When the clocks go back, something shifts in the way we treat our homes, and it doesn’t reverse until spring.

As the nights draw in and the heating goes on, we stop furnishing a room for how it looks in photos, and we start furnishing it for how it feels to sit in.

At uFurnish.com, the UK’s leading furniture finder website, we see the changes in how people are furnishing their homes every year. 

Searches move away from anything bright or hard-edged and towards texture instead: boucle, velvet, wool, anything you’d actually want to sink into at the end of the day.

Colour follows a similar pattern.

Teal, deep green and a dusty, warmer pink start taking over anything pastel, because those shades hold their hue once the light drops in the afternoon rather than going flat under a lamp.

The best part is that you don’t need to overhaul an entire room to feel the difference.

Here are my five favourite pieces for making a home feel cosy this autumn.

1. The boucle armchair

Teddy White Boucle Arm Chair, FurnitureBox, £279.99

Boucle is the texture we keep coming back to every autumn.

It has that slightly nubbly, sheepskin  look that looks expensive even when it isn’t, and this one earns its place on price alone.

It comes flat packed, builds in minutes, and sits on pale wood-effect legs so it doesn’t turn heavy in a smaller room.

If you’ve been eyeing the boucle trend all year and haven’t committed, an armchair is the low-risk way in before you take on a whole sofa.

Find it here: Teddy White Boucle Arm Chair, FurnitureBox.

2. The teal velvet corner sofa

Woodbury 3 Seater Teal Velvet Reversible Corner Sofa, wilko, around £720

Teal is a colour I trust in autumn because it looks beautiful under a warm lamplight rather than going flat and grey the way a lot of blues do.

This one has a detached ottoman that slides along the frame, so you can set it up as a chaise on whichever side suits your room, and move it again next year if your layout changes.

That kind of flexibility matters more to me than it used to.

People are keeping sofas for longer now, and a piece that can be rearranged rather than replaced is worth the extra thought.

Find it here: Woodbury 3 Seater Teal Velvet Reversible Corner Sofa, wilko.

3. The pink velvet armchair

Argos Home Liora Velvet Armchair, Pink, £144 (was £180)

Pink sounds like a spring colour, but a dusty, warmer pink works beautifully against autumn’s browns and rusts, especially in velvet.

This one has channel stitching and a curved back that reads more grown up than girlish, and at this price it’s an easy way to bring colour into a room without repainting a single wall.

Find it here: Argos Home Liora Velvet Armchair, Pink.

4. The green wingback

Velvet Wingback Fireside Armchair with Buttons, Emerald Green, B&Q, £369.99

Wingback chairs were designed to keep draughts off your shoulders in front of an open fire, and that’s exactly what I’d use this one for.

Emerald green velvet is rich enough to hold a corner of a room on its own, and the button detailing stops it looking too formal.

Put it near a window or a fireplace and it earns its keep.

Find it here: Velvet Wingback Fireside Armchair with Buttons, Emerald Green, B&Q.

5. The finishing layer

Wylder Nature Isla Woven Tasselled Throw, Green, Debenhams, £30 (was £46)

A throw is the cheapest, fastest way to finish a room once you’ve picked your direction.

I keep one folded over the arm of every chair in my own house from October onwards, more for the look than because anyone’s actually cold.

Drape one of these over a boucle chair or the end of a teal sofa and the two textures sit well together rather than looking like they belong in different rooms.

Find it here: Wylder Nature Isla Woven Tasselled Throw, Green, Debenhams.

None of this needs to happen all at once.

Pick one piece, live with it for a few weeks, and see whether you want to add to it.

That’s usually how it goes in my own house, and I’d guess it’s how it goes in most others too.

If you want to see what else is out there once you start looking, uFurnish.com is built for exactly that kind of browsing, everything compared in one place rather than checked retailer by retailer.

Deirdre Mc Gettrick is the CEO and founder of uFurnish.com, the UK’s leading furniture finder website.