Popular home design and decorating currently embraces a large variety of different styles. You can choose from various home types and home design styles. You can have a well decorated, modern home that fits your personality and your needs in any interior design style. The ideal interior design for your personality type is the one that feels good to you. Your personality makes you who you are and you are free to choose your personal home style. A real home reflects the personality of those living in it.

To bring a basic logic and order in this diversity of popular styles we can line them up and create a design spectrum ranging from COLD (almost sterile, minimal styles) to WARM ( vibrant, eclectic, colorful styles). Cold in this spectrum represents a feeling of neutrality while warm refers to coziness and character. Almost all styles can be recreated taking a colder approach or bringing in more character and colors.

Scandinavian style for example can be characterized as a Cold sophisticated design style in general, being very white and very neutral, but many Scandinavian homes are decorated in a warm way with lots wood, plants, warm textiles, pillows, candles and real fireplaces. Even so they will still not match the vibrancy of a Moroccan style or a Bohemian home.

Currently most famous magazines and their editorial staff are popularizing a world of white and grey minimal interiors because it looks really nice on magazine pages. The cold approach to decorating, the clean lines look very good on pictures but the question is how you would personally feel when you stay in a room decorated in this minimal, neutral way. And the same way Bohemian décor when seen on picture looks so interesting and cozy but do you feel good in a home where there is so much going on in terms of colors and furniture all the time?

In reality you will find that most homes, no matter which style they are decorated in will be somewhere in the middle of the design spectrum. Very few homes will be extremely minimalistic or extremely maximalist. The coldness and warmness is a bit magnified here to ease the understanding of the differences. Most people will prefer different versions of the middle range, where these two extremes embrace and blend.

COOL / COLD FEELING HOME DECORATING STYLES

Most home decorating styles that are very popular right now can be characterized as being Cold. Cold in the sense that they lack personal character, individuality and feel almost bleached of color. To many people these interiors look boring and neutral, while others consider them elegant and sophisticated. What feels like lack of personality and taste to some people, feels like chilled elegance to others. The home decorating styles that a characterized mostly by these tendencies are the modern, urban styles. MCM, Industrial, Scandinavian, Urban modern.

COOL/COLD home decorating styles are characterized generally by:

• Neutrality. Cold styles originate their coldness from this sense of neutrality. It doesn’t look or feel like a classic home. A purist version of these styles look more like homes in sci-fi movies. There is no local imprint or gender specificity so these homes could be anywhere on the globe owned and enjoyed by both male and female owners. Very little feminine or masculine character is created in such homes. In terms of general feel there is a sense of independence and solitude characterizing these styles.
• Minimalist furniture – there is not much furniture and the ones that are used all serve a purpose. There is a tendency to use well selected, designer furniture because they really stand out when there is not much around them. Furniture will typically not be made from or not look like wood. Layers of shine are added to the wood furniture to make it look less rustic and cooler. Side tables and other smaller pieces will typically be made of plastic, metals and glass rather than wood.
•  Lack of colors – white and a neutral color palette is used mostly in these homes. Grey, light versions of colors, pastels and blush are the variation of colors to choose from and every color should match the other colors in intensity and shade to create a cohesive peaceful environment. Colors have their own vibes and sometimes they match where we are and sometimes they don’t. We all know this from how we like wearing some colored cloths for a period of time and then we prefer something else. Having a neutral colored home is a safe bet in this sense so you kind of always feel good at home and you don’t feel like repainting the walls every few month.
• Lack of decorations and textiles– In this sense a minimalist, modern, urban home is a bit similar to a hotel room or an office. There are no personal or family pictures or kid drawings hanging on the fridge. The wall decorations aren’t typical. When wall décor is added it will be one or two images per wall, consisting of single artistic purchases, personal artistic level photos. Vases, candles, rugs, blankets are kept to the minimal necessary and simplicity rules over fun. Elegance and simplicity characterize these homes.
• Modern, urban – white, cold or breezy interiors serve well the urban lifestyle. It serves best the individuals who are working, travelling and being really active outside of the home. The working urban lifestyle doesn’t allow one to stay too much indoors and enjoy the beauty and coziness of a home so there is no need to spend time and energy on creating home vibes. Everything is organized and has a place in these homes so clutter never ruins the balanced peacefulness of the spaces. Even when you are on the run everything is easy to find. The minimalist, modern fresh vibes enhance the feeling that each day is a new beginning, a fresh start and everything is possible.
• Intensive use of metals, glass and mirrors. Silver plated pieces, brass trays, metal lamps and curtain rods are typical elements creating coolness, elegance in a space. It is typical to see large empty walls with only a mirror on it. Floor to ceiling windows, sliding doors are also characteristic to modern, minimalist homes.
• Chilled, peaceful, clean – some people find it often overwhelming to come home into a busy environment. Many who experience lots of stress, frustrations find it helpful to have a relaxed home where everything is serene. Some prefer the serenity of such a cold styled home because for them it serves as a white canvas on which each day is a new painting.

How to create a warm and cozy home even if you are a minimalist?

As you can see from the list above a purist approach to these styles can result in a modern, serene but also a rather dull and boring interior. The home should reflect your needs and lifestyle and there are only a few of those who need and prefer a really toned down interior. For those who prefer a little more vitality and ease here are some ideas on how to achieve coziness and warmth and calm, minimal feel simultaneously. A white, clean, elegant and organized home can still look authentic and welcoming with a little inspiration and creativity

Use color wisely. A more playful version of these cool cold decorating styles is created with the use of white as the overall dominant color mixed with at least one cold accent color. The typical in this sense is to use white with blue, white with purple or white with green. This way the spaces will still feel toned down, clean and elegant but the pops of the chosen lively color will bring in a little playfulness, kindness and ease. If you want the keep the calmness of the neutral color palette than instead of accent colors you can choose warmer tones and shades of paint colors. Instead of mixing white with grey furniture and textiles, you can choose beige furniture and textiles. You can mix white with colors like really light cappuccino, sea sand, eggshell, satin and so on.

Adding pattern is another simple way to increase the feel of movement in the space. Minimal homes can feel stark, cold, and bare so adding a little texture and pattern can make your home feel cozier. It can be incorporated on pillow covers, rugs, window treatments and wall art. However care should be taken not to overcrowd the space with non-matching patterns. Minimalism and pattern can work well together by using neutral color patterns. White with a soft beige, grey or blush pattern will add some liveliness to the room and maintain the contemporary, organized home look.

Mix and match a little. Your home will feel much more interesting when you can incorporate and blend elements from several decorating styles together. You can use different style furniture elements that match well together. One example is using one very modern type of sofa in the living room and adding a cozier feeling armchair next to it.  You can also mix a little old with a little new and contemporary. A nice minimalist way to bring in older furniture pieces is to paint them white or grey.

Add some decoration to the hallways, large walls and windows. Plants are the easiest way to increase the liveliness in the home. You can use a combination of foliage plants with succulents when you aren’t much into flowers and organic home décor. Too many flowering plants will kill the cool, minimalist vibe so stick with the green foliage plants and some orchids for keeping the restrained, unfussy look of the house. The liveliness and freshness of the plants can be introduced using images when you are travelling a lot, or are a lot way from home. Pictures make a home friendlier just like plants, so adding a few images can result in a cozier feeling minimalist home. You can choose minimalist landscapes, modern art or some gray versions of your own photos. Adding photos with too much color can ruin the feeling of elegance created by the overall minimalism. 

Warm and cozy feeling home decorating styles

The warm styles are at the other end of the spectrum characterized mostly by all the opposites of the cold style. These homes are lively and full of vitality. All the styles having character and personality rank here ranging from farmhouse, shabby chic, vintage romantic to tropical, Moroccan, bohemian. There is a wide variety of styles that are categorized as warm feeling styles and they differ from each other much more than the minimalist cold feeling styles.

Warm styles are usually those that have unique traits of personality that is why there is such a diversity on this end of the spectrum. Every home has a personality of some kind but there are some that are really unique and original. It seems to me that uniqueness is really hard to create in a minimalist cold style. It will look special and elegant but not specific and not expressive. It doesn’t reveal much of the person who lives there. The warm styled houses are more open and honest in this sense. They are the expressions of the owners personality. They are realized, living expressions of a person uniqueness rather than a blank background canvas.

These styles are for people who enjoy variety around them. This ranges from variety of colors to variety of furniture and decoration therefore most will be eclectic homes combining the modern with the old. There is a tendency in all these styles to use old elements and vintage furniture to some extent. Warm styles are ranging from using a piece of vintage decoration as an accent to some that go really maximalist also in this aspect. 

WARM/COZY home decorating styles are characterized generally by: 

• Authentic – what makes a house different from a home is that the home expresses the personality of those living in it. It reveals a little about who is living in that house through the color choices, the furniture styles, the pictures on the walls and the fun and charm decorations on the tables and the shelves. Therefore homes designed in cozy and warm styles will never look like a magazine photocopy. They will not only be organic parts of those living there but many times they will be well integrated also with the surroundings and with nature.
• Well furnished – There is a different type of elegance associated with warm decoration styles. Warm and cozy homes are usually well furnished and it is not typical to see large empty walls anywhere around the house. Darker colored, authentic, rustic looking wood furniture is used intensively but there are tendencies where lighter colored pinewood is preferred.
• Vibrant Colors are key elements of the warm home decorating styles. Colors have their own personality and they can create a vibrant, warm atmosphere in our homes. Warm feeling homes feature creative application of rich patterns and vibrant colors. Playful and vibrant accent colors like red, orange, yellow and purple are often applied artistically on the walls, furniture, vases, home textiles. On the real extreme these homes are either pulsating with colors not leaving any element blank, or sinking in the soft, comforting velvet like feeling of really dark tones.
• Playful decorations and lots of textiles add charm to the home. Home decorations range from old family heirlooms, thrift store finds, epic electronics from the 80s to a range of organic and natural pieces. Seashells, drift wood, cones, plants, flowers are typical for cozy homes just as much as travel pictures and family photos. Pillows, throws, window treatments and rugs are another typical way to create coziness around the home. The maximalists really go wild on textiles when it comes to creating coziness. A typical bohemian corner will have several layered rugs, a ton of different sized pillows and even some kind of textile based wall treatment like a macramé creation.
• Interesting, vacation/ exotic vibe– Warm cozy ambiences tend to be thematic. Some contemporary cozy styles prefer exotic themes. Moroccan, Indian, African safari, tropical island styles all have a warm, mysterious, glamorous feeling to them. Even nautical has this interesting vibe to it like you are living on a ship or in a vacation house. Some tend to use more rustic themes like the farmhouse and cottage styles. The wood cabin and mountain chalet theme is also a typically recurring theme in the elements of the cozy and warm homes.

How to create a contemporary looking, cozy home when you are a maximalist?

One possibility to achieve a toned down version of the maximalist, warm styles is using less vibrant colors in the first place. Colors are one of the most important elements when it comes to design so they are between the first things to decide upon.

Use color wisely. For those who aspire for comfort and want the home to be a little oasis of positive energy in the urban concrete desert, they can choose the Spanish Mediterranean style colors. Warm soft orange colors serve as the basis mixed with pineapple and lime. These colors enlighten the walls and add a nice warm air to the rooms mostly when there is sunshine or candle light reflected on them. However, for many these colors look outdated and want a more modern feel to their cozy home. Instead of variations of energetic reds and autumn colors they can go with greens, ocean and spring colors. The French and Italian Mediterranean styles, the coastal style all create warm, cozy and colorful interiors in an elegant way.

Reduce texture and patterns. In classical design we can observe the use of texture and colors everywhere in decoration. Classical castle rooms had wallpapers decorated with textures and patterns, furniture, chairs, bedsheets, tablecloths all decorated with different textures and patterns. Some homes still look and feel like that although they are far from being castles or elegant salons. Patterns can overwhelm a space with their different dynamics so if a room feels too congested, clogged and cluttered even when it is organized, the problem can be the wrong use of textures and patterns. Try changing window treatments, pillow cases, bed covers and rugs to some simple, matching, one colored versions and see how the atmosphere changes.

Check if things mix and match well. It is typical in homes that you collect to much furniture and decorations of all kinds because you like them separately when you see them in the store. Than you like and purchase some other piece from a different style site/ store and when you bring them in your rooms they just don’t seem to add up. Some styles and elements mix well together and some don’t. Instead of putting everything out all at once I recommend decorating in turns, by season and/or by style to add a regular fresh feel to your home. This way each of your art and décor pieces will be out and exposed for a few month and you can enjoy seeing them in turns.

Conclusions

There is a general feel and character to each type of home decorating style and in this post the intention was to clarify the general character of warmness, coziness as opposed to coolness/coldness of the décor styles. It is possible to create all kind of design spectrums form minimalism to minimalism, from futuristic to vintage and so on.

Most decorators blend different elements from several decorating styles to create a unique character to each home they decorate. And so can you. Some create a cold design with warm decorations while others prefer warm design overall in the house but cold and minimal decorating. The characteristics described here are more like guidelines and not a rulebook. It’s your home, you can design and decorate it your way.