"My Hygge Home: How to Make Home Your Happy Place" by Meik Wiking

I picked this up at the library on a whim and really enjoyed browsing through it!  I have been interested in the Danish concept of "hygge," or "a safe, happy, cozy atmosphere," for a while now, but I really hadn't read much about it.  I just know I like hygge-ful pictures of books and reading on Instagram, and a friend who has a homemaking blog writes about the concept sometimes.  I wouldn't say I read this book, exactly, as there were some pages/chapters I just skimmed, but there were others I read in depth.

The chapters that I paid the most attention to were "A Perfect Night In," "Shining a Light on Happiness," and "Hygge is Homemade."  I really liked the things Wiking said about needing to have different spaces within your home for different functions.  Obviously, we know a kitchen and a bathroom have different functions than a living room or bedroom.  But within the living room and bedroom spaces, it's important to have places where we can gather with others, and places where we can cozy up alone.  The importance that lighting choices can make in those different areas was very interesting to me too.

(Just sharing some of my most hygge book pics
from my Instagram account...)

Will I be changing things in my house because of this book?  Actually, not much, because it turns out I have intuitively set up our house to be very hygge already.  In our living room, we have a couch and two comfy chairs that face each other, providing a place for people to interact in comfort.  In our library, we have a loveseat with a nice light, a pillow, and a throw blanket for people who want to read in semi-solitude.  Our basement also has a couch for those who want to be more away from others for a while.  We have mostly warm lighting throughout our house, which promotes the feeling of cozy belonging.  And we are blessed with an abundance of natural light through our many windows.  We have plenty of green, growing things outside to see through the windows, and we have houseplants in four rooms inside too.  We have a jigsaw puzzle set up almost all the time for people to gather around and work on together, which facilitates togetherness and conversations.  We eat meals together every day around our dining room table, not by the TV.  And so on.

The things I found most fascinating in this book were the studies on the way that sunlight can affect us, the way that different kinds of social interactions can affect our mental and physical comfort, and how much the specific kinds of light you have in your living and working spaces can impact your mental, emotional, and physical health.  Plus, there were a lot of lovely pictures throughout :-)

Particularly Good Bits:

...staying at home and finding comfort and joy in what you already have is an act of rebellion.  This is what hygge is truly all about -- living the good life on a tight budget.  It is the enjoyment of simple pleasures.  It is the art of creating a nice, warm, comforting atmosphere (p. 128).

I think one of the best things we can give to our children is an understanding of where we can find joy and well-being without spending money (p. 129).

Play just for the sake of play is vital to our happiness.  To me, the good life -- a rich life -- includes moments of laughter, joy, and play (p. 196).

A hygge home means a series of spaces that remind you of who you are and what brings you happiness.  It means making space for what you love to do (p. 235).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  Nothing objectionable here, content-wise.  There is some humanistic thinking about people being basically good that Christians can politely disagree with and move past.