Meaning of (と)した in やんわりとした暖房

Question

What does とした mean in this sentence?

心ばかりのやんわりとした暖房の教室の昼休み。

I saw this, but I think it's a different とした.

Answer 1

It's an adverb やんわり(と) followed by a verb した.

やんわり(と) is an adverb meaning "mildly" or "softly". This と is "the optional と" explained here.

• What is the purpose of adding と?
• What role does と play in this sentence?

した is the perfect aspect of する, which in this context means "to have a trait".

• Use of する to describe one's colour
• What does する mean when it does not mean "do"? （血のにおいがする）
• what does noun +とする mean?

Why is it した rather than する? See the following questions:

• What are the general principles of using verbs to modify nouns (e.g. 焦げるトースト/焦げたトースト)?
• "太ってる猫" vs "太った猫"
• Use of かける (N5 question)

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All in all, this やんわりとした just means "mild", and it is adjectivally modifying 暖房. It may look complicated at first, but this is how you make an adverb (esp. onomatopoeia) modify a noun. You may think of this した as "glue" to join an adverb and a noun. Here are similar examples:

• ゆっくり(と)した曲
  a slow song
• がっかり(と)した顔
  a disappointed face
• キラキラ(と)したコイン
  a shining coin
• 凜とした外見
  a dignified appearance

Answer 2

The とした in やんわりとした is just part of the やんわり modifying the 暖房. Perhaps "the gently heated classroom" would work as a translation, but I'm not very good at translating things like that.

I saw this Meaning and usage of ~としたことが but I think it's a different とした

You are right.