11/12/2025
Interior and Design
Autumn wanes. Winter’s chill soon will bring Jack Frost nipping at fingers and toes. It will be the season of snowflakes, skiers, snowmobilers, snowshoers, and snow … shovelers. Let’s leave all that outside for the moment. Let’s tiptoe indoors and get comfortable, as the French say. Let’s get … cozy.
Cozy, a wonderful word, comes down to us from ancient Norse and the 18th-century Scottish dialect “colsie.” As translated by My Fair Lady’s Eliza Doolittle, it means “warm hands, warm face, warm feet …” in a “loverly” room somewhere.
Creating that cozy living space is a hot seasonal theme among interior designers, bloggers, influencers, and high-fashion magazines. They offer up even more great words: Try the Danish hygge (pronhoo-gah.”) Or turn to Vogue magazine’s essay on “Japandi,” a portmanteau word merging Japanese and Scandi (as in Scandinavian) interior design styles. Or sample the magazine’s 24 ideas for the earth tones, rich textures and trimmings of a “seasonal home refresh.” Or Vogue Australia’s bonzer take on cozy furniture Down Under.
Or just stick with us: This edition of Luxury Defined goes full-on cozy!
The Dutch word for coziness is the mouth-watering “gezelligheid,” and it is plentifully on offer in the tranquility, space, and luxury of this country retreat in Nigtevecht, a charming village in the Dutch province of Utrecht.
The heart of the 7.21-acre (3 hectare) property is a traditional farmhouse, lovingly and imaginatively restored into a vaulted, glass-walled masterpiece of contemporary design with interior space of 5,371 square feet (499 square meters).
The vast, open-plan living space offers high, beamed ceilings over traditional terracotta tiles, timber framing and big, steel-framed windows and folding doors that open to sun terraces and the polder landscape where cows and sheep safely graze. At its heart is a striking, dual-sided wood-burning Stûv 21 fireplace that warms the living and dining spaces. The adjacent, contemporary island kitchen, fitted with top-of-the-line appliances, has a separate breakfast bar.
The five spacious bedrooms and three luxurious bathrooms are executed in natural materials, stylish finishes, and a warm paint scheme. Large windows look out from almost every room.
The garden surrounding the house offers several sun terraces, beautiful plants, and plenty of privacy—perfect for long summer evenings or a relaxing morning coffee.
Sky Ridge Retreat has a most sought-after location in Utah’s Deer Valley Resort.
On one of the premier lots in the private, gated community of Deer Crest, this ultra-luxurious mountain estate has views of the Rockies from nearly every vantage and direct, ski-out access to Deer Valley Resort’s Mountaineer Express chair lift and the Jordanelle Gondola.
Floors of granite and wood and a log-burning fireplace add warmth and an alpine aesthetic to the great room with its lounge and cocktail bar. Just outside, a stone terrace runs the entire length of the house.
The gourmet kitchen has a prep island, bar seating, and a breakfast space with a fireplace. Adjacent is a family room and a banquet-scaled formal dining room.
The mezzanine overlooking the great room offers a club-style lounge. Several hotel-grade bedrooms and bathrooms are on this floor. The top floor is reserved for the primary suite and its private deck.
The home was made for apres-ski with a billiards room, a retro video arcade, and a 1950s-style movie theater with a soda fountain and a juke box. The amenities also include a business center, ideal for a corporate retreat.
When the snowpack thaws, residents and guests can retreat to the gardens, landscaped with native trees and shrubs, and a pond with a waterfall.
“Confortable“ or “douillet,” as the French say, is this cozily elegant dual-aspect apartment at a distinguished address on the northern banks of the River Seine on Paris’s prestigious Île Saint-Louis.
The 201-square-meter (2,164-square-foot), two-bedroom, two-bathroom residence occupies the third floor of a grand private mansion, originally built in 1621 as an Hôtel Particulier.
A serviced private elevator rises to a central foyer flowing into a stately reception room with boiserie wood-paneled walls, rich wood floors, and earth-toned furnishings. Three sets of French doors draw the eye to a picture-postcard view of the Seine and the beautiful Baroque church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis.
A private study has a lovely view of the Seine. The primary en suite also has a river view and a private dressing room.
The dining room, fully equipped kitchen, and sunny guest bedroom all overlook a peaceful south-facing courtyard. Further appointments include a guest bedroom with an en suite bathroom, a shower room, utility room, and cellar.
As in Holland, Belgian “gezelligheid” also conveys the pleasant company of others, offered turnkey in this fine, hospitable townhouse on a cobblestone street in Antwerp’s Art Nouveau neighborhood, the Berchem.
A dark wood oriel window graces the home’s lovely pale brick façade. Behind it are three levels of gracious interior space across more than 300 square meters (3,315 square feet).
The principal reception room has a warm neutral paint scheme. Modern design touches enhance the original Art Nouveau details, including glass-paneled interior doors that infuse the inner spaces with natural light, herringbone parquet floors, decorative moldings, and classical columns.
The contemporary kitchen with its central cooking island serves a modern, formal dining space that seats 12. All four ample bedrooms have large windows and lots of light, and each has a deluxe en suite bathroom.
The sunny, private courtyard garden has a summer barbecue station. The spacious cellar is ideal for a wine collection or storage space.
More luxurious snuggeries here.
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