How to Feel Yourself Comfortable at Home

5 Ideal Ways to Up the Comfort Ante of Your Home

Want to make your home feel more homely, homie? Then you’ve come to the right place. In fact, you’ve come to the only place more welcoming than your gaff after reading this article.

Because here at IDEAL, we just love to sink into a thoughtfully furnished sofa after a long day at the keyboard….like a warm cuddle, but given by an armchair rather than real human arms.

If you’re keen to revel in this domestic bliss with us, then read on; here are 5 IDEAL ways to up the comfort ante of your home.

It All Starts With Bedroom Bliss

When it comes to making your home more comfortable, our first thought turns to the bedroom.

Scratchy old sheets and lumpy pillows don’t make for a comfortable home, and that’s for sure. If this sounds like your bed, then it’s high time you spruce up your sleeptime sanctuary.

According to research, we spend nearly half our lifetime in bed – why wouldn’t you want to make your most used piece of furniture the most comfortable thing imaginable?

There are some simple steps to make your bed the comfy cloud that you deserve…

1. Add a layer of softness with a memory foam mattress topper
2. Invest in some sumptuously soft sheets; the higher the thread count – 800 for example – the denser and more luxurious the feeling of the material
3. Get support with oversized square pillows; we recommend 65 x 65 cm continental pillows
4. Consider a body pillow for a snuggle buddy

Ideal Tip: For ultimate comfort, change your duvet and bed lined with the seasons.

Think lighter linen duvets in the summer months and cosy cotton or fluffy flannel sheets come autumn and winter.

Read: 6 tips for achieving that 5 star hotel bed at home this summer

Sofas for Sitting, Snoozin’ and Snoring

It’s pretty impossible to get comfy and relax if your sofa isn’t comfy, don’t you think? If you’re wondering how to make your couch more cosy, according to Bustle, there are a few things you can do to make your sofa more comfortable, especially if it’s past its prime.

These include fixing sagging cushions by adding foam inserts which can restore the plumpness of cushions and adding cosy blankets, too.

Rugs Underfoot

A room without a rug is a room without love, a wise man in Persia once said. Ok, we’re pretty sure that we just made that up, but it has an air of something poetic, don’t you think?

Tactile and oh so comforting, rugs have been a mainstay of living room, bedroom and all other sorts of floors since forever, and possess the unique ability to add texture, warmth and visual intrigue to a room.

According to House Beautiful, “we have 7,000 receptors in the soles of our feet”. As such, it’s vital that you get the feeling of your flooring just right if you’re aiming for comfort and intend to be walking around barefoot in your house.

Top Tip: A room can have more than one rug! Consider framing different furniture areas with rugs of varying shapes and sizes, creating a multifunctional space and highlighting areas you wish to become a focal point.

Layered Lighting & Candles

Harsh, horrible lighting is the very antithesis of comfortable, aesthetically, at least. Soft, warm lighting, on the other hand, can up the comfort ante of a room gracefully.

We’re particularly fond of antique bulbs, which give a warm incandescent glow evocative of an old school oil lamp.

However, the guys over at homestore Guineys, who have been specialising in homeware since 1971, tell us that it’s not just the warmth of the lightbulb that makes a difference, but the shade itself.

They recommend coolie shades in fabric & copper options, which serve to change the light emitted by the bulb, giving it that extra warmth and cosiness we’re after.

They also stock Himalayan Salt lamps, which give a different kind of comforting glow.

Away from the living and bed room, mixing ambient lighting, to provide general illumination, with task lighting, for functional jobs, above a kitchen worktop or vanity unit in the bathroom also provides a sense of aesthetic comfort.

Useful Things (Otherwise Known as Home Comforts)

Yes, we know this is the most generic term, but we’ve come up with a list of ‘useful things’ which we think make the home more comfortable.

According to the dictionary, the definition of ‘home comfort’ is “any of the comforts which make being in one’s own home pleasant; a domestic amenity which contributes to physical ease and well-being; (as mass noun) comfort of this kind”.

Hence, our list of useful things helps us achieve a feeling of physical comfort within the home…

• A Bath Tray – If you’re a regular reader of IDEAL, then you’ll know just how much we love a good soak. Hey, perhaps you’re reading this in the bath, candles lit and foamy fingers scrolling. For us, a bath tray ups the comfort ante of our bath time no-end.
• A Bath Pillow – In the past, we’ve used rolled-up towels to support our heads. However, if you, too, have done this, then you’ve probably already felt that sinking feeling when that carefully crafted towel falls into the bath the moment you shift position slightly. Enter the bath pillow, designed to support your neck and add total comfort to your bath time experience.
• Footstools – A functional piece of furniture, if ever there was one, but a footstool embodies ‘‘putting your feet up” to make yourself comfortable, too. It’s also great for extra seating so everyone doesn’t have to be squished up on the sofa uncomfortably. What’s more, it can even be used as a replacement coffee table so you can comfortably reach the remote or your magazines from your armchair. Is there anything a footstool can’t do, we hear you ask?
• Laptop Stand – We’ve been working from home for more than a year now, and the nation has invested in all kinds of ‘office comforts’ in lieu of an HR department and ergonomic furniture. The best, for us, has got to be a laptop stand which raises your screen to the appropriate height and stops you hunching over or straining your eyes.

A list of pure comfort…what’s on yours?