9 Easy and Cheap Upgrades for a Cozy Living Room

Bringing you 9 cheap and easy ideas to upgrade your living room to be cozy on a budget.

Your living room should be your sanctuary to unwind and rot guilt-free after a long day of being an adult. Your living room should be warm, cozy, and be the space where you can feel at ease.

This post is help you make cheap and easy changes to make your living room cozy.

There’s no need to repaint walls or completely redecorate. There are many cheap and easy additions you can make to liven up your living room and here are 9 ideas on how to do so.

1. Switch out your bulbs for warm lighting

Lighting makes all the difference in making a living room feel cozy, especially with lamps. It doesn’t have to be fancy lamps or light fixtures, but it definitely needs to have a warm temperature. Swap out your light bulbs and aim for bulb temperature to be around the 2700K-3000K range.

To make your living feel even cosier, avoid using the overhead light and opt for some lamps.

A cosy mid-century modern living room with warm lighting

2. Refresh the air with diffusers

If your house smells great, you’ll likely feel great. Diffusers are great for boosting the smell of your space and they’re a good alternative to candles as they last longer (and aren’t a fire hazard). Vibes are immediately up by adding water and a few drops of your chosen scent. Plus, they could also be a source of warm lighting (2 birds! win-win!).

A diffuser on some books sitting on a table in a cozy living room

3. Increase lighting with electric candles

Electric candles are great to introduce the warmth of a real candle without the fear of a fire. The beauty of electric candles is that you can place them anywhere in your living room that requires additional lighting, which you definitely would not be able to with real candles. This is especially great if you have pets or little humans at home who might tip things over. Plus, they last much longer than your usual candles.

Close-up image of a cozy, warm scene featuring several fake, white candles on the floor, with a soft glow. In the background, there's a green plant and a cat bed, slightly blurred to add depth and enhance the sense of comfort and warmth.

4. Bring life to your space with plants

Plants will add life to your space and purify the air (again, win-win)! Plus, many studies have found that plants reduce tension and anxiety. Generally, we are of nature and we shouldn’t be too far away from it!

Any plants will do, but if you’re looking for long-lasting, low-maintenance plants so you can get more bang for your buck, here’s a list of plants that do exactly that.

Living room scene with a grey couch surrounded by indoor plants

Tip, you could even just grab cuttings in the wild and put them into water so they add to the greenery but could potentially sprout some free plants. Check out this post for a list of plants that can grow easily from cuttings.

5. Decorate with books

Use books as decor on free surfaces that you have. Whether it’s stacked on a coffee table or stacked on shelves, books can add character and comfort to your space. If you don’t own many books or aren’t a reader, pop into any garage sale, thrift shops, or even marketplace to get your hands on the many free books out in the wild.

A warm scene of books stacks on a coffee table with a sofa in the background

6. Fill blank spaces with artwork

Whether it’s a soothing landscape painting, a vintage poster, or some abstract rendition of emotions, art can fill your living room with feelings of cozy warmth and add texture to your overall aesthetic. Don’t think of artwork as only frames, there are also fabrics you could hang or pottery you can display. There are many art forms out there to help infuse your space with your personality.

If you’re not sure where to start, pick a theme whether it’s a color scheme, decor style, or period in time (like the 1980s). When you’ve found your theme, it’s easier to start collecting items to grow your artwork collection.

Tip! Free artwork

For cheap framed artwork, first head to your local charity store or Facebook marketplace to look for frames. The keyword there is frames as they’re mostly the most expensive to have. Once you’ve found frames you like, you’re able to find free or Open-Access art through museums like NGV or the Met to download and print at your local stationery store.

A scene with a well-decorated bookcase with an armchair next to it

7. Incorporate wooded elements

Wood adds warmth and texture to the living room, bringing in nature’s colours which adds a sense of calm. If already have some wooden furniture, bring it into the living room. f you already have wooden furniture, consider incorporating it into the living room to enhance this element. From small accents like bowls and vases to medium-sized pieces such as side tables or decorative objects, wood can be introduced in various forms.

8. Add dimension with texture layering

Layer all your textures. Soft textures naturally evoke feelings of comfort and coziness so grab all your throws, pillows, and soft things and mix them up. Not only will it showcases your personality but also adds variety to cozy up your living room. Don’t be afraid to drab your soft furnishings over any of your furnishings, like over a chair, couch, or even folded up as a stack.

9. Layer rugs

Additional to above, bring your texture to the floor too. Rugs typically cost a lot, especially big ones and at sizes that you might need to fit your house, but fret not as layering smaller rugs is the functional alternative to achieve the cozy look without making you bankrupt. It’s easier to find small rugs that you can customize and stack to the shape of your floor plan and help you achieve the desired coverage while making the room feel more personalized and comfortable.

The great thing about layering small rugs is that you can change up your decor seasonally or as your design preferences evolve.

Cosy bunch of soft texture pile on top of each other

We hope this post has given you cheap and easy ideas to make your living room cozy.