HGTV's Erin Napier Shows Us The Perfect Way To Give Your Space Cozy Cottage Vibes
From soft furnishings to mood lighting, there are plenty of tricks to make a home feel more cozy. However, HGTV's Erin Napier has another trick up her sleeve. Spoiler alert: It all comes down to using the colors that remind you of things that keep you cozy — like tea!
Back in Season 6 of "Home Town," Ben and Erin Napier were tasked with turning a 100-year-old, unlived-in farmhouse on a tea farm into a tea-tasting venue, all while maintaining its cozy charm. That the house was on a tea farm became a major starting point for Erin's decor. As she explained on the HGTV hit, "All the colors in the whole house are inspired by this, like, tea palette." And, while that was mostly because she wanted to pay homage to the farm's history, there was more to it.
In addition to being thematically accurate, Erin's choice to use colors inspired by tea added some serious coziness. From sweet paintings (more on that in a bit!) to soft furnishings like cushions in warm, brown tones and wooden accents, the HGTV star made a point of keeping the beverage at the center of the space. The really great thing is that it's easy enough to follow Erin's lead in your own home.
Opt for wooden elements in warm tones
Few things say cozy cottage quite like wooden accents, be that in furniture, frames, or ceiling fans. In the case of Erin Napier's tea farm project, she definitely tapped into that. However, she didn't just leave it at any old wood. Instead, she opted for honey-hued pieces that mimicked the color of tea. Think maple, honey maple, and pecan stains. If you've already got wooden pieces in your home in that color scheme, you're sorted. That said, you could also mimic the idea by using wood stains, which go for around $44 on Amazon. You could even create the look of wood on previously painted furniture, using a wood grainer (under $9 on Amazon) and some forgiving gel wood stain (around $24 on Amazon).
Other than furniture, early on in the project, Ben Napier found that the suspended ceiling covered up gorgeous wooden panels, which pretty much exemplifies cozy cottage vibes — again, in a tea-hued shade. Of course, not everyone is lucky enough to have ceilings like that, but if that particular aspect of the Napiers' design is something you'd like to try in your home, you could install ceiling panels.
Granted, installing wooden ceiling panels isn't the cheapest exercise. A set of panels covering approximately 95x25 inches costs around $140 at Walmart. However, if you're keen on the idea, you could also panel just a section of one of your walls, so you get the feel on a budget.
Create art using tea
There's something very cozy about a space filled with homemade artwork. As Erin Napier showed on "Home Town," it's more than possible to do that using tea. All you need to do is brew two tea bags in a small jar of boiling water. The less water you use, the stronger the brew will be, and you'll get a more intense pigment — so if you want a variety of shades, you can always add in a little more water, or remove the tea bags earlier and repurpose them elsewhere in your home. Either way, before getting started on any artwork, be sure to test the steeped tea on another piece of paper so you have an idea of how everything will look.
As for the art itself, that all comes down to preference. Napier mentioned doing some of the artwork with her daughter. They flicked the tea onto the paper, and then added extra details using a pen or pencil. However, depending on how artsy you are, you can create based on, well, your cup of tea. Flowers, landscapes, and portraits all apply.
Once you have your wooden accents and artwork, it's easy enough to throw out some warm, light brown cushions and other soft finishes. Coming home to a cup of tea is coziness, defined — and your home is about to become one!