AUTHOR + ONLINE EDUCATOR

When my husband and I bought our first house together, I unintentionally started practicing “hygge.”

Hygge (pronounced HYU-guh or HOO-guh) is a Danish and Norwegian word that describes a feeling of coziness, comfort, warmth, and contentment—often created through simple, everyday pleasures.

Author of The Little Book of Hygge, Meik Wiking, writes, “Hygge is about an atmosphere and an experience, rather than about things. It is about being with the people you love. A feeling of home. A feeling that we are safe, that we are shielded from the world, and allow ourselves to let our guard down.”
If you’ve stuck around these parts for any amount of time, you know these are all feelings I love, crave creating for others, and that secretly, I’ve never met a Danish viewpoint on life that I didn’t love– from the art cozy to how they raise children. Danes are considered the happiest people alive, so I feel I have no choice but to be deeply curious about their way of life (and imitate where I can).
As I mentioned, the practice was largely unintentional. For years, I believed I wasn’t naturally hospitable—that my friends had a knack for decorating and designing spaces, while I should stick to the writing page. Gradually, though, I began adding a few simple, cozy touches to our spaces:

• Candles year-round
• Twinkle lights wherever I could put them
• Hosting gatherings
• Big cheese boards and bottles of wine
• Many lamps and dimmers
• A growing mug collection
• Turning my guest room into a refuge for fellow travelers
• Turning down and powering down in the evenings

I was surprised to find that all of these things fall under the hygge category, and they fill my cup to the brim as they weave these experiences and feelings into our daily lives.

If hygge intrigues you and you, too, are a person who wants everything cozy– to turn their home into a refuge for anyone who walks through the door, then here are a few of my favorite hygge habits and rituals to start making your own:

Lights, Lights, Lights

In the words of the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, “No recipe for hygge is complete without candles. When asked what they associate with hygge, an overwhelming 85% of Danes will mention candles.”
Since Denmark has long, dark winters, light is a must. It’s critical. And I believe, after years of my own practice, that lighting can make or break the mood of any space.
At night, we always light candles as a ritual to mark the start of the evening. When I sit down at my desk to work, I begin by lighting a candle.
In our house, we have an unspoken rule that only gets broken when my husband cooks: don’t use the big light.
We turn on lamps throughout the house to set a cozy, comforting mood, helping us wind down and settle in for the evening.
I personally love the Christmas season because of the lights. The coziest vibes come from letting the lights from the tree and other spaces decorated with twinkle lights set the tone.
My friends always remark about how cozy our home feels, and I honestly think the key is dim lighting and candles.
If real candles make you a little nervous—and you’ve got little ones who shouldn’t be anywhere near an open flame—my friend Dawn just introduced me to the perfect solution. The other night, she had these candles glowing all around her home, and they looked so convincing that I actually asked how she kept the wax from dripping everywhere. That’s when she laughed and told me the secret: they aren’t real candles at all. They’re a bit of an investment, but when you add up the money you’d spend on buying candles throughout the year, you end up saving money. 

Slow Cooking + Big Bowls

This is another way we practice hygge in our home– through cozy, easy dishes that are warm and nourishing. I’m definitely not a pro chef, but if a recipe involves me adding a bunch of ingredients to a crockpot and setting it on low for 8 hours– I’m all in. Give me the smells, the warm ingredients, the cookbooks laid open on the countertop– all of it.
It’s funny because I chose to put a bunch of cookbooks on our wedding registry nearly a decade ago, and that set the tone for us– we will always opt to cook out of cookbooks when we can, and we love having all the colorful spines across the kitchen and in the pantry. It feels like an easy way to cook something delicious while also being unplugged.
I love the nights when my husband comes home from work, the crockpot meal is sitting on warm, and we can sit around the table, discuss the highs and lows of our day, and spend some time together as we wind down for the evening.
Some of my favorite, easy crockpot meals include: 

Setting the Space

At the core of hygge, or at least the hygge we practice in our home, is this simple idea: we have everything we need. To me, hygge is a way to practice contentment. To value what is already here. To put away the hurry of daily life– the grind and hustle– and learn to be present, grateful, at peace. We have everything we need. It’s all right here. Exhale.
While experts will also be quick to say that hygge is not about things, there are simple ways to set the space around you to cultivate those feelings of coziness and make others feel right at home (on a shoestring budget).

Other than lamps and candles:

• We have a basket in our living room where we keep multiple blankets. It’s an open invitation for anyone who steps into our space to grab a blanket and get cozy.
• One of my favorite daily rhythms is what I call “turndown service.” I write about it here. This is really how we set our space for maximum hyggelig. At the end of the day, typically around 4 or 5, I move through the house tidying up and setting the space. I light candles. I close the blinds. I fold blankets and set them out. I turn on the lamps. I’ll play a record in the background. By the end of this 60-minute rhythm, the space is set, and we’re all ready for the night.
• The kettle is always ready to go (but I also make sure the fridge is stocked with fun drink choices). When you step into my home, the first thing I ask you is, “Can I make you a cup of tea?”
• We decorate our home with many books. To me, there’s nothing cozier than bundling up on the couch with a glass of red or a bubbling ginger ale and a good book. I love looking at other people’s book collections when I come into their homes, and so we intentionally set the space with books and cookbooks. I also curate the book selection in our guest room, praying that God will bring people in who need a break from life’s heaviness.
• Speaking of records, this is a big element of hygge in our home. We love collecting and playing records. It just feels like a slower form of entertainment for us. You will often find Lane and Novi putting on a record, dancing around the kitchen, and doing a puzzle together or building yet another epic racing track.
• We’re not big spenders in our house, but the one thing that we did invest in was good couches. My late friend and mentor, Carol, was the queen of creating cozy spaces. I learned so much from her about dim lighting, blankets, cups of tea– all of it. There were dozens of times when I would show up at her door, fully believing all my problems would melt away with a cozy cup of tea and her big couch. And most of the time, I was right. It was our first big purchase as a couple. I think couches are a ministry all on their own– a comfortable space for sleeping or dreaming, or reading or sharing stories. Whenever someone compliments our couch, I smile to myself and I think of all the days on Carol’s couch that changed me for good.
• We fill our filled with photos—a constant reminder of the togetherness we treasure most. I’m a printer of pictures, a maker of photo albums, because flipping through the albums from my own childhood was (and still is) one of my happiest pastimes. It means so much to know I’m passing that tradition on to my girl. Years ago, a friend of mine kept a stack of Polaroids on her coffee table, and I always loved that simple, welcoming touch. So the moment I had a place of my own, I started tucking Polaroids around the house too, inviting anyone who visits to thumb through them and share in those memories.

Here are some of my favorite albums that you can spot around our house:

Cozy Traditions

A significant element of hygge is this idea of togetherness. It’s not about the atmosphere so much as it is about the people around the table. As a little family, we’ve built some traditions over the years that have stuck with us and conjured even more hygge magic as we’ve practiced them.
Our personal favorite? Pizza Friday. We look forward to this one tradition because it marks the end of a busy week. We will either make or order pizza and watch a movie together. Sometimes we opt for a different form of takeout if one of us is sick of pizza, but everyone looks forward to taking a break together on Friday night. Sometimes we even haul the guestroom mattress out into the living room so we can cozy up in bed (in the living room) and watch a movie together. That’s definitely Novi’s favorite tradition!
We’re definitely not together 24/7 but we try to incorporate some intentional activities into the seasons that knit us closer: a puzzle laid out on the dining room table, hosting friends for dinner dates, doing quiet time in the morning together some Saturday mornings, cooking together, a big ol’ charcuterie board, practicing consistent generosity with our resources, and living by the mantra: The table only gets longer. Come on in.