Strike up your favorite Nancy Meyers masterpiece or winter classic, because things around here are about to get cozy. Really cozy. As a professional cozy person myself, this is a genre of being that I take quite seriously. Ask any person who lives in my building—my bathrobe has been stuck to my corporeal form since 2014. Shoes? Who needs ‘em? Give me slippers or give me death. That smell wafting from my apartment door? Coziness, made of wax. Sure, even though five days of the week I have to pull on ye olde pants and head to Glossier HQ (bathrobes against company dress code), my apartment behavior is attuned to maximum comfort. It’s a lifestyle! And maybe it could be yours, too. If you ever thought: “I wish I could be more comfortable,” or “Those folks on Instagram look so nice and cozy—how do they do it?” Then woah Nelly, have I got some advice for you. First, you need to...

Find your signature scent

There are no less than twenty candles in my apartment. I have a problem. What I also have? An apartment that always smells like a mood. Vibrant, morose, outdoorsy—I can recreate them all. My candle scents are seasonal. In the spring I go for clean, linen scents (Nest gets me). In the summer I prefer scents that are zesty and deliver that slight tingle in your nose feeling (Grapefruit) or ones that remind me of the beach (Tanlines). Come fall I’m all about that “oops I burned something” smell. Nest's Hearth is a good one for that. As is Keap’s Wood Cabin, but it’s short throw radius makes it better for smaller spaces. Byredo’s Tree House smells like Christmas to me, so that’s a done deal for December, and then Diptyque’s Feu de Bois keeps me happy until the weather warms in March. And through it all I burn a little Palo Santo intermittently because it’s pine-like scent is comforting and cheap.

Know thy wardrobe

The closer to your birthday suit, the more comfortable you feel. This is fact—beachwear and American Apparel-inspired bodysuits aside. My usual lounge wardrobe consists of a two robes. A thick, plush one to wear post-shower or when I’m really cold, and a silk one à la any Dynasty character of your choosing. Occasionally, when I’m forced to interact with people outside of my immediate family, I’ll throw on some soft sweats for posterity. I love these Lunya ones, despite the calculus behind the butt seam being one of life’s great mysteries.

Find additional cover

Soft, machine-washable items are a tenet of expert-level coziness. Ask yourself: Do your blankets have blankets? If the answer is no, you’re not blanket-ing to achieve maximum coziness. Worse yet, should you have company over, you might have to share. Save yourself from this unsettling scenario by having at least two blankets handy at all times. Preferably folded, and casually balanced off the side of a sofa, or sitting in a side chair. This Pom Pom throw is the greatest blanket to ever shroud me as I watch my shows. It’s warm, impossibly soft, and currently on sale.

Eat smart

There’s an art to nourishing yourself while expending as little energy as possible. My recommendation is soup, or a bowl of that stew you prepared over the weekend. Supplemented with a warm beverage that requires a driver’s license for procurement. And the perfect vessel to house all these tasty delights is Corningware’s enormous mug. This is the grandaddy to all other mugs. The mug in which all mugs aspire to grow up to be one day. It’s huge—big enough to function as a bowl for soups, but also technically a mug, so good for your mulled wine and hot toddies, too. A structurally minor but emotionally significant detail is that the handle never gets hot, so I can go from the microwave to the sofa without an assist from a potholder. More of a French Onion soup person? Fair—melt your gruyère with this oven-safe guy. Need to be cozy on-the-go? It comes with a lid. An engineering feat, as if NASA itself designed it.

Gather ye shows (and books)

All of this cozy prep needs to lead to somewhere—why not an evening of delightful binge-watching? In my household, it’s my fiancé’s job to come up with a list of programs that’ll force our eyelids wide open for at least two hours. This winter we’re going for arty shows featuring aspirational locales—The Romanoffs and The Little Drummer Girl are right up our alley. And when those run dry, Becoming Michelle Obama is calling my name. Speaking of, that’s a person who deserves to be cozy all the time. Michelle—here's my gift to you.

—Ashley Weatherford