Hygge at Home: Designing a Cozy and Functional Bedroom

From wall art and greenery to bedding, storage, and beyond, discover how to turn your bedroom into the ultimate hygge-inspired retreat.

Controlling the Clutter

As well as making it difficult to move around, a cluttered bedroom looks busy and feels stressful. Open storage systems remain popular across the United States, but less so in Europe: most Europeans, especially Scandinavians, are horrified at the idea of busy bookshelves and mismatched clothing hanging out in the open.

There are plenty of creative storage options to choose from. Under-the-bed drawers are helpful for storing linens and look even neater if they’re already built into the bed frame. Maximize vertical storage space and minimize the horizontal footprint by choosing the tallest possible closet. And as stylish as those bedside shelves look, nothing beats the practicality of a nightstand with drawers.

Bringing the Outside In

Hygge is all about spending time in nature, whether you’re outdoors or indoors—a hygge bedroom, therefore, is all about bringing the outside in. A large-leaved, flowerless plant such as a monstera (Swiss cheese plant) makes a big impact; you could also put trailing plants such as pothos or philodendron on a shelf above the bed. As befitting Scandi principles, natural materials are key for an outside-in feel: go for linen curtains, wood furniture, and wood floors—and consider adding a rug or slippers next to your bed to prevent stepping onto a cold floor.

Hygge Artwork

Scandinavians’ love of the natural world extends to artwork and prints. Keep the drama to a minimum; think still lifes and landscapes rather than Edvard Munch’s The Scream (even if it is Scandinavian)! Our Scandinavian-style duvet covers feature prints inspired by Danish nature, such as myrica gale and the mighty oak, an intentional choice to help bring elements of nature indoors.

Hygge is about companionship, not just design—so if it feels right, put photos of loved ones on your wall or next to your bed. Black-and-white candids, rather than posed color shots, will look more curated and artistic.

A Place of Rest

A hygge bedroom is a place of repose—that means getting rid of screens. This applies to mobile phones and tablets, but also to televisions. It’s well known that the blue light from screens inhibits the “sleep hormone” melatonin but less has been said about the effect of what we’re looking at. Whether you’re tracking your “likes” on social media or watching a true-crime documentary, our screen use floods our bodies with dopamine and adrenaline, making sleep feel further and further away.

Screen use in the bedroom will also impact your other habits—not just sleep. In “My Hygge Home,” Danish author Meik Wiking references a study conducted by University College London, which found that children who had a TV in their bedroom were around 25 per cent more likely to be overweight as adults.

Some scientists suggest that our bedrooms should be strictly for sleeping only—even reading is banned! Personally, we think that’s a little un-hygge—but if you’ve been struggling with insomnia, perhaps give it a go.

Creating Zones in Small Spaces

Of course, not everyone has the luxury of having an entire bedroom dedicated to just sleeping. For those sharing with roommates or living in a studio apartment, your bedroom might also be your office or even your kitchen!

In this case, the trick is to clearly mark “zones” for different functions; a desk for working, a counter for cooking and eating, and your bed for sleeping only. Definitely don’t draft emails while lying in bed! It’s also advised to hide things away where you can, such as folding up and storing your laptop at the end of a work day. If space and your rental contract allow, you could hang a curtain from a rail around the bed to separate your sleeping space further.

Lights are also helpful in creating zones. If feasible, hang pendant lights over different areas in the room, rather than having a single ceiling light, to help you distinguish your "bedroom" area from other parts of the room.

Hygge Lighting

It’s worth focusing more closely on lighting, considered by many Danes to be the most important aspect of a hygge home. First, purchase bulbs at the lowest color temperature you can find; around 2,000 degrees Kelvin is ideal, and no higher than 2,700K. This is especially important in the bedroom: high-temperature bulbs (around 6,500K) are designed to mimic daylight; just like screens, they will inhibit your body’s production of melatonin.

Temperature is one thing all Danes can agree on; there is less consensus, however, on how many lights you need. Meik Wiking thinks three is enough: “It’s important to have a ceiling light for when you need to clean, but otherwise I think two bedside lamps with a warm hue are sufficient to create a calming atmosphere.” However, you may wish to add accent lights to draw attention to specific artworks or ornaments.

Scandinavian-Style Sheets for Hygge Sleep

A large part of creating a hygge atmosphere is texture; the luxurious feeling of leather, wool, or organic linen against your skin. The latter is perfect for your bedding, as it has a loose-woven, touchable texture.

Contrary to popular perception, high-quality organic linen sheets are soft and not scratchy; the pectin and lignin in the fiber, which give linen its natural stiffness, dissolve in water. At the Modern Dane, we garment-wash our European linen sheets before they reach you, making them soft right out of the box; each subsequent wash dissolves even more pectin and lignin, making your sheets even softer over time.

Textures also matter visually. Soft, matte textures look more hygge than shiny or hard ones; unvarnished wood, jute, and linen, for example, are more hygge than chrome, cotton sateen, or wood painted with gloss varnish. If printed patterns aren’t for you, our organic linen bedding also comes in solid-color varieties that show off that beautiful linen texture.

How hygge is your bedroom? Will you be putting any of our tips into practice? Let us know on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter!