The living room is a space for family gatherings and entertaining guests, and is therefore one of the most important rooms of any home. Creating an interior for this space and decorating it elegantly requires a lot of thinking.
If you are currently thinking about (re)designing your sitting room and taking it’s aesthetics to a whole new level, we are here to help you. Continue reading as we provide you with seven useful tips on which ideas to implement and what to avoid when designing your living room space.
Do: Set Up your Living Room to Encourage Conversations
The main purpose of any living room is to be a place for gathering and hanging out. The layout of the living room should encourage exactly that – conversation.
Even when your living room is small and you can’t fit more than a few pieces of furniture, make sure your seating is not placed in a single line on one side of the room. The furniture doesn’t necessarily need to be one across another, but rather placed to face each other.
Do: Room Lighting – Adding Layers
Lighting is one of the most important elements when thinking about the interior design. Having a mixture of task, ambient and accent lighting is the best practice. Make sure that your lighting has dimming switches. Dimming lights are great for creating different atmospheres within the same space.
Consider adding both table and floor lamps for creating more illumination layers.
Do: Use Window Curtains to Add Height
Curtains are a great way to add height to your space. Opt for longer, up-to-the floor lengths. They can optically make room seem taller and spacious than it actually is.
Do: Incorporate Contrasts
Incorporating contrasts will add depth to your space. If you living room is predominantly light or consists of neutral tones opt for the subtler and smaller decorative elements in contrasting colours. Vases, lamps, art work frames or even furniture legs in darker hues can make your living room balanced and more elegant.
Do: Add Vegetation
Adding greenery will elevate any space. To achieve a more homey and friendly atmosphere in any room, simply add plants.
Benefits of house plants are numerous. Green colour can have a soothing impact on your eyes, and help reduce stress. Not to mention all the oxygen greenery creates.
Don’t: Over-clutter Your Space
Adding too many trinkets and decorative objects can make your space visually busy. By no means do we think that your living rooms should be empty and blank. Finding the balance is the key.
If you have a “maximalist” style, make sure that you have items and accessories of various scales. This will create rhythm, make some objects stand out and help the spectator’s eye bounce around.
For those who are interested in the more minimal approach to design, choose only the stuff that you like and lets the air flow. Having some empty space is great, too.
Don’t: Settle For A Small Rug
Big rugs are pricey, we get that. However, nothing can make your living room look disproportionate like a rug which is too small. The wrong size of rug can create a visual disequilibrium of your room.
A Good rule of thumb is to make sure that all your big pieces of furniture (sofa, armchairs, benches) fit on the rug. Ideally, all four legs should fit in. If that’s not possible, make sure that at least the front legs fit on the rug.
A small piece furniture (coffee tables, carts, lamps) should be positioned on the rug on every possible occasion.
Don’t: Stress About Paint Colour
Painting your walls in a different colour is probably the least expensive, and on the other hand extremely powerful way of changing the appearance of your space. There are thousands of hues and tones available, and choosing the right one may sometimes seem like a daunting task.
Even if you make a mistake and go for a shade of colour you no longer like, don’t panic. There is nothing that a fresh coat of paint can’t fix.
Don’t: Hang Your Artwork or TV Too High
Many of us make the mistake of hanging their artwork too high on the walls. There is a common tendency to position your artwork frames or even TV closer to the ceiling.
Ideally both artwork and TV should be hanging at eye-level. Try avoiding hanging TV sets above fireplaces.
Not only can higher positioned items look strange, but they can cause some serious health issues over time. A TV set placed too high on the wall can cause a neck strain or beck problems.
If you have a living room space that needs some extra help, we have open slots for our concept design packages which are great to use if you have one room or our bespoke package if you have multiple or a whole house renovation. We have worked on some amazing house renovation projects and we have a deep understanding of how to run them smoothly, on time and on budget. If you’re looking for the best Interior Designers Dublin has, than look no further! If you’d like to work together, or you know someone who would, please don’t hesitate to get in touch and we would love to chat through it together.
