The colder the wind outside, the warmer the living room environment. In this room we spend time with loved ones, enjoy the evening broadcast, and curl up on the couch with a good book.
We’ve prepared 10 secrets for creating the perfect living room, and as a bonus, if you read to the end! – made up tips for creating a successful renovation plan. Just be careful – if you follow all the advice at once, the room may come out too soulful – and the guests who come in will not want to leave it 🙂
Secret one: nothing is more important than comfort
The most important rule is that everyone should be very comfortable. There are many ways to achieve this: toss a plush carpet on the wooden floor, put a soft sofa with colored pillows and woolen rugs in the center, buy an electric stove, do it all at once – the main thing is to make you and your family happy and comfortable in this room.
The choice of color is of great importance. To each his own, therefore it is important to define yours – industrial design, bright colors, or gentle warm shades. One of the most comfortable, for example, is the combination of light wood color with lighter colors – yellow, pale blue, bright green.
Another way to add coziness is to decorate the room with fresh flowers – they will make the living room more homely and add freshness to the air.
Second secret # 2: Living room is not just for guests
It happens that people spend too many resources on a common room – money, time, energy – and then save it for special meetings. Remember that every meeting (yes, and with yourself!) Is special, and the living room too must be enjoyed. Plan a real-life, in which sometimes there are nightly movie screenings with the whole family, and New Year’s parties with all your friends at once.
Choose good, quality items that can last long, but do not be afraid of wear and tear – anything can happen in the common room. Choose wallpaper or paints that are easy to clean (especially if you have children) and furniture that is easy to care for, such as a leather sofa or with removable covers.
Third secret: Everyone in the family should have their place
In a happy home, it’s important to create a living room for everyone. Think in advance what the design style and furniture should be so that the room pleases every family member.
Make sure that there is enough comfortable and convenient space for all residents of the apartment and a few guests, and if you assign their own place for the children, they will feel like an important part of a larger whole. It might be worth stocking up on a couple of folding chairs, just in case. And if there are several zones in your living room, read how to organize them correctly.
Secret four: add personality
It is very important that the room reflects the personality of the owner, that is, it is an extension of you and your loved ones. It can be anything – a surfboard, pictures of children, a large bookcase, or graffiti on the wall.
Accessories are more than just decorating a room. Whether it’s gifts from loved ones or reminders of happy places, they all tell your story and make your living room even more loved.
Secret # 5: Invest in a Good Sofa
Let a large comfortable sofa be the first on your living room wishlist. A good sofa will give the family long hours of relaxation, accommodate everyone, and save space. Of course, it should match the rest of the furniture, but if you have found the perfect sofa it is better for all the furniture to match it.
To find some exceptionally qualitative sofa for a pleasant price you can go to NY furniture Outlets.
Think about these numbers: the average living time in one house or apartment is about four years, and a good sofa lasts for ten years or more. The choice of fabric and color of the sofa should be influenced by the lifestyle. For example, white mohair and small children or dirty dog paws after a walk do not go well together.
Secret six: correct lighting
When planning your room, try to maximize the amount of natural light: use reflective paints, glossy surfaces, or glass. Light throughout the room is perfectly reflected by the mirror, which is hung in front of the window.
The next step is lighting design. Lamps and floor lamps zone the space and make the atmosphere more cozy and welcoming. Harsh lighting, on the other hand, makes the space unattractive and cold, so be careful with a lot of chandeliers on the ceiling.
Secret Seven: Ideal Storage Space
If you are not striving for minimalism, you probably have a lot of useful gizmos – books, magazines, game consoles, children’s toys that need to be stored somewhere.
Take a closer look at the open shelving if you want everyone to see your vases, books, candles, photographs. They can also be used as partitions in open plan areas. Alternatively, you can choose a closed sideboard (or combine both), it will hide everything from prying eyes, and you will get one more storage space.
How else can you increase the space? Here is a small list of life hacks:
Many coffee tables have drawers or shelves;
There is a hidden space in ottomans;
You can also place a shelf above the sofa ;
Baskets look like a cozy accessory, but they can store something too!
Secret eighth. How to make friends with a small room?
If you have enough space (or even a bit too much), feel free to move on to the next item.
For everyone else, do the furniture first. Discard the bulky coffee table, choose a small two-seater sofa, shelving all the way to the ceiling, ceiling lamps instead of floor lamps and table lamps. If you work from home, a fold-out table and laptop can help.
Colors matter too: dark colors visually diminish the space, as do too many colors. Stick to light shades and natural tones. In a small living room, it is best to use no more than three colors, ideally if one of them is white.
Secret # 9: The living room is a great place for kids
Give your child one corner of your living room – put there a multi-colored chest on which the child can draw, and a table with chairs. This will help you protect the room from the dominance of toys, because children will still strive to spend time in the same place as you.
Also, check to see if it’s comfortable for kids to hide toys at the end of the day. Sort toys into containers so dinosaurs have their own place and dolls have theirs. Tell the children a fairy tale about how important it is that the toys always fall asleep in the house – you can clean up twice as fast.
Secret # 10: Finishing Touches
Once you’re done with the main points, add some brightness with colorful pillows, rugs, and carpets, which brings us back to the first point. Don’t be afraid to be bold, use them as a way to bring color, new patterns and textures. All the same, pillows have a short lifespan.
Hang up posters, paintings or photographs, think about what kind of curtains you will have – long and dense, perfect for winter, keeping out drafts, and shutters and blinds give the room a modern look. Choose a coffee table, the eye will catch on it if the table contrasts with a massive sofa.
You probably already understood that the main thing in the living room is that everyone in it feels good, the rest is details. Instead of a conclusion, we have the promised bonus – we tell you where to start the living room plan.
First, decide what your dream living room looks like. Will it be the same style as the rest of the rooms, or do you want something completely new? Create a Pinterest board, put together whatever you want to design. This will help you avoid expensive mistakes and not buy too much in an interior store.
Another option is to collect a collection of your favorite rooms in magazines. At this stage, do not think about costs, allow yourself to dream – any colors, chandeliers, French doors, whatever you want – in the modern world you can get the desired look much, much cheaper.
In your plan, be sure to consider the available space and how the selected items will fit in it. You need to measure everything well in order to understand what and where will be. Important! Be sure to leave enough space between items to make the room look spacious and comfortable to walk past furniture. The chair bed and extendable table must be fully extendable.
Plan what will be the focal point and where the main communication will be. The focal point can be a sofa group, a fireplace, a large screen TV, a window, or even an incredibly beautiful lamp. Create a wow effect with one piece that catches your eye in the room and helps you choose a backdrop for the rest of the decor. Place furniture around your focal point and communication areas.
