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Did you know that poorly designed and decorated living rooms can lead to unnecessary stress, quarrels, and reduced productivity?
In fact, It depreciates your quality of living and negatively alters your perception of a home.
Why is that so? Well, that’s because we spend 80 percent of our time in our living rooms.
Naturally, spending almost all your time in an uncomfortable and unwelcoming space can be frustrating and annoying. You might find yourself enjoying time away from home instead of enjoying time at home.
For that very reason, it’s necessary to pay good attention to the design and decor of your living room.
Here, we’ve compiled a short guide about how you can do that — super quick and easy.
Step 1: Measure your space
If you’re moving into a new place, this step should be super easy. You will need a measuring tape, a pen, and some paper. Measure the length and the width of the living room and calculate the area.
Once you’re done, set up a scale (such as 1 cm representing one meter). Sketch the area on a piece of paper and draw the area/spaces you wish to dedicate to your living room essentials. You might want to have dedicated spaces for a sofa, coffee table, dining table, shelf, or TV area. Determine where each of these will lie.
If you’re making changes to your current living space, you may have to move your furniture around to measure the complete room and determine your new layout.
Step 2: Settle for a style & color palette
After choosing a layout, it’s time to settle for a style. Most people leave it to their will and spontaneous decisions, (i.e. we’ll buy what we like), and this is why a majority of living rooms happen to have a chaotic combination of colors and furniture pieces.
So, pick a living room style from the following and proceed accordingly:
- Contemporary
- Rustic
- Minimalistic
- Beach Style
- Scandinavian
- Mediterranean
- Midcentury
- Farmhouse
- Asian
- Industrial
- Victorian
- Southwestern
- Tropical
- Traditional
Note that the style you choose for your living room should align with your plans for it. Make sure you know how many people will be in the living room on average and what they will be doing there. For example, if you and your family love watching TV together or if you plan to host parties, it’s a good idea to keep the style a bit casual or traditional.
But if only special guests will be allowed into the living room, the vibe ought to be formal.
Next, choose a color palette that corresponds with the style you’ve picked. Here’s a color palette generator to help you pick the right color palette for your living room.
Now that you have the plan in hand, it’s a good idea to consult with your family or housemate and proceed to shop with a mutual consensus.
Step 3: Shop for the sofa, rugs, and table
When it comes to living room shopping, experts recommend shopping for the sofa before anything else. Why? Well, that’s because it’s the heart of your living room. It’s where you or anyone else in your living room will be spending most of their time. So, determine what kind of sofa you want, and buy that first.
Some popular types of living room sofas are as follows:
- Sectional sofa
- Chesterfield
- Bridgewater
- English Roll-arm
- Midcentury Modern
- Camelback
- Lawson style sofa
- Chaise lounge
- Cabriole
- Convertible sofa
If you’ve got pets and toddlers around, opt for a sofa with washable fabric instead of leather sofas. Otherwise, you may have a hard time protecting your newly-bought sofa.
Following this, shop for a central rug and coffee table that syncs with the design, style, colors, and vibe of your sofa.
Ideally, your coffee table should be two-thirds the length of your sofa and your rug should be colorful. Do not opt for solid colors for a rug, especially white and black.
If you need help choosing products for your living room, then click here for some interior design inspiration.
Step 4: Add lighting & wall art
Lighting adds soul to your living room, while wall decor adds character. For that reason, you just cannot skip the two or keep them for later.
We recommend going for a central chandelier if you’ve got a big living room and supporting wall sconces. If you’ve got a medium-sized or small-sized living room, you should opt for a side-lamp or standing lamps. If you’ve got a bookshelf or a storage space within your living room, don’t forget to light it up. It brightens up the environment pretty well.
As for the type of lighting, it’s best to opt for warm white light. They go well with every occasion and time of the day.
Step 5: Finish off with some greenery
Lastly, do not forget to fill the empty nooks with some greenery. If there are no empty corners, you can opt for wall-hanging indoor plants.
Some of the best indoor plants include:
- Anthurium
- Snake plant
- Peace Lily
- ZZ plant
- Moth Orchid
- Norfolk Island Pine
- Maranta
- Coin plant
You can even set up an entire garden in your living, preferably by the window. Check out this guide about setting up a small garden in an apartment if you’re interested in plants.
If you cannot arrange or take care of real plants, you can opt for artificial ones as well. The sight of green plants is truly refreshing and magical in its own ways — you can trust us on that!
