How to decorate your living room?

Sunita Vellapally Sunita Vellapally
homify Rustic style living room
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In any home, the living room is a significant social space where one entertains visitors or spends time relaxing with the family. Therefore, this space needs to have the right arrangement, comfortable furniture and decoration to bring in a sense of relaxation. If you are looking for ideas on how to decorate your living room, homify makes it easy for you with this ideabook that has several simple, but effective tips that you can use. Draw inspiration from these beautiful living room pictures, with features that can work across varied design styles, be it minimalist or classic.

1. Maximise natural light and vertical space

In modern home decor window blinds are commonly used instead of curtains to bring a less cluttered look. However, we recommend you go conventional and get curtains that drop down from the ceiling to the floor creating a dramatic look that brings sophistication to the living room. Choose sheer curtains over thicker materials as they will help to retain the natural light in the room.

2. Neutral shades

If you are wondering what is the best color for living room walls, it’s advisable to stick to neutral shades or light tones that don’t make the space seem too cramped. These shades also have a calming vibe, which is essential in a living room.

See these trendy living room ideas for more tips.

3. A large rug

Generally, for living room furniture, small pieces are preferred, especially in tiny apartments and houses. However, this rule doesn’t apply to the floor. A large rug that covers the entire space in the room will bring a cosy feel to the living room.

4. Multi-functional furniture

Living room furniture should be multi-functional as far as possible so that the space can be organized better and appear less cluttered. A sofa or coffee table with storage underneath is ideal. Extend this to all the other furniture. For example, you can consider using pouffes or stools that serve either as seats or as tables, depending upon the need of the hour.

5. Beautiful lighting

Say goodbye to old-fashioned wall-mounted lights, sconces and floor lamps. Instead, opt for LED lighting that is built into the false ceiling for an ultra-modern look in the living room. These lights can be adjusted to create the required mood in the living area.

6. Innovative wall décor idea

We suggest that you think outside the box when it comes to living room wall décor ideas. Get inspired by this brilliant idea where the lighting becomes an artistic feature that is the highlight of the room. Beautiful, isn’t it?!

You can work with an interior design professional who can present you with innovative solutions for your living room décor.

7. Adding depth

Living Room ZERO9 Country style living room

Niches and shelves are the perfect tools for playing with scale in a living room. If you are looking for simple decorating ideas for living rooms, opt for shelves and niches with built-in spotlights that highlight the décor accessories placed within. They can enhance the sense of depth, contributing to the room appearing more spacious than it is.

8. Get creative with wall décor

Instead of investing in a large and expensive piece of art to cover a blank wall, how about incorporating a creative shelf, like the one you see here, on which you can display a variety of accessories? Another idea is to make a mini gallery with many small photographs or pictures.

9. Mix it up

You can incorporate traditional living room furniture ideas even in the most modern space to bring a unique look to the room. Classic arm chairs add a sense of lightness in a living room, which is full of upholstered couches and sofas.

10. Throw out the coffee table

There no hard-and-fast rule that a living space should have a coffee table at the centre. When designing a living room layout, if the space appears cluttered, replace the coffee table with several small tables or stools. They will provide flexibility as they can be moved around easily to serve as a resting place for snacks and drinks. A design, such as the one in this photograph, adds layers to the room, increasing the sense of amplitude.

11. Mirrors

Our list of the best decorating ideas for living rooms would be incomplete without mirrors. They not only reflect light and space to make a small living area look larger but also bring a lot of style, especially when they have unusual or eye-catching frames.

12. A feature wall

While dark colours should be avoided for small living room walls, there’s nothing wrong with painting a wall in a bold colour. It will add a lovely feature to the room. Hang a few photographs or art in light shades to create a beautiful contrast and refresh the heaviness of the dark tone.

13. Low seating

When you are looking for ideas how to decorate a small living room, low seating should be at the top of your list. They increase the amplitude of the vertical space in the room. Choose furniture that matches the overall design style and palette of the rest of the living area.

14. Light furniture

Among the small living room decorating ideas you can adopt is light furniture. Wooden sofas and tables such as the ones you see in this photograph bring a sense of airiness as compared with modern couches that do not leave a gap between the seat and the floor. The free space adds to the sense of amplitude in the room.

15. Don’t hesitate to use white furniture

White and neutral shades work well in modern homes. However, many homeowners, especially those with young children, hesitate to choose light colours for the upholstery. By using the right type of material, such as leather for the sofas, you can safely use white without worrying about it getting stained.

16. Wall storage

When designing a living room layout, an idea is to cover the walls with floor to ceiling shelves. These can be used to display books, photographs and other décor accessories that bring warmth and cosiness to the space, in addition to helping to organize the space.

17. An open layout

Make sure that there is ample passage space for moving around the room. An L-shaped furniture arrangement is perfect as it leaves two sides open for movement. If you feel that this will restrict the number of seats in the living room, you can always get extra stools that stack under the coffee table when they are not in use.

Get inspired by these fabulous living room ideas.

18. Go bold

Living Room ZERO9 Modern living room Stone

You don’t have to follow the rules and use only light shades throughout the living space. A splash of bright colours can be introduced with a large artwork to bring a striking feature to the room. Similarly, you can introduce colourful accents, such as throws or cushion covers, to break the monotony.

19. Cheerful prints

Similarly, you can get a couple of wing-back chairs upholstered in bright fabric with a striking print to create a colourful highlight that adds interest to the living room.

20. Work with a blank canvas

Sometimes, it makes sense to have a plain white background wall in the living room. That way, you can play around with introducing colours and moods with other accessories and accents. You can even change it according to the season, like in this room that has a distinctly autumnal feel with its artworks and cushions.

Consult an interior architect, who can help you through the process of implementing one of these ideas in your living room.

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