Romanticizing Homemaking | How to Make Your Home Cozy & Inviting

As a work from home mom I spend a lot of time in my house and the more I've gotten older the more I've realized how important it is to me to cultivate a really warm cozy and inviting space not only for guests and other people when they come over but also for my own family to enjoy. I want the house that my children grow up in to be a safe space that is comfortable and warm and full of love. So today I'm going to be sharing with you guys just a few tips on how to make your home feel this way and how to practice some old-fashioned homemaking skills and really pour into the space that you're in. So as you may have guessed from this footage my first tip is to bake from scratch and cook from scratch. It doesn't have to be anything super complicated it could literally be a four ingredient peasant bread recipe that takes you know 20 minutes or it could be something a little bit more complicated like these cardamom buns that are some of my favorite. This does a couple things for your home so first of all it obviously makes your home smell amazing. There's nothing like the smell of freshly baked goods just the yeast and the flour and the sugar. Another thing that I love about this is that it also warms up your house in those cozy cold winter months and obviously when you're done you get to eat the food and really nourish your body and there's something so special about eating and serving others food that has been made from your own two hands with love. It is just such a sweet act of service and it's also a really good opportunity to be mindful and to slow down to use your hands and engage your senses in touching tasting smelling all of the good things that you make in your kitchen. This is one of my favorite recipes it's a Swedish cardamom bun recipe from Thick's Feast Flair and I make this one pretty often. Like I mentioned before it smells amazing and these are the perfect sweet but not too sweet pastries for coffee in the morning and I also really love that they have a fun shape like I said I get a lot of joy out of working with my hands and I feel like I just get to put a little extra love in these. Cardamom is one of my favorite tastes and scents so when I'm feeling a little bit blue I whip up a batch of these put them in the oven and it's an instant mood booster for my whole house. I find that layering different textures in my home is one of the best ways to create that kind of hygge feeling and I'm so excited to share that I'm working with Brooklyn in on today's video. Really really nice bedsheets can be so expensive but because I spend so much of my life in bed sleeping and nursing my babies it's really important to me to have comfortable sheets and that's why I love Brooklyn and they give you the quality and comfort at an affordable price by cutting out the middleman which makes them really accessible. They believe that people deserve simple beautiful home essentials without the luxury markup and the sheets don't just feel great they also are super beautiful and look great in your home. They have over 20 color and pattern options that you can mix and match so I actually went with the linen hardcore sheet bundle which is really cool because you can save 25 percent. Linen has that perfect old-fashioned homemaking feel to me. I absolutely love the texture of these on our bed and they're so comfortable to sleep in. Sheets I've used in the past would either make me way too hot and sweaty or leave me so cold in the middle of the night but these are the perfect weight and they feel so much more luxurious too. We have had so many of our special family moments on these beautiful sheets from first laughs and rolling over to just the day-to-day playing with the babies and I'm so so glad that we invested in sheets that feel like a form of self-care. They're actually having their annual president's day sale right now so this is a great time to get a good deal on their bed sheets and towels and stock up on all your favorites for 2023. All brook linen products are 15 off on their site using the link below. I have another tip for you guys which is to leverage scent to make your home feel immediately inviting. Now of course there are a few ways to do this you could go with the classic candle but I've been mixing it up a little bit lately and I've really been enjoying my diffuser. The oil that I'm diffusing on this particular day is this coffee crumb cake one from Eden's Garden and it smells so so good. If you want to go even more natural you could also do a simmer pot which is something that I love doing in the winter because it also adds warmth and humidity to the house. So basically all you do is take a pot and fill it with water put it on the stove and add whatever you want your house to smell like. So on this particular day I was doing some lemon slices and some rosemary. We're lucky enough to have this beautiful rosemary plant in our backyard and I use it in baking and simmer pots. It's my favorite in sourdough bread. It's so yummy and I try to make a loaf as often as I possibly can. So I'm just popping that in the pot and then I'm just going to keep it on low heat for a few hours and let the simmering water and herbs and lemon fill my house with scent. Another way to set the mood in your home is to constantly have soft music playing. This kind of gives you the feel that your life is a movie and you're listening to and experiencing the soundtrack. I'm always blown away by how much just adding music can add to the vibe of the space and as a bonus it often sparks a family dance party which is awesome. Filling your home with laughter is obviously such a great way to make it feel homey. So a couple of my favorite playlists that I would recommend checking out are this acoustic morning one and this lo-fi one so I'll link them for you guys below. Another thing I would recommend is trying to bring the outside in. This might seem a little bit counterintuitive since we're focusing on making our indoor space feel cozy but anytime that you can incorporate plants and flowers in your home it's going to make your space feel alive and fresh. For a lot of people this looks like having and tending to house plants which is such a rewarding task. I personally keep a cut flower garden in the spring and summer and it brings my soul so much joy. It's one of my favorite parts of the year because I love going out there, tending to my plants, cutting new blooms, and then arranging them for a little vase on my kitchen table or my kitchen island. Again it's a really great way to use my hands. It just reminds me of what a beautiful world we live in. Having fresh flowers in the house every week is a priority to me. Even if it's just a four dollar bouquet from Trader Joe's it makes me feel so loved and I smile every time I see them. Another thing I do to make my house feel really homey is to turn off my overhead lights and use lamps. I love the cozy vibe that this gives my house. I'll show you a little before and after. So this is what my kitchen and dining nook space looks like with the overhead light. It's totally fine but you'll see in a second when we turn the overhead light off and turn on some lamps it just gets so cozy and inviting. The warm glow is perfect for curling up on the couch in front of the fire with a good book. Oh just so cozy. Then my last tip is to incorporate antiques and handmade objects into your house. I know Target has some beautiful decor and I'm definitely one to grab a throw pillow when I go in but there is something so special about having objects with history in your home. You all probably know by this point that I love thrifting so I'm constantly picking up furniture and decor objects and lately I've also been focusing on including things that I have made in my home like my quilt that I recently finished. It gives my space so much character and I love that I get to add a little chapter to these objects history. I hope you guys enjoyed these homemaking tips. Again don't forget to check out the Brooklyn and President's Day sale to get 15% off everything on their site using my description below. I hope the rest of your day is filled warmth, coziness, and all the love. Happy homemaking!