Header: Westwing
As the clocks have once again shifted to winter time this weekend, making sure our homes are as cosy as possible is quickly becoming a must. If we are about to stay in for a while, then we might as well make the most of it.
We went through the new collections, trend reports and advice from a few experts to find the ideas worth bringing home this season. For colours, go for burgundy, chocolate brown and olive, plus deep green, which has already been named colour of the year for 2027. Heavy curtains are setting the mood, sofas are getting deeper, and candle holders are the perfect excuse to light up some candles and save on the electricity bill. Those who are not yet ready to give up the terrace were not forgotten here, as wool throws are about to become their best friends.
To complement these ideas, just add your warmest pyjamas, cosy slippers and favourite books, then switch off and enjoy a relaxing autumn.
Burgundy, chocolate and olive
This autumn’s colours are a deep burgundy, a dark brown, an ochre and an olive green. Chocolate brown is the first pick, as it is a grounding and calming shade that pairs easily with the rest, while terracotta has become more muted this year, less orange than before.
Green, however, has received the spotlight. Among the paint brands that have announced their colours of the year for 2027, green is the clear favourite. Behr chose “Grounded”, a mossy olive, Dulux went for “Soulful Sage” and Sherwin-Williams for “Celery”. On the 14th of October, Benjamin Moore followed with “Webster Green“, a deeper, classic green that, in the words of Andrea Magno, the company’s vice president of brand and colour, pairs “reassuring stability with optimistic energy”.
Putting these colours together is simple: burgundy works with soft neutrals, chocolate brown with warm cream, and olive with ochre and antique gold. Burgundy is the boldest of them, so it is best kept for a single accent, such as one wall or a patterned wallpaper.
Deep sofas
Sofas are getting deeper and softer in looks, with British designer Martin Waller, founder of Andrew Martin, saying in an interview with Ideal Home that “sofas with extra-deep seats are gaining popularity for their luxurious, cocooning feel“. Who doesn’t like a cosy cocoon on rainy autumn nights?
A traditional sofa has a seat around 55 cm deep, while deep models measure between 70 cm and 90 cm, not counting the back cushions, leaving room to lie down for a nap. Westwing‘s best-seller, “Lennon”, has an 88 cm seat and is built from modules that click together into a corner sofa, a format that allows for free range when arranging a living room.
The shapes are changing as well. Liz and Sarah Hellmers, co-directors of Lathams, told the same magazine that “strict box arms and rectilinear forms” now feel “at odds with the way people want to live today”, and Westwing’s founder, Delia Lachance, predicted organic, sculptural shapes with gentle curves for 2026.
For the fabric, velvet is back. Daniel Smith, founder of Danetti, expects “sofas upholstered in glamorous velvet and textured chenille, in rich, saturated hues”. For an armchair or a footstool already in the house, why not add this luxurious fabric through a removable cover or a full reupholstery, with cushions and throws as the cherry on top.
Wool, checks and fringes
If velvet is entering the spotlight, then it is surely accompanied by everyone’s cold-weather favourite: wool. A lot of this season’s wool comes in checks, which can be mixed with florals, stripes and botanical prints in the same room, as long as the patterns share a few colours. Need specifics? Check Gisela Graham’s winter collection, which has a checked throw with a tassel fringe, and M&S‘s similar check in faux mohair.
For a room that already has enough pattern, the same warmth can be achieved from texture alone, such as a plain merino wool throw (by Nicholas Engert Interiors in a shade called Lime White, for example). Those who prefer a picture to a pattern can opt for J.J. Textile’s wool cushion with a Highland cow on it.
The same rule applies to the floor. Brintons, the carpet company that has been making carpets in Kidderminster since 1783, recommends layering rugs over wooden floors or fitted carpet. Jodie Hatton, the brand’s Design Manager, advises choosing a small number of colours and repeating them across the rugs, or using a grey or a beige underneath as a base for the others.
Heavier curtains
Curtains are the largest piece of fabric in most rooms, which makes them the easiest way to change how a space feels when the season turns. For autumn, they get heavier, in velvet and in thick weaves that frame the window and soften the room around it.
The most useful trick is layering. A curtain hung over a blind or a pair of shutters gives the window more depth and more control over the light, and the blind can stay down during the day while the curtains are drawn in the evening. For Roman blinds and curtains alike, a thermal interlining, an extra layer of fabric sewn between the front and the lining, makes them noticeably thicker and fuller.
Curtains also make it easier to bring pattern into the room, and this year’s themes come straight from the woods, with trailing foliage, birds, woodland animals and folk-style illustrations. Plumbs’ “Leaping into the Fauna” is one example. Hung at a window, a single botanical or heritage print can become the main feature of a room, as long as its colours are found elsewhere, such as in the cushions and throws.
Candles and low light
Few habits are as closely tied to the cosy home as lighting a candle, and the Danes, who gave the world hygge (their word for a feeling of cosy contentment), take it more seriously than anyone. According to European Candle Association data reported by Statista, Denmark burnt more candles than any other EU country in 2016, an average of 4.3 kg per person.
This season, the candle holders are made in the same warm materials that are returning to furniture: OKA’s new autumn-winter collection includes candle holders in blackened bronze and antique brass, and M&S plays with dark wood in its “Bobbin” range of hurricane lanterns and dinner candle holders. For a touch of colour, Curated Living paints its holders in red and white stripes, close to the burgundy tones of the season. Those who prefer no flame at all can turn to Lights4fun, which pairs an LED candle with a fluted glass hurricane.
The garden after dark
The terrace doesn’t have to be abandoned as soon as the first cold evening rolls by, as long as it gets the same treatment as the living room. The idea is to bring the indoor comforts outside: soft wool throws and weather-resistant cushions layered over metal chairs and benches. One of the best seats for it is Grythyttan’s “A2” armchair, designed by Artur Lindqvist in 1930 and still made by hand in Sweden. It has a frame of hot-galvanised steel, so it doesn’t rust, and a seat in untreated solid teak.
Light matters even more outside, where the evenings now end before dinner. Candles placed in glass bowls filled with walnuts and chestnuts look cosy on any outdoor table, while lanterns and strings of lights take care of the rest of the terrace.
The plants can keep up too, such as the Japanese anemone flower, which blooms from August well into October, and the hardy plumbago, which opens its blue flowers in September and October, both of them happy in large pots. For anyone less confident with plants, dried flowers bring the same autumn colours to the table, indoors or out.
By the time the last Japanese anemones fade in the middle of November, most homes will have started adapting the autumn cosiness to a more wintery one. The throws are sure to stay on the sofa, the curtains will be drawn earlier each evening, and the candles may well be lit by mid-afternoon. With green already chosen as one of the main colours of 2027, some of this autumn’s shades look set to stay well past the season. What remains to be seen is whether the cosy corner built for October becomes the way the whole house is lived in until spring, or will we have a cottage-core Christmas?
