11 Easy Ways to Create a LIVABLE LUXURY HOME _ COZY, KID & PET FRIENDLY & CHIC

The Importance of Rug Materials and Texture in Creating a Luxurious and Cozy Space

As we discussed earlier, rugs can greatly impact the ambiance and feel of a room. However, it's not just about choosing a rug that looks good; it's also about considering the materials and texture that will make your space feel luxurious and cozy. For me, one of the most important factors to consider is the material of the rug itself. I find that wool rugs can be too rough and scratchy for my taste, so I prefer options like silk or faux silk, which are not only soft but also easy to maintain.

Another crucial aspect to think about when it comes to rugs is cleaning and maintenance. Not all rugs are created equal, and some may require more upkeep than others. It's essential to consider the type of rug you're putting in your space and make sure it's suitable for the amount of foot traffic it will receive. For example, if you have a high-traffic area like a living room or bedroom, you may want to opt for a rug that can withstand heavy use. On the other hand, if you have a low-traffic area like a home office or study, you may be able to get away with a more delicate or low-maintenance rug.

Layering rugs in your space is also a great way to add texture and depth. By layering different types of rugs, you can create a visually appealing and luxurious look that's perfect for relaxing. For example, pairing a soft and plush area rug with a more textured or patterned rug can add visual interest and depth to a room.

When it comes to selecting the right materials for your space, it's essential to consider the lighting in the room as well. Lighting can greatly impact the way we perceive texture and material, so if you have a space that's particularly bright or dim, you may want to choose rugs with different textures or materials to create contrast.

In terms of specific rug materials, I've found that faux bone, linen, and chagrin are all great options for adding texture and visual interest to your space. Faux bone, in particular, is a great choice because it has a unique texture that can add depth and visual interest to any room. Linen is another great option because of its natural, earthy feel and texture. And chagrin is a fantastic choice if you want to add a touch of luxury and sophistication to your space.

One way to incorporate texture into your space without sacrificing luxury is by incorporating blankets and throws. These can be used to add warmth and coziness to a room, and they come in a wide range of textures and materials to choose from. For example, a soft and plush blanket can add warmth and comfort to a living room or bedroom, while a more textured or patterned throw can add visual interest and depth.

Finally, it's worth considering how you'll be using your space when selecting the right rug material and texture for your floor. If you're someone who likes to relax in their space and take off their shoes, you may want to choose rugs with soft and plush textures that will feel good underfoot. On the other hand, if you have a more active lifestyle or prefer to keep your feet on the floor at all times, you may want to opt for rugs with more durable materials that can withstand heavy use.

In conclusion, selecting the right rug material and texture for your space is crucial for creating a luxurious and cozy atmosphere. By considering factors like cleaning and maintenance, layering rugs, lighting, and specific materials, you can create a space that's not only visually appealing but also comfortable and inviting. Whether you're looking to add warmth and coziness or luxury and sophistication, there are countless options available to suit your needs and preferences.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: eni think somewhere in my mind that just sort of stayed with me was this idea that luxury is it's not something that you're meant to live with but that's silly of course you're supposed to live with it of course you should have materials that are meant to be used and enjoyed and something that makes you feel like you're allowed to lean back on the sofa i think that's where this i don't know who started that who started that idea i don't know i think it's kind of crazy don't you we've been working in the luxury market for many years and one of the things that we hear so often is that people would really like something that is luxurious they want something that feels sophisticated and chic and yet a lot of times they feel like they that they can't have that if they have kids if they have pets if they themselves are worried that they'll they'll spill things on their furnishings how will they maintain there's a lot of reasons why i think that oftentimes luxurious homes sometimes have a bad reputation for maybe not being cozy or approachable but the truth of the matter is is that you can have you can have your cake and eat it too you can have a luxurious home it is approachable it's family-friendly it's it's the kind of space that feels soft and cozy it's a place that you want to curl up and you can have all those things in the same space while also maintaining that chic environment that we just we can't help we can't help but just want to have that so i've picked up a lot of these because i myself have three kids i struggle with this as well sometimes i feel like wow i don't want it to feel too cold i don't want it to feel like people will feel like they they can't sit down um that they have to sit up straight when they come to visit i don't i want people to feel comfortable myself included my family included and these are just some tips and tricks that i've picked up as i've worked in the luxury market myself and i hope that you'll find them really really helpful i hope that they will inspire you on your own journey in creating your own home and yeah so let me just jump right in i think one of the best ways to create a cozy environment i get all of you that are my regulars you're gonna be like wait let me guess i'm like it i know i know okay so if you are a regular subscriber you know that i pretty much put a blanket everywhere i just i'm always cold i like to have blankets anyways i put them everywhere from living overseas particularly in europe they just always have a blanket at the cafes they always have them in their homes it's something that i just really like that's something that my husband and i really responded to and so it's something that we always include in all of our spaces but when you're creating a luxurious home the type of blanket that you use is really important you don't want to have a blanket that looks maybe too messy or the materials don't feel high-end and of course when we're working for our clients a lot of times they do have the budget to be able to splurge on beautiful materials like cashmere and we have things with silk threaded throughout and you can really go for broke and have the air mace blanket there are so many beautiful blankets out there if you have the budget to be able to create that luxe look with a luxurious blanket but don't feel confined it really isn't always about material it really you do need to pay attention to the materials it is about the materials and in essence it needs to feel luxurious and high-end we've even shown you in the past some of our favorite things that we have found on places like amazon and h m if you are working on a budget so don't be deterred but really pay attention you're looking for something that has a feel like cashmere i think sometimes even like this one it's a it's a thinner blanket that can lay over your sofa and you can have a little bit of fringe on it it can lay over your arm as well but i think that blankets like that uh fur blankets those just tend to read more luxurious and i love my fur blankets because they're always back with a really soft material i buy them at pottery barn i just really like their blankets but restoration hardware has great ones and there's plenty of options out there just depending on what budget you have to be able to get that look i think that a blanket is the perfect way to create a cozy environment in your space but also one that really invites you to feel as though you're being pampered in space because ultimately that's what luxury is at least to me it's this idea that you've pampered yourself with really beautiful things so i hope that one will help so my second tip is to avoid led lighting now i'm gonna put a disclaimer on this because i don't think that you have to avoid led lighting period but when you look at photos online a lot of times when their luxury homes are being photographed with the lights on and that's probably why you feel like those spaces feel less approachable there is something so beautiful and so wonderful about a home that's being lit by natural light usually when we photograph our own home our clients even when we're doing real estate photos we still prefer the lights be turned off that's how most magazines will photograph a home because it really gives the truest color and a lot of times when you see those with the led lights they can be a lot of fun i think that led lights have a place in the home you don't have to completely avoid them think about a hotel a lot of times they do have those led lights used and it can be very luxurious feeling but i feel like a lot of times they're just overused and and i've noticed as i've looked at other people's photos that i'm trying to figure out it's like why why don't i love this i feel like i should love this it's so beautiful it's so well put together the mill work i love everything on the shelves what isn't and i'm like oh it's the lighting it's the led lighting it just makes everything feel more artificial it takes away that natural approachable feel that i really like and i think that that's why a lot of times you guys might feel like luxurious homes don't feel cozy and they don't feel approachable i think that anytime you can use natural light it's going to always feel more luxurious i think also that low light lamps candles things like that they have a lower light and they're less intrusive into the actual space will just give a little bit more of a cozy approachable buy so if you want to use led lighting i don't think that you have to completely and absolutely avoid it but maybe think about avoiding overuse of led lighting i think that would probably be a better tip don't you you guys let me know down in the comments whether you agree or disagree tell me if you love the led lights and you would have them everywhere or if you agree that you really like the natural look and you think that that definitely gives the kind of approachable cozy luxurious look that you find yourself craving as well tip number three is to balance your materials what i have found is when i look at some homes that are luxurious a lot of times it's just too much of too much of like everything like it's it's too much brass it's too much marble it's too much like marble floors and marble on the on the counter tops and then it's really brassy lights and lots of brass all over everything and i think sometimes that's where the approachability can be lost is that it doesn't feel like anything is touchable and i think that you can balance your marble countertops with maybe a brass that's a little bit more burnished that's a little bit more antiqued and when you start balancing your materials with something that feels a little bit more warm and approachable it can give you the most amazing beautiful luxurious feel that's very approachable it feels very usable and very i think it's very cozy you guys can let me know what you guys think as well but i think as well like in the bedroom if you have everything glossy every piece of furniture is high gloss i think that it just feels almost like it's not the kind of space that you feel like you can really just kind of get cozy in and really relax in um as i'm designing my own bedroom i've got a higher lacquered four poster bed if you watch our videos you've maybe even seen when we just got it just a few weeks ago and i have been waiting for all my samples to finally come in to order the sofa that i want to put into the space i want to have a really beautiful elegant curved sofa in there but i'm balancing the high gloss lacquer of the bed with a material that's gonna be sitting next to it that's going to feel more approachable so it will either be a creamy linen or it will be a more washed out velvet it's something that just feels like the balance of materials it they sit well together but it's not too much in your face all just everything kind of screaming at you i think that's where luxury is kind of it becomes unapproachable it's when it's like i really don't feel like i can sit down on anything in this space so think about balancing your materials think about balancing things that are warm and maybe something that's gonna give you that drama like that statement marble you can also add organic accessories to a space those materials will also really balance out something that does feel more luxurious maybe that's a little bit higher gloss and you can really play with your materials overall in your space to give yourself a space that definitely feels approachable while still remaining luxurious i absolutely love to upholster and soft fabrics i think that this is really really important what i find is that a lot of times when we're working with our clients they in their minds think that luxury is the equivalent to uncomfortable and that the materials are going to be too hard the truth of the matter is is that luxurious really should be the most comfortable materials they really should be the softest materials that you can afford they're really fine soft velvets they can still be performance velvets those are really great they're they're easy to clean they're really soft i really like them but you really want to avoid anything that would make you feel like you can't sit on it so maybe instead of having just a brass bar stool or a brass chair you could have a really soft upholstered cushion on there that really makes it enjoyable to actually sit in the furniture i think that usability is really important we don't want to design spaces that you feel like you can't actually use the point of having a home is that it is a home it's a place to come that you can rest and be restored and so when you balance that with luxury the materials themselves they are important it needs to be soft underneath you i think that cotton a lot of times can be very luxurious um i think that the tailoring on those materials is probably the most important thing that you need to consider so make sure that your materials are definitely soft they can definitely be things that are performance so that you'll be able to get the long wear out of them but yes your materials should be soft and luxurious and the tailoring of them will really make a huge difference to where you feel like you can look at the space and it has a very luxury look but when you sit down on it it feels really really good and you just really want to stay i think that's where that cozy really comes in don't you the stuffing inside and what you are filling your furniture with is actually really important i think a lot of times we think of luxurious that it must be stiff that it's going to be you know really firm i think that i think you should actually be the exact opposite i really like to pay a little bit extra that's part of luxury to me is that idea that you're going to be able to pay a little bit extra get the down filling it will have all of your cushions that you sit down on just feel i think more luxurious and i think they'll also feel cozier and more approachable i think it's really important uh i really think through those things as i'm ordering for myself and for my clients i'm looking at what kind of filling is going to be inside the cushion whether we're sitting on it or leaning against it whether it's going to be on the bar stool i think that's actually where luxury should be i think a lot of times we have those misconceptions about what luxury is and what it actually is and what it should be at the very least i think that it really should be something that's really comfortable that you can really relax on that's why i really have even enjoyed our west elm sectional it's not as tailored maybe as the some of the other options that they had and i chose one that was a little bit more comfy cozy i'll be showing you very soon how i'm going to be styling up that really comfortable cozy sofa to feel more luxurious lots of plans for that can't wait to share that video with you so think through how you want to feel in your space how you want to be able to lounge and how comfortable your space can be and think about those down think about any feeling that you're going to put into your cushions because it will make a huge difference and it will really up your cozy factor next up i think that you should avoid using anything in your space that will make you feel like you can't relax in it some examples i would love to be able to have a glass top coffee table i've seen a few that i think are really beautiful i love smoked glass i think that that's really beautiful i also love mirrors i think that mirrors on coffee tables can be really beautiful especially if it's got like an antique effect on it i like pedestals with a piece of artwork on it but as i think about my own space and how we actually want to use it i i don't want to worry that my son who's still 12 or maybe if i have a friend that's visiting with a little one that they might inadvertently hit the glass or the mirror and it might get broken and someone would get hurt i i think about the pedestal with a big art piece sitting on top of it and and i was thinking about putting that into my summer and i was thinking wow i want to put that in the corner and there's two the intersection of two humongous windows sitting right there and if my son is playing and he throws the ball at me and i you know we don't normally have hard baseballs inside the house but it could be something softer even he tosses it to me and i reach out to grab it and that gets bumped oh yeah that's going to go straight through the window or it could fall down on somebody so i really like to think through all of these things when i'm designing a space for myself and for my clients i think it's really important i think that the approachability of a space really comes down to choosing things that you feel like you can really live with that maybe that's not the right spot to put a pedestal and a big marble bust on top something that would be really heavy um it needs to be somewhere that if you're gonna have that maybe that your kids wouldn't go there so often maybe it's in the master bedroom in a corner somewhere it's not that you can never include those things in your home if you have kids and pets and you you want to think through all those things but i i do think about the location of those things if it's going to be in a family room i'm probably going to just avoid it in general what if somebody puts their feet up on that glass table and i don't know it's just these are the kinds of things that i think about and i think that those are the kinds of things that will really help your space to feel super approachable or make you feel like you can just relax there's a lot of other options for coffee tables that will work in space it's going to be used for high traffic and maybe save the one that's got the glass for a space that maybe isn't used as often by the entire family but even then you might choose to pass on it and go with something that's a little bit different and i think about fingerprints too we we stayed one place one time um it was a furnished apartment and it had a glass top kitchen table and i've been looking at them myself because i love the way they look with the little brass legs and i think that's glamorous and so sophisticated and then i'm like yeah but the fingerprints oh the fingerprints like i was so many fingerprints on that glass table i was constantly cleaning it so i want my house to feel like a space that i don't have to constantly fret over and i think that these kinds of little details will make a huge impact for you too i absolutely love to style my luxurious spaces with greenery i think that adding something organic like greenery it just adds this beautiful bit of light and i think that it makes a huge difference it makes it feel very luxurious and yet very approachable and i think that that approachability is where coziness comes into i think so often about the word hygge which is the danish word when they translate it they say cozy is kind of the word but what they really are after is this idea of the perfect moment and when you think about coziness in that way that that perfect moment when you you feel at ease and you're really enjoying yourself and you it's just everything just feels so right i think about that definition of coziness and to me and to me having greenery in a space makes that feel like it's full of life and it makes it feel i don't know as if nature has come inside and i think that it's something that just really revolutionizes the space so i will typically avoid faux plants i'll avoid faux flowers i just don't love them every now and then in a bathroom maybe i'll i'll throw one in here and there but generally i i try not to even put them in in fact i think i did a video a little while ago about how you can some little hacks to be able to use greenery in your home even if you have you know no luck with plants or if you don't have light and it's all about being able to maybe find something that can sit in water and eventually root and it will just kind of grow on its own there's plenty of ways to do it if you if you don't want to have a plant to keep up with but i really think that having greenery in your space will make it just feel really alive it's so often what we use in rural settings i think that's where it just comes from it's like oh it's just bringing nature in bringing something that's natural inside of your home just makes for whatever reason and we as humans we just feel more at ease in that and so when you have a luxurious space and you have really beautiful um clean lines on things and you have something that feels very high-end the materials themselves are maybe a little bit glossier things are a little bit more chic when you infuse a little bit of greenery into that that mix is just it's gorgeous definitely try it out i think that curtains are a beautiful way to really add so much elegance and sophistication to a space and the materials that you choose can really help them to feel more approachable but i also think that either way whether you choose to use a really luxurious linen or you use a really sheer light fabric or you go for something that's really heavy velvet it the materials themselves can all be used in different ways in different spaces to give you a different effect but hanging them high going plush on them really will help your space to also feel cozy and i really love that you guys let me know if you love to have curtains too because i i was the one saying take all the curtains down for so long and then i found that i just missed them so you guys can let me know what you guys think next up let's not forget to add plush pillows i like to have pillows that you can really sink down into that are meant to be used maybe that's actually more of the tip use pillows you can actually sit on i remember when my mom first started working with the designer and the designer told her she wanted to put silk pillows and she wanted to have all these materials that um my mom was like but i have kids they like to jump in bed with me and she's like well tell the kids they can't do that anymore and my mom was like what no i can we not find a fabric that that we could put on the bed where my kids could still run and jump in bed with me and watch movies with me she's like that's that's really important to me as a mom that i have that feeling for my kids and the the designer told her that she no she just couldn't help her that it was either this or nothing and i think somewhere in my mind that just sort of stayed with me was this idea that luxury is it's not something that you're meant to live with but that's silly of course you're supposed to live with it of course you should have materials that are meant to be used and enjoyed and something that makes you feel like you're allowed to lean back on the sofa i think that's where this i don't know who started that who started that idea i don't know i think it's kind of crazy don't you i think you should use pillows that you're meant to sit on um i got this one just recently this one um is a custom one that i had done um and i'll leave a link for you guys they're done through one king's lane and they do a great job and they're very very plush inside they come filled with down and they're very beautiful and the material is really soft it's got velvet and it's super soft and um yeah i fully intend to sit with this and lean against it and i think that's the way that all of our cushions should be i think if you fill them with down and you're able to fluff them and you choose materials that feel soft against your skin these these kinds of things are things that you should be living with and i don't like the idea of filling my bed with pillows that i'm not allowed to touch or that i feel like i have to take 900 things off and put them somewhere so i can actually sit in my bed i i would personally rather fill the bed with materials that are things that are really soft and that i'm allowed to lean against and my kids can run and jump in and um you know we sometimes spaces that would be high traffic maybe we'll we'll try to use fabrics that are high performance again high performance i feel like we could just say that over and over um something that's washable there's so many new uh there's so much that's come out with all the technology that we have there's so many fabrics that you can wash so i would look for materials that you can wash ones that you can lean against when you can really use and just think about your throw pillows it's a big part of decor and make them something you can really enjoy and yeah lean against that way you can actually feel cozy in your space for so many years now we've been kind of going against the idea of rugs and when i see luxuries home a lot of times they're actually they're actually using carpet which i'm like i don't know i don't know oh are we gonna go back to carpet does luxurious mean we have to use carpet i was thinking about my bathroom when i first moved into this house and there was carpet in the bathroom carpet which my feet never touched because i promise you i stood at the sink with my heels on brushing my teeth at night because there was no way that my feet were touching carpet in the bathroom and and i was trying to figure out why anybody would put carpet in the bathroom it's just gross it's just it's just unsanitary it's gross but i was thinking maybe it was because carpet was really thought of as something that's very luxurious and it can be it can be luxurious i think about hotels if they have carpeting in them they can really use a luxurious material technically i think it could be but i would prefer to have hardwoods and i think most of us kind of would as well so in place of that i think that we still need for our spaces even though we are going for something luxurious and chic they still need a rock they need something soft that we put our feet down on um i i totally ordered a rug from my bedroom that was gonna be wool and it was not going to be soft and i i need to arrange actually to send it back because i'm like i don't want to get out of my bed and to touch something that's rough with my bare feet and i don't want to have to have my heels anybody get out of bed so i i think that silk rugs can be really beautiful there's a lot of faux silk and then silk materials that still are really easy to maintain i think really understanding what rug you're putting in can be really important and the kind of cleaning that's involved and the maintenance of them those kinds of things are really important but either way you really kind of need rug in your space to really soften it to help it to feel like it's the kind of space that you can really get out of bed and it feels really soft and nice and um you know but just maybe not in the bathroom i i'm not i'm not going to be putting carpet or a silk rug in my bathroom and so i think thinking through where you're going to put them layering up your spaces with rugs all these kinds of things will help give you not only luxury but also approachability and coziness because i don't know about you you guys let me know i'm so curious to hear your thoughts on this one because i feel like so many of these could potentially be polarizing it's like the lighting and then the materials and all these kinds of things can be very polarizing and sometimes if you have a strong feeling about one of those things it can be hard to see the other side of that opinion but for me i think i i just like to have my feet to touch something that's really soft if i am actually going to walk around barefoot i do think that visually rugs make a space feel just they look more approachable and i think that using materials that you can actually wash and that you can clean will help it to not only feel approachable and cozy but something that you feel like you can actually live with as well i think that you can absolutely have things that are glossy you can have things that have a great sheen to them and then you can also have things like i always show this that's like every video i'm just gonna this i'll just pull this out in every video this is made of faux bone and that has texture as well so you don't necessarily have to think texture that it has to be something that's rustic um let me show you this as well i've got sitting here look at my books i've got the book sitting here and this one is a little bit glossy it has a little bit more of a sheen to it and then we've got this one here that's got the linen so there's materials like linen and uh bone and uh i think chagrin is another one chagrin i've got the cabinet here that's why i was i was looking for things that would bring texture into my space while simultaneously keeping that luxurious feel to my space and i think that that's how you can pull those things in and really give yourself a luxe look that's very cozy i think those blankets that we talked about in the beginning are really important think about your artwork you can maybe have something that you frame that has some texture in it it's just got some sort of warmth and it could have some patina to it maybe something that's a family heirloom that you decide to frame those are ways to bring in texture into your space but still they don't they don't take away from the luxury feel of your space they just happen to feel a little bit cozy and approachable so well as usual my lighting has been crazy in this space and it has gone in and out 900 times um so i hope that today's video has filled you up with loads of inspiration i hope that it's inspired you to create a space that is very luxurious it can be chic it can be so sophisticated but it can also be the kind of space that you really just can relax in you can feel cozy in and i hope that these tips and tricks have helped you just to get started as you put together your spaces so thank you so much for stopping by um we always appreciate when you guys come for a visit and make sure you hit subscribe we love that you've come by and if you haven't hit subscribe yet we hope you will stick around go check out some of our previous videos we have lots of playlists we'd love to make our channel binge worthy for you guys and get you lots of content and lots of ideas so be sure to check all that out all the links down below for you and give the video a thumbs up if you love cozy lux and if you want more of it let us know so thank you again for stopping by and i will see you guys in the next one bye youi think somewhere in my mind that just sort of stayed with me was this idea that luxury is it's not something that you're meant to live with but that's silly of course you're supposed to live with it of course you should have materials that are meant to be used and enjoyed and something that makes you feel like you're allowed to lean back on the sofa i think that's where this i don't know who started that who started that idea i don't know i think it's kind of crazy don't you we've been working in the luxury market for many years and one of the things that we hear so often is that people would really like something that is luxurious they want something that feels sophisticated and chic and yet a lot of times they feel like they that they can't have that if they have kids if they have pets if they themselves are worried that they'll they'll spill things on their furnishings how will they maintain there's a lot of reasons why i think that oftentimes luxurious homes sometimes have a bad reputation for maybe not being cozy or approachable but the truth of the matter is is that you can have you can have your cake and eat it too you can have a luxurious home it is approachable it's family-friendly it's it's the kind of space that feels soft and cozy it's a place that you want to curl up and you can have all those things in the same space while also maintaining that chic environment that we just we can't help we can't help but just want to have that so i've picked up a lot of these because i myself have three kids i struggle with this as well sometimes i feel like wow i don't want it to feel too cold i don't want it to feel like people will feel like they they can't sit down um that they have to sit up straight when they come to visit i don't i want people to feel comfortable myself included my family included and these are just some tips and tricks that i've picked up as i've worked in the luxury market myself and i hope that you'll find them really really helpful i hope that they will inspire you on your own journey in creating your own home and yeah so let me just jump right in i think one of the best ways to create a cozy environment i get all of you that are my regulars you're gonna be like wait let me guess i'm like it i know i know okay so if you are a regular subscriber you know that i pretty much put a blanket everywhere i just i'm always cold i like to have blankets anyways i put them everywhere from living overseas particularly in europe they just always have a blanket at the cafes they always have them in their homes it's something that i just really like that's something that my husband and i really responded to and so it's something that we always include in all of our spaces but when you're creating a luxurious home the type of blanket that you use is really important you don't want to have a blanket that looks maybe too messy or the materials don't feel high-end and of course when we're working for our clients a lot of times they do have the budget to be able to splurge on beautiful materials like cashmere and we have things with silk threaded throughout and you can really go for broke and have the air mace blanket there are so many beautiful blankets out there if you have the budget to be able to create that luxe look with a luxurious blanket but don't feel confined it really isn't always about material it really you do need to pay attention to the materials it is about the materials and in essence it needs to feel luxurious and high-end we've even shown you in the past some of our favorite things that we have found on places like amazon and h m if you are working on a budget so don't be deterred but really pay attention you're looking for something that has a feel like cashmere i think sometimes even like this one it's a it's a thinner blanket that can lay over your sofa and you can have a little bit of fringe on it it can lay over your arm as well but i think that blankets like that uh fur blankets those just tend to read more luxurious and i love my fur blankets because they're always back with a really soft material i buy them at pottery barn i just really like their blankets but restoration hardware has great ones and there's plenty of options out there just depending on what budget you have to be able to get that look i think that a blanket is the perfect way to create a cozy environment in your space but also one that really invites you to feel as though you're being pampered in space because ultimately that's what luxury is at least to me it's this idea that you've pampered yourself with really beautiful things so i hope that one will help so my second tip is to avoid led lighting now i'm gonna put a disclaimer on this because i don't think that you have to avoid led lighting period but when you look at photos online a lot of times when their luxury homes are being photographed with the lights on and that's probably why you feel like those spaces feel less approachable there is something so beautiful and so wonderful about a home that's being lit by natural light usually when we photograph our own home our clients even when we're doing real estate photos we still prefer the lights be turned off that's how most magazines will photograph a home because it really gives the truest color and a lot of times when you see those with the led lights they can be a lot of fun i think that led lights have a place in the home you don't have to completely avoid them think about a hotel a lot of times they do have those led lights used and it can be very luxurious feeling but i feel like a lot of times they're just overused and and i've noticed as i've looked at other people's photos that i'm trying to figure out it's like why why don't i love this i feel like i should love this it's so beautiful it's so well put together the mill work i love everything on the shelves what isn't and i'm like oh it's the lighting it's the led lighting it just makes everything feel more artificial it takes away that natural approachable feel that i really like and i think that that's why a lot of times you guys might feel like luxurious homes don't feel cozy and they don't feel approachable i think that anytime you can use natural light it's going to always feel more luxurious i think also that low light lamps candles things like that they have a lower light and they're less intrusive into the actual space will just give a little bit more of a cozy approachable buy so if you want to use led lighting i don't think that you have to completely and absolutely avoid it but maybe think about avoiding overuse of led lighting i think that would probably be a better tip don't you you guys let me know down in the comments whether you agree or disagree tell me if you love the led lights and you would have them everywhere or if you agree that you really like the natural look and you think that that definitely gives the kind of approachable cozy luxurious look that you find yourself craving as well tip number three is to balance your materials what i have found is when i look at some homes that are luxurious a lot of times it's just too much of too much of like everything like it's it's too much brass it's too much marble it's too much like marble floors and marble on the on the counter tops and then it's really brassy lights and lots of brass all over everything and i think sometimes that's where the approachability can be lost is that it doesn't feel like anything is touchable and i think that you can balance your marble countertops with maybe a brass that's a little bit more burnished that's a little bit more antiqued and when you start balancing your materials with something that feels a little bit more warm and approachable it can give you the most amazing beautiful luxurious feel that's very approachable it feels very usable and very i think it's very cozy you guys can let me know what you guys think as well but i think as well like in the bedroom if you have everything glossy every piece of furniture is high gloss i think that it just feels almost like it's not the kind of space that you feel like you can really just kind of get cozy in and really relax in um as i'm designing my own bedroom i've got a higher lacquered four poster bed if you watch our videos you've maybe even seen when we just got it just a few weeks ago and i have been waiting for all my samples to finally come in to order the sofa that i want to put into the space i want to have a really beautiful elegant curved sofa in there but i'm balancing the high gloss lacquer of the bed with a material that's gonna be sitting next to it that's going to feel more approachable so it will either be a creamy linen or it will be a more washed out velvet it's something that just feels like the balance of materials it they sit well together but it's not too much in your face all just everything kind of screaming at you i think that's where luxury is kind of it becomes unapproachable it's when it's like i really don't feel like i can sit down on anything in this space so think about balancing your materials think about balancing things that are warm and maybe something that's gonna give you that drama like that statement marble you can also add organic accessories to a space those materials will also really balance out something that does feel more luxurious maybe that's a little bit higher gloss and you can really play with your materials overall in your space to give yourself a space that definitely feels approachable while still remaining luxurious i absolutely love to upholster and soft fabrics i think that this is really really important what i find is that a lot of times when we're working with our clients they in their minds think that luxury is the equivalent to uncomfortable and that the materials are going to be too hard the truth of the matter is is that luxurious really should be the most comfortable materials they really should be the softest materials that you can afford they're really fine soft velvets they can still be performance velvets those are really great they're they're easy to clean they're really soft i really like them but you really want to avoid anything that would make you feel like you can't sit on it so maybe instead of having just a brass bar stool or a brass chair you could have a really soft upholstered cushion on there that really makes it enjoyable to actually sit in the furniture i think that usability is really important we don't want to design spaces that you feel like you can't actually use the point of having a home is that it is a home it's a place to come that you can rest and be restored and so when you balance that with luxury the materials themselves they are important it needs to be soft underneath you i think that cotton a lot of times can be very luxurious um i think that the tailoring on those materials is probably the most important thing that you need to consider so make sure that your materials are definitely soft they can definitely be things that are performance so that you'll be able to get the long wear out of them but yes your materials should be soft and luxurious and the tailoring of them will really make a huge difference to where you feel like you can look at the space and it has a very luxury look but when you sit down on it it feels really really good and you just really want to stay i think that's where that cozy really comes in don't you the stuffing inside and what you are filling your furniture with is actually really important i think a lot of times we think of luxurious that it must be stiff that it's going to be you know really firm i think that i think you should actually be the exact opposite i really like to pay a little bit extra that's part of luxury to me is that idea that you're going to be able to pay a little bit extra get the down filling it will have all of your cushions that you sit down on just feel i think more luxurious and i think they'll also feel cozier and more approachable i think it's really important uh i really think through those things as i'm ordering for myself and for my clients i'm looking at what kind of filling is going to be inside the cushion whether we're sitting on it or leaning against it whether it's going to be on the bar stool i think that's actually where luxury should be i think a lot of times we have those misconceptions about what luxury is and what it actually is and what it should be at the very least i think that it really should be something that's really comfortable that you can really relax on that's why i really have even enjoyed our west elm sectional it's not as tailored maybe as the some of the other options that they had and i chose one that was a little bit more comfy cozy i'll be showing you very soon how i'm going to be styling up that really comfortable cozy sofa to feel more luxurious lots of plans for that can't wait to share that video with you so think through how you want to feel in your space how you want to be able to lounge and how comfortable your space can be and think about those down think about any feeling that you're going to put into your cushions because it will make a huge difference and it will really up your cozy factor next up i think that you should avoid using anything in your space that will make you feel like you can't relax in it some examples i would love to be able to have a glass top coffee table i've seen a few that i think are really beautiful i love smoked glass i think that that's really beautiful i also love mirrors i think that mirrors on coffee tables can be really beautiful especially if it's got like an antique effect on it i like pedestals with a piece of artwork on it but as i think about my own space and how we actually want to use it i i don't want to worry that my son who's still 12 or maybe if i have a friend that's visiting with a little one that they might inadvertently hit the glass or the mirror and it might get broken and someone would get hurt i i think about the pedestal with a big art piece sitting on top of it and and i was thinking about putting that into my summer and i was thinking wow i want to put that in the corner and there's two the intersection of two humongous windows sitting right there and if my son is playing and he throws the ball at me and i you know we don't normally have hard baseballs inside the house but it could be something softer even he tosses it to me and i reach out to grab it and that gets bumped oh yeah that's going to go straight through the window or it could fall down on somebody so i really like to think through all of these things when i'm designing a space for myself and for my clients i think it's really important i think that the approachability of a space really comes down to choosing things that you feel like you can really live with that maybe that's not the right spot to put a pedestal and a big marble bust on top something that would be really heavy um it needs to be somewhere that if you're gonna have that maybe that your kids wouldn't go there so often maybe it's in the master bedroom in a corner somewhere it's not that you can never include those things in your home if you have kids and pets and you you want to think through all those things but i i do think about the location of those things if it's going to be in a family room i'm probably going to just avoid it in general what if somebody puts their feet up on that glass table and i don't know it's just these are the kinds of things that i think about and i think that those are the kinds of things that will really help your space to feel super approachable or make you feel like you can just relax there's a lot of other options for coffee tables that will work in space it's going to be used for high traffic and maybe save the one that's got the glass for a space that maybe isn't used as often by the entire family but even then you might choose to pass on it and go with something that's a little bit different and i think about fingerprints too we we stayed one place one time um it was a furnished apartment and it had a glass top kitchen table and i've been looking at them myself because i love the way they look with the little brass legs and i think that's glamorous and so sophisticated and then i'm like yeah but the fingerprints oh the fingerprints like i was so many fingerprints on that glass table i was constantly cleaning it so i want my house to feel like a space that i don't have to constantly fret over and i think that these kinds of little details will make a huge impact for you too i absolutely love to style my luxurious spaces with greenery i think that adding something organic like greenery it just adds this beautiful bit of light and i think that it makes a huge difference it makes it feel very luxurious and yet very approachable and i think that that approachability is where coziness comes into i think so often about the word hygge which is the danish word when they translate it they say cozy is kind of the word but what they really are after is this idea of the perfect moment and when you think about coziness in that way that that perfect moment when you you feel at ease and you're really enjoying yourself and you it's just everything just feels so right i think about that definition of coziness and to me and to me having greenery in a space makes that feel like it's full of life and it makes it feel i don't know as if nature has come inside and i think that it's something that just really revolutionizes the space so i will typically avoid faux plants i'll avoid faux flowers i just don't love them every now and then in a bathroom maybe i'll i'll throw one in here and there but generally i i try not to even put them in in fact i think i did a video a little while ago about how you can some little hacks to be able to use greenery in your home even if you have you know no luck with plants or if you don't have light and it's all about being able to maybe find something that can sit in water and eventually root and it will just kind of grow on its own there's plenty of ways to do it if you if you don't want to have a plant to keep up with but i really think that having greenery in your space will make it just feel really alive it's so often what we use in rural settings i think that's where it just comes from it's like oh it's just bringing nature in bringing something that's natural inside of your home just makes for whatever reason and we as humans we just feel more at ease in that and so when you have a luxurious space and you have really beautiful um clean lines on things and you have something that feels very high-end the materials themselves are maybe a little bit glossier things are a little bit more chic when you infuse a little bit of greenery into that that mix is just it's gorgeous definitely try it out i think that curtains are a beautiful way to really add so much elegance and sophistication to a space and the materials that you choose can really help them to feel more approachable but i also think that either way whether you choose to use a really luxurious linen or you use a really sheer light fabric or you go for something that's really heavy velvet it the materials themselves can all be used in different ways in different spaces to give you a different effect but hanging them high going plush on them really will help your space to also feel cozy and i really love that you guys let me know if you love to have curtains too because i i was the one saying take all the curtains down for so long and then i found that i just missed them so you guys can let me know what you guys think next up let's not forget to add plush pillows i like to have pillows that you can really sink down into that are meant to be used maybe that's actually more of the tip use pillows you can actually sit on i remember when my mom first started working with the designer and the designer told her she wanted to put silk pillows and she wanted to have all these materials that um my mom was like but i have kids they like to jump in bed with me and she's like well tell the kids they can't do that anymore and my mom was like what no i can we not find a fabric that that we could put on the bed where my kids could still run and jump in bed with me and watch movies with me she's like that's that's really important to me as a mom that i have that feeling for my kids and the the designer told her that she no she just couldn't help her that it was either this or nothing and i think somewhere in my mind that just sort of stayed with me was this idea that luxury is it's not something that you're meant to live with but that's silly of course you're supposed to live with it of course you should have materials that are meant to be used and enjoyed and something that makes you feel like you're allowed to lean back on the sofa i think that's where this i don't know who started that who started that idea i don't know i think it's kind of crazy don't you i think you should use pillows that you're meant to sit on um i got this one just recently this one um is a custom one that i had done um and i'll leave a link for you guys they're done through one king's lane and they do a great job and they're very very plush inside they come filled with down and they're very beautiful and the material is really soft it's got velvet and it's super soft and um yeah i fully intend to sit with this and lean against it and i think that's the way that all of our cushions should be i think if you fill them with down and you're able to fluff them and you choose materials that feel soft against your skin these these kinds of things are things that you should be living with and i don't like the idea of filling my bed with pillows that i'm not allowed to touch or that i feel like i have to take 900 things off and put them somewhere so i can actually sit in my bed i i would personally rather fill the bed with materials that are things that are really soft and that i'm allowed to lean against and my kids can run and jump in and um you know we sometimes spaces that would be high traffic maybe we'll we'll try to use fabrics that are high performance again high performance i feel like we could just say that over and over um something that's washable there's so many new uh there's so much that's come out with all the technology that we have there's so many fabrics that you can wash so i would look for materials that you can wash ones that you can lean against when you can really use and just think about your throw pillows it's a big part of decor and make them something you can really enjoy and yeah lean against that way you can actually feel cozy in your space for so many years now we've been kind of going against the idea of rugs and when i see luxuries home a lot of times they're actually they're actually using carpet which i'm like i don't know i don't know oh are we gonna go back to carpet does luxurious mean we have to use carpet i was thinking about my bathroom when i first moved into this house and there was carpet in the bathroom carpet which my feet never touched because i promise you i stood at the sink with my heels on brushing my teeth at night because there was no way that my feet were touching carpet in the bathroom and and i was trying to figure out why anybody would put carpet in the bathroom it's just gross it's just it's just unsanitary it's gross but i was thinking maybe it was because carpet was really thought of as something that's very luxurious and it can be it can be luxurious i think about hotels if they have carpeting in them they can really use a luxurious material technically i think it could be but i would prefer to have hardwoods and i think most of us kind of would as well so in place of that i think that we still need for our spaces even though we are going for something luxurious and chic they still need a rock they need something soft that we put our feet down on um i i totally ordered a rug from my bedroom that was gonna be wool and it was not going to be soft and i i need to arrange actually to send it back because i'm like i don't want to get out of my bed and to touch something that's rough with my bare feet and i don't want to have to have my heels anybody get out of bed so i i think that silk rugs can be really beautiful there's a lot of faux silk and then silk materials that still are really easy to maintain i think really understanding what rug you're putting in can be really important and the kind of cleaning that's involved and the maintenance of them those kinds of things are really important but either way you really kind of need rug in your space to really soften it to help it to feel like it's the kind of space that you can really get out of bed and it feels really soft and nice and um you know but just maybe not in the bathroom i i'm not i'm not going to be putting carpet or a silk rug in my bathroom and so i think thinking through where you're going to put them layering up your spaces with rugs all these kinds of things will help give you not only luxury but also approachability and coziness because i don't know about you you guys let me know i'm so curious to hear your thoughts on this one because i feel like so many of these could potentially be polarizing it's like the lighting and then the materials and all these kinds of things can be very polarizing and sometimes if you have a strong feeling about one of those things it can be hard to see the other side of that opinion but for me i think i i just like to have my feet to touch something that's really soft if i am actually going to walk around barefoot i do think that visually rugs make a space feel just they look more approachable and i think that using materials that you can actually wash and that you can clean will help it to not only feel approachable and cozy but something that you feel like you can actually live with as well i think that you can absolutely have things that are glossy you can have things that have a great sheen to them and then you can also have things like i always show this that's like every video i'm just gonna this i'll just pull this out in every video this is made of faux bone and that has texture as well so you don't necessarily have to think texture that it has to be something that's rustic um let me show you this as well i've got sitting here look at my books i've got the book sitting here and this one is a little bit glossy it has a little bit more of a sheen to it and then we've got this one here that's got the linen so there's materials like linen and uh bone and uh i think chagrin is another one chagrin i've got the cabinet here that's why i was i was looking for things that would bring texture into my space while simultaneously keeping that luxurious feel to my space and i think that that's how you can pull those things in and really give yourself a luxe look that's very cozy i think those blankets that we talked about in the beginning are really important think about your artwork you can maybe have something that you frame that has some texture in it it's just got some sort of warmth and it could have some patina to it maybe something that's a family heirloom that you decide to frame those are ways to bring in texture into your space but still they don't they don't take away from the luxury feel of your space they just happen to feel a little bit cozy and approachable so well as usual my lighting has been crazy in this space and it has gone in and out 900 times um so i hope that today's video has filled you up with loads of inspiration i hope that it's inspired you to create a space that is very luxurious it can be chic it can be so sophisticated but it can also be the kind of space that you really just can relax in you can feel cozy in and i hope that these tips and tricks have helped you just to get started as you put together your spaces so thank you so much for stopping by um we always appreciate when you guys come for a visit and make sure you hit subscribe we love that you've come by and if you haven't hit subscribe yet we hope you will stick around go check out some of our previous videos we have lots of playlists we'd love to make our channel binge worthy for you guys and get you lots of content and lots of ideas so be sure to check all that out all the links down below for you and give the video a thumbs up if you love cozy lux and if you want more of it let us know so thank you again for stopping by and i will see you guys in the next one bye you\n"