformation. It's such a great way to make your apartment feel fall. Like you can leave them all of literally September, October, and November and you are good. Once it hits December, add a couple of Christmas decorations. You don't have to get a full tree, but you can create like a DIY tinsel, you can create some DIY Christmas elements, you can even make like an advent calendar, whatever you want to do. I feel like just decorating for the holidays is a great way to cozy up any space for sure. Even the smallest little touch, literally one thing that you can buy that will just elevate your space for the holiday time is a candle that's scented in the season. So this one is white pumpkin. It's great. It smells really, really great in like fall and festive. And then in the Christmas time, I'm going to get like an evergreen one or something that smells a little bit more Christmassy, which I love. And you can transition these throughout the month to kind of match the seasons, which I really like. Rolling on into the next one. This one is super simple. I'm not going to spend much time on this at all. This is just adding rugs into your different rooms. So I have a humongous rug in my living room. This first of all is a great way to section off spaces. So my living room actually is composed of the kitchen, dining room, and living room all in one. That's what a lot of apartments I feel like in Los Angeles are. You can kind of see them all in the same general area. You can really get rugs that give a very cozy, warm, inviting vibe. Again, things like shag rugs are great. Wool rugs are great. I personally have a wool braided rug. I'll definitely show a lot of different options on the screen for you guys, but these are really, really fun and nice. I also really love rugs that kind of have a tassel on the end, whether it be a braided tassel or a fringe tassel. I want to talk about adding handmade elements to your decor. This is kind of what the basis of my channel is about, creating DIY home decor, and I love how everything kind of looks DIY when you create it as DIY. There are some specific things that you can create of course that don't look DIY that look very store bought, which I've done on my channel before. But I also really love the look of just customized DIY handmade pieces. I think handmade elements instantly add such a cozy, nice, inviting vibe. I know when I go into a store that has a lot of handmade items in it, I just instantly have a feeling of, there is love and care and just like, I love the way that handmade things just like look and feel. Like you know someone put their time and effort into making this, and I just really like the way that that looks. I'll pop up a couple examples from past videos on my channel that are just great, simple DIY projects to add to your space that instantly add a bit of warmth, a bit of cozy, a bit of fun, a bit of fresh, a bit of funky, you know, all those elements and vibes that we love. Next up, we have one that I have talked about in all my videos. That is just to add plants. I think plants instantly add life, and guys, I only have one real plant in my room, but I have one, two, three, four, five, seven faux plants and one real one, which I just, I can't keep plants alive, so I'm just trying to keep in focus on one plant at the moment. And I've had these faux plants for multiple, multiple years, which is great. And the thing I love about plants is just the element of greenery and just the element again of kind of nature, how I talked about prior, bringing the outdoors in. There's no plants. It just feels dull to me for some reason. I always, always, always add plants to any, any decor, any room, any living room, any kitchen, anything that I do, I like to add a plant here or there just because I just feel like it instantly brightens up any space, just gives it that nice vibe and feeling, which I love. So think about adding a plant. I'll link some of my favorite faux ones below for you guys. And the last hack in this video is just to create mood lighting. So this is great for the afternoon time. This isn't really gonna help you, I feel like, during the daytime unless your apartment is really dark and you kind of want that mood lighting throughout the day. But my apartment's super, super bright, which I love. And then at nighttime, of course, it gets dark out. So you can, of course, turn on all your lights, but the lights in my apartment are actually really, really bright as well. So at nighttime, I even feel like it's almost daytime because they're so, so bright. So when I go into my room after about 8 p.m. when it turns dark, I literally turn off all the lights in my room, but I turn on my salt lamp, which I love, and I turn it all the way to the brightest setting. It literally just instantly gives my room a feeling of warmth. It's just so nice to be in. I love the way salt lamps look. I highly suggest absolutely everyone having one. I turn on my mood lighting in my room, and it doesn't even have to be, like, I feel like mood lighting kind of stems back to, like, literally having, like, sex or something. But guys, no. You can have your own mood lighting. Like, you can have your own moods, you know? Anything that where it's not gonna overwhelm, and I also think this is a great way to kind of wind down for bedtime, you know? Just having, like, a softer light on the eyes so you're not, like, being blinded by your ceiling lights, which sometimes I am in my living room. And guys, that was my video for today. I hope that you enjoyed, and I hope this gave you a couple of little tips. I really apologize for saying cozy and warm and space so many times in this video. It's just hard to find other words for those that just you're not repeating. If you have any other tips on making your apartment just nice and livable and just, like, feel good, you know, leave them in the comment section below. I would love to hear them. We can have a discussion down there. I love talking to you guys, and don't forget to subscribe to my channel for brand new videos every single week. I post them on home decor and interiors, but I'll catch you all in the next one. Have an amazing rest of your day, and happy November. Bye, guys.