18 Great Ways to Make a Room Look Warmer

When you enter a warm room, you feel welcomed, especially if the room is in someone’s home or business. When you enter a warm room in your own home, you feel comfortable and relaxed. This feeling is your goal for your home, and that’s why it’s important to give every room warmth, especially the social ones.

Making a room look warmer can involve everything from your walls to your lighting to your furnishings. There are plenty of ways to add warmth, but you should balance warm colors with neutral colors. Too many warm colors in a small room could give it a dark, cave-like feel.

In this article, we will cover the basics of warm colors. Then we will share 18 strategies for adding warmth to most rooms in your home. After reading our suggestions, take a look around your rooms to decide which tactics might work for each space.

What colors are considered warm?

Typically, you will find colors fall into one of three categories. These categories are warm, cool, and neutral. The two types of colors we’ll be focusing on for this topic are warm and neutral. Warm colors include all variations of red, orange, and yellow. Black, gray, brown, tan, and white are considered neutral colors.

When decorating, it’s best to follow the 80/20 rule. That means using neutral color tones in 80% of your room. The remaining 20% is accents in warm colors. You can adjust the ratio depending on the size of your space. The larger the room, the more warm accents you can incorporate.

Add warmth by using your walls & ceiling

There are several ways to use walls and ceiling to add warmth to your room. If you’re able, you can paint one or all of the walls. You could even paint your ceiling a color other than white. Painting may be a bigger commitment than you’d like, but it’s worth considering if you’re willing.

1. Wall color

A fresh coat of paint will certainly refresh and renew your room. If you have a large room, you can go for warm hues. It’s best to choose something subtle for your walls as they shouldn’t be the focal point of your room. Instead, you can opt for a lighter or subdued shade of yellow, something that mimics sunshine.

If your room is on the smaller side, it may be best to choose a neutral color for your walls. Browns and tan are neutral but pair well with warm colors. The smaller the space, the more light you’ll want to make it feel larger.

2. Single accent wall

If one wall is the focal point of the room, it would make an excellent candidate for an accent wall. This wall can house artwork, a fireplace, a television, or something else noteworthy. If you don’t have a wall that’s a perfect candidate, you can change that by rearranging it a bit.

Painting one wall is less work than painting an entire room. If the rest of your walls are neutral, you can paint your accent wall a pop of color like red. For a light room, you can choose a neutral color that’s either darker or lighter than the other walls. For example, a room with light brown walls could handle a dark brown accent wall.

3. Wall mural

A wall mural is another way to create an accent wall. While you could hire an artist to paint a masterpiece for you in your home, a peel and stick wall mural would be the easier and more cost-effective option. While they usually come in sections, applying a mural-sized sticker is typically a two-person job.

There are many options for room-sized wall stickers that will match the style of your home. For example, this highly-rated wall26 Grunge Red Brick Wall Background would make the perfect accent wall for an industrial-style room, adding warmth with its rich brick red tones. This product is a peel and stick wall mural, so no adhesive is needed. It’s also repositionable and leaves no residue if you ever choose to remove it.

4. Ceiling color

Many homeowners don’t even consider the idea of painting their ceilings. Regardless of your room’s size or ceiling height, there is a shade that will add warmth to your home. Check out this video where savvy interior designer Kim Smart explains how to choose a color for your fifth wall:

Kim shared the best tip to paint your ceiling the same color as your walls but make the ceiling shade 50% lighter. Using a lighter shade of the same color for the ceiling prevents the room from having that cave-like feeling. She also suggests painting the ceiling ivory if you’ve filled the room with warm tones.

Use window treatments to add warm colors and natural light

There are several factors you’ll likely want to consider when choosing your window treatments for each room. Most people want to let in some light during the day while also maintaining their privacy when it’s dark. It’s certainly possible to achieve both goals and add some warmth to your room. Here’s how.

5. Sheer panels

Sheer curtain panels are perfect for letting in natural light and still providing adequate privacy during the day. When it’s dark, sheer panels may not provide the privacy you desire. For this reason, you should use both sheer and blackout panels to enjoy the best of both worlds.

Choose sheer inserts in neutral colors and warm or neutral blackout inserts. Hang your curtains with the sheers in the middle and the blackout elements on both sides. This way, you can mostly close the blackout curtains in the evenings. While curtain panels are usually sold individually or in pairs, you can also find pre-coordinated sets like these BONZER Mix and Match curtains. Rated 4.8 out of 5 stars, this curtain set makes choosing new curtains easy.

6. Light-filtering fabric shades

Fabric shades come in various styles like pleated, roman, and balloon. Light-filtering shades let in some light. Depending on your fabric colors’ hue, the filtered light can add warmth to your room. To achieve this effect, you should choose fabric in a warm color like red, orange, and yellow or a neutral color like ivory, tan, or brown.

The Linen Avenue Top Down Bottom Up Light Filtering Shades are perfect examples of fabric shades that can add warmth to your room. It’s available in multiple neutral colors and offers a range of options for custom dimensions. These cordless shades can be lowered from the top and raised from the bottom, giving you additional privacy options. Based on 159 customer reviews, these shades have an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 possible stars.

7. Faux stained glass

Faux stained glass is an excellent alternative to blinds if you prefer to have privacy around the clock. This type of window accent not only provides privacy but also lets in natural light, adds warmth to your room when you choose a warm or neutral design, and offers a unique design aspect to your home. There are many design options to choose from.

This Artscape First Stained Glass Window Film is the perfect example of a mix of warm and neutral colors. The great thing about window films like this one is that they’re just that, films, and they’re removable. You can change the faux stained glass on your windows to match the changing seasons, especially if you find that you have a habit of adding other seasonal accents.

Add warmth with hardwood floors and flooring

Just like your walls and ceilings, your floors are a significant way to add warmth to your rooms. Some of the following options are more labor-intensive, expensive, and permanent. If you’re someone who often changes their mind, you may want to consider the less permanent suggestion.

8. Hardwood or laminate floors

Whether you opt for real hardwood or laminate flooring, the rich wood tones add a lot of warmth to any room. Except for whitewashed and gray finishes, most wood stains provide some level of warmth. Visit the home improvement store to see the various shades of maple, honey pine, oak, walnut, and mahogany.

Your lifestyle should help guide you in deciding between hardwood or laminate flooring. If you have a busy household with a lot of traffic, laminate flooring may be the right choice, especially if your household includes kids and pets. Laminate flooring is more affordable and quicker to install if you enjoy DIY home improvement projects. It also offers much more variety in patterns as the decorative layer in laminate floors is a printed image with infinite possibilities.

9. Carpet

Adding wall-to-wall carpet is an excellent way to add warmth to your room. It not only contributes to the mood of the room with its color, but the plushness of carpet also adds to the feeling of a warm, cozy, and inviting space. Like flooring, the choice of carpet type for your room is pretty heavily dependent on your lifestyle.

If you want something light and neutral, Berber carpets are exceptionally durable. Berber makes their carpet from tightly-packed fibers, so it’s usually not as soft as other carpet types. It stands up to heavy traffic, kids, and pets while still being versatile enough to coordinate with most decor styles. However, if you have cats, they tend to scratch most carpet types, and you can’t exempt Berber carpets from that rule.

When having your carpet professionally installed, be sure to inquire about stain protection. Most flooring companies that install carpets will likely offer a treatment to prevent stains. If it turns out they don’t, treating your carpet with Scotchgard Rug & Carpet Protector is highly recommended. Spraying this product on your carpet will block liquids like spilled drinks or pet urine. The liquid won’t soak in but instead beads up on the surface.

10. Area rugs

Area rugs are the easiest way to add warmth to your room. You can place throw rugs over your bare floors or carpeting as long as you use the appropriate rug pads to keep them in place. Just like carpeting, area rugs can add warmth to both the visual appeal and mood of your room. Area rugs usually come in various sizes with the same design so you can place them under your coffee table, dining table, next to your bed, and more.

If the main piece of furniture in the room, like your sofa or bed, is printed, choose a solid-color rug. Conversely, if it’s a solid color, go for a patterned rug. If there isn’t already a focal point in the room, such as an accent wall, your rug could be it. Some rugs are works of art. The Safavieh Glacier Collection Modern Contemporary Abstract Area Rug offers warm and cool colors and is a beautiful statement piece for your floor.

Change the lighting in your room to create more warmth

The type of lighting in a room significantly influences the level of warmth. Natural sunlight is the ideal type of lighting to make a room appear warm. Replicating natural daylight as closely as possible will provide you with the welcoming feeling you’re seeking. Of course, that’s not always possible, but there are ways to play with light-filtering lampshades and colored light bulbs to achieve the desired effect.

11. Lamps and fixtures

Floor lamps, table lamps, sconces, and pendant lights come in various colors and materials. You’ll find them in wood, metal, ceramic, glass, marble, concrete, and other less commonly used materials. Of all these materials, lamps made of wood and glass radiate a warmer atmosphere than those made of materials known to be cold and hard.

Not all lamps and lighting fixtures have fabric shades, but those that do present an opportunity to add warmth to your room. Like curtains, light-filtering shades contribute to casting warm light in your room when the shade is ivory, light brown, brown, red, or in similar colors. These colors are usually more flattering than the light cast by orange or yellow lampshades.

12. Warm white and colored light bulbs

No matter what type of lamps or lighting fixtures you’ve chosen for your room, if you desire that warm, inviting glow, opt for soft white or warm white light bulbs. This suggestion applies to both incandescent and LED light bulbs. Warm white bulbs complement warm colors very well. Cool white bulbs tend to cast a bluish hue onto their surroundings.

LED light bulbs come in all sorts of colors, but if you want a warm glow from your lamps and lighting fixtures, stick with warm white or red, orange, and yellow. These colors may sound a bit extreme, but these amber Emotionlite LED light bulbs emit a pretty yellow-orange glow. These highly-rated bulbs are compatible with dimmable fixtures. You can also mix them with warm white bulbs to tone down the amber lighting.

Another way to use light bulbs to add warmth to your room is by incorporating string lights into your decor. You can hang them above your windows, around a ficus plant, or on your fireplace mantel display. Be sure to choose warm white string lights with wires that match the environment. For example, for kitchens with copper cookware, you should opt for string lights with copper-colored wire.

13. Candlelight

Candlelight is not just for romantic dinners for two. You can enjoy the warm glow of candles every day. You can place groups of large candles in varying sizes and heights on a tray on your coffee table, storage ottoman, dining table, buffet, console table, and even in your unused fireplace. Ivory candles are the best color option as they provide a warm glow and are versatile enough to be used year-round.

If your household has pets or children or you generally have concerns about fire hazards, you can opt for battery-operated flameless candles. Most of them look very realistic, like these HANZIM flameless candles. The collection includes nine battery-operated candles in six different heights to make your display more interesting. This brand makes these remote-controlled real wax candles with timers, so you can set them to turn on at the same time every evening.

Replace or reupholster existing accents to add warmth to your room and style

As mentioned earlier, accent pieces serve two purposes. They provide warm colors to tie the look of the room together, and they provide a soft, inviting feel. If you’re looking for a way to increase the warmth in your room, it would be a good idea to replace some hard, unwelcoming accent pieces with upholstered ones.

14. Throw pillows and blankets

Pillows and blankets are very easy and cost-effective to change out. If you need more warm accents in your room, then it’s a breeze to switch up the throw pillows and throws. Also, adding more pillows and throws increases the perception of coziness in your room. If you prefer a tidy look and don’t want pillows and throws cluttering up space, then you achieve the same effect by neatly placing a few oversized pillows and a throw in a wicker basket without the mess.

If you have high-quality pillows that you need in a different color, there are ways to cover a throw pillow without sewing. One of our favorite ways to give an accent pillow a new face is with cozy fleece