The living room is one of the most used rooms in your house. It is the room where you and your family come together after a long day and the space into which you welcome friends and guests.
Living rooms get used as both a family area and a space to entertain, which means that they demand thoughtful planning and creative design. Layout, wall textures, room color, and décor must all be considered carefully to ensure intimacy, durability, and practicality.
You probably lead a busy life – with kids, pets, and work constantly tying up your time, so if you need help in this department, you have come to the right place. Below are seven inspiring tips for creating the perfect living space:
1 – Work Within Your Space
The best living room layouts consider the space between furniture and traffic and cleverly avoid creating cluttered rooms by using negative space and building focal points around it.
In smaller living areas, most people automatically push their furniture items to the corners of the room, thinking they are creating a space that seems larger. In almost all those instances, it has the opposite effect by creating a block in the flow.
Instead, create furniture grouping by floating your furniture around points of interest in the space, like a fireplace or a large bay window. That is the key to making the room look bigger.
2 – Define The Look
While there are plenty trendy looks to choose from when creating the perfect living room, personal choice outweighs everything else. We are all different, and that includes our style-personalities.
Once you know whether you’re a vibey urban lover, or a fan of a quaint cottage-like interior, or whatever strikes your fancy, you can use that information to plan the room design.
While there are plenty trendy looks to choose from when creating the perfect living room, personal choice outweighs everything else. We are all different, and that includes our style-personalities.
Once you know whether you’re a vibey urban lover, or a fan of a quaint cottage-like interior, or whatever strikes your fancy, you can use that information to plan the room design.
3 – Choose A Theme
Once you’ve chosen the overall look for your living room, you can get down to the nitty gritty aspects of picking a design theme. These concepts are related to each other, but they are not the same.
A modern look can fit many themes, from mid-century to bold maximalism – the exact décor theme will depend on which version is your favorite. Mid-century modern designs originated from a post-war era and included retro elements from the 60s and basic principles of modernism.
4 – Accessorize
Accessorizing your living room can feel intimidating at first. You want to make the right choices for the room, but your past will affect what items you get drawn to. Have you ever noticed that elements from your childhood often play a part in what décor you like as an adult?
For example, most people have strong feelings toward porcelain dolls. 90% of the time, the reason for that is because they were around during our formative years, so we either love or hate them.
Choose the best accessories to suit your space, like designer vases for a living room, or wall art for adding texture, and top it off with indoor greenery.
5 – Add Texture
When designing your new dream living room, add a mix of textiles to your plan. From rugs, scatter cushions, and blankets, to bedding and furniture upholstery, experimenting with fabrics will create texture.
Mixed textile options include leather, silk, linen, and wool – and anything else that grabs your eye. Welcome texture into your living room by using various furniture finishes and materials, and treating yourself to some gorgeous new wall art.
Focus on natural finishes like wood with exposed grain, rough-textured stones or concrete, and brushed metals.
6 – Add Depth
Not all homes are created equally. Meaning that sometimes you’ll have a narrow hallway, or a strangely shaped room and you just must find a creative way to make it work. If this sounds like your living area, don’t panic – there are helpful interior design tips that will add space and depth to your room, and visually balance any room shape.
Contrasting colors are a quick way to add depth and breathe life into your living room. Depending on the natural light entering the room, adjust the darkness of your chosen color. That will stop the room from feeling smaller or overly moody.
7 – Lighting
Lighting is one of the most poorly used elements of interior design. Most people either don’t use enough of it, or they use way too many lighting items and ruin the ambiance of the space.
Living areas aren’t meant to be lit up like a stadium.
Lighting should be layered by adding it in smart ways and using it correctly. Wall lighting should be subtle, functional lighting has more wiggle room for stronger light, and feature lighting is designed to showcase something. Once you understand those three simple things, you’ll be able to use lighting in your living space like a pro!
