We spend a massive amount of time in the living room so it’s essential that you think about real-life living and design it with comfort in mind, as well as style - and a whole host of other things that we’ll touch on in this guide.
In the living room you often need space for everything: sofas for the whole family to lounge on, a dining table for a lovely dinner on a Saturday evening, and shelves for books and storage. All these different features make special demands on the decoration of your living room.
For the perfect combination of luxury comfort and modern style, including lighting, furniture, colour and storage - read on for our top 6 living room ideas.
Let the light in
A mistake we see all the time is lovely daylight blocked from entering the room because of a sofa placed directly in front of a window section. Let your living room breathe and move furniture away from the window and let the light in. Make the most of the natural light on offer, creating the most comfortable space possible.
Not only will more daylight provide an amazing aesthetic impact, but having more natural light in your space is also associated with improved mood, less fatigue, and reduced eyestrain.
Create different zones
In many instances, the living room is now the sitting room, home office, homework study and home cinema all rolled into one - living rooms need to be versatile and flexible. Separating the room into zones or areas is a great way to arrange the room and make the most of the space you have, without obstacles and maintaining a fluid feel, even in small living rooms.
Think about how you’ll divide the space up ensuring plenty of space between areas so that you don’t create obstacles. It’s a good idea to use sideboards, console tables and other freestanding storage units to create hard divides while keeping the room feeling spacious, open and clutter-free.
Also, consider whether your favourite accent chair would look best with its very own section of the living room, in a corner, with a floor lamp behind it. This could be your ‘reading zone’.
Choose furniture that suits the size of your living room
With so much stunning furniture available, it’s difficult to draw the line when decorating the living room. Too big or too much furniture will make your living room feel overcrowded and difficult to navigate. The opposite is also true, too small or too little furniture in large spaces and it just won’t feel warm and cosy.
Large spaces need something like an oversized, modular corner sofa which can be made as big as you desire - our team can help you design the perfect sofa for your space with our digital design tools. Small living rooms will benefit from a modern 2 or 3 seater sofa with an armchair.
Add a pop of colour
Grey living rooms are arguably the most popular and versatile of living room styles. Come rain or shine, winter or summer, grey is a colour that works all year round. Grey living room ideas range in styles and can either create a calm aesthetic or add depth to a room. The list of grey living room ideas is endless!
Give your living room a personal touch and make a statement with colour and textures, using bright accents to enhance your colour scheme, and bring your grey living room inspirations to life. A good starting point is to create a feature wall, or a ‘styling wall’, as an alternative to a media wall, with inset shelving (a really smart storage solution) that you can use to add colour, personality and depth to your living room. You can also introduce a pop of colour or texture with cushions, a coffee table, and even a TV stand.
Avoid over-decorating
Modern spaces do not mean you have to be a minimalist, but unless you plan ahead and ensure everything has a home, you can risk an uncomfortable over-decorated room. If you’re the kind of person that loves surrounding yourself with items that mean something to you, coordinate them in a modern sideboard or display cabinet.
Plan
The key to designing the perfect living room is to plan and experiment. Not sure where to start with all of this? When thinking about where to put each item of furniture, try not to place them randomly or aimlessly. You should try to lay out your furniture in a way that suits your needs and where you will feel comfortable. According to our experts, there are some steps you can take for decorating the living room:
- Start with the TV, what direction will it be facing? When you know this, you can plan where to place your sofa, the coffee table and the rug (remember the tips we discussed earlier).
- Stick to one or two bookshelves or display cabinets, this should provide you with enough storage - any more than this may make your living room look like a library. These should be decorated in a coordinated fashion and ornaments and other accessories should incorporate your colour scheme.
- Leave some walls to show colour, keeping artwork and mirrors to only two or three walls. You spent a lot of time deciding on the colour scheme so show it off!
For more help on how to create the perfect space for you and your living room, our sales team can provide more information about our products and digital designs for our modular sofa collections. Contact us by phone, email or use Live Chat.
