Let the Daylight In

Before you spend a penny on lamps, make the most of the daylight you already have. Short winter days are not only about how few hours of light there are, but about how much of that light actually reaches you inside the house.

Open the curtains properly the moment you get up, even when it is still dark outside. Pulling them wide and tying them back means you notice the sky brightening, which does more for your mood than you might expect. Clear the windowsills: houseplants, post, bottles and ornaments all block the strongest light of the day, and a cluttered sill can cut the useful light in a room noticeably.

Wash the windows inside and out, once in autumn and again after Christmas. Hang a mirror on the wall opposite your main window so it bounces light back into the room. Keep walls and lampshades pale where you can. If you have a choice, move the chair you sit in most so it faces the window rather than the wall, and you will find yourself looking up at the weather rather than at the television.

Layer Your Lighting

One bright ceiling light in the middle of a dark afternoon is the least flattering and least cheering way to light a room. Aim for three layers instead: general light overhead, a lamp beside the chair you use, and a smaller accent light in a corner or on a shelf.

Look for warm white bulbs, marked around 2700K. They give a gentler glow than the cool white ones often sold for kitchens and offices. Where you can, fit dimmer switches, or use plug-in dimmers on table lamps so you can drop the level gradually as the evening goes on.

Switch the lamps on earlier than feels necessary. In December, that often means around three in the afternoon. The point is to avoid the gloomy half-hour when the sky has dulled but nobody has turned anything on yet. A lamp at elbow height beside your chair, and a second one behind it, softens shadows and makes a small sitting room feel considerably larger and warmer.

• Keep one lamp on a timer so you come home to a lit room.
• Use a light box for twenty to thirty minutes in the morning, ideally within an hour of waking.
• Replace bulbs as they fail rather than letting a room drift into dimness.

Keep the Hearth at the Centre

If you are lucky enough to have a working fireplace or stove, make lighting it part of the day's rhythm rather than an occasional treat. Laying the fire in the late afternoon gives the afternoon a purpose and the evening a focal point.

Use well-seasoned wood with a moisture content below twenty per cent, either kiln-dried or stored under cover for a year. Build the fire small and hot, with kindling criss-crossed rather than piled, and add larger logs once it is established. Bank it with one good log last thing at night and you will have something to revive in the morning without starting from scratch.

Safety matters as much as atmosphere. Have the chimney swept once a year, fit a carbon monoxide alarm nearby, and always use a fireguard in a house with children or pets. Empty the ash pan regularly so the grate can breathe.

Go Out While the Light Lasts

Daylight in the morning and around midday does more to anchor your body clock than light in the evening. Aim for a walk between eleven and two, even if it is only twenty minutes around the block. Bright overcast weather still delivers useful light, so drizzle is not a reason to stay in.

If you work from home, keep your coat and boots by the door so leaving is effortless. Move your lunch break outside, or arrange to meet a friend for a walk rather than a sit-down. In the darker months, most people in the UK benefit from a vitamin D supplement, and oily fish, eggs and fortified cereals all help.

Plan the Indoor Hobbies Now

Winter evenings feel long when there is nothing to do and short when there is. Plan your indoor pleasures in October, before the clocks change, so the materials are already in the house.

• Something for your hands: knitting, crochet, darning, whittling, model kits, a jigsaw on a board that slides under the sofa.
• Something for your mind: a reading challenge, learning an instrument, a language, a watercolour sketchbook.
• Something that produces a result: sourdough, slow ferments, preserves, batch cooking, mending a pile of clothes.
• Something that connects you to the season: a bird table and a notebook of species, forcing bulbs on a windowsill, planning next year's vegetable patch.

Set the materials out where you will see them. Half-finished projects beside a warm fire are far more appealing than a cupboard full of good intentions.

Warm Evenings, Steady Rhythms

Keep the evenings gentle. A pot of soup on the stove and bread in the oven will warm a kitchen in more ways than one. Eat at the table when you can, and set a regular evening to phone a friend or family member — a standing arrangement is far more likely to happen than a vague intention.

After eight, turn off the overhead lights and rely on lamps. Dim light in the evening helps your body prepare for sleep, and a consistent waking time matters more than a perfect bedtime. A hot water bottle, a wool blanket and a warm drink will finish the day properly. Shorter days are not something to endure; with a little planning, they become the cosiest part of the year.