The living room is the visiting card of your home, this is the place where, most often, you receive your guests, where the whole family gathers after a hard day for evening entertainment.
Of course, it all depends on the size of your house or apartment, on your habits and family traditions. But for most houses, the living room is probably the largest and most “open” space.
This is exactly the part of the house where all family members spend their time.
How to make sure that all of them feel comfortable in this space, so that everyone finds their place, and at the same time, keep it spacious?
How to create a stylish living room interior, adapted to the needs of the family and for the occasions of receiving guests and holding family celebrations?
So, if you are thinking of renovating the living room interior or are going to equip the living room from scratch, it will be useful for you to learn some professional tips on what to look out for.
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TIP #1
One of the characteristics of a modern living room design is its versatility. Therefore, before thinking over the interior and arranging furniture, clearly formulate what functions does the living room perform in your home?
Living-dining room, living-study-room, living-playroom, or maybe even living-bedroom?
Determine what your family will be doing in this room: watching TV, relaxing and having conversations, receiving guests on the couch, playing with the children or among themselves board games, cards, working at the computer, listening to music, and so on.
Think about whether you will set festive tables there or will your dining room perform this function? It is extremely important to sketch such a list.
Therefore, do not be lazy, because in the future it will be much more difficult for you to add and redo something.
Clearly define the functions of the living room in order to correctly zone the space, conveniently arrange furniture and organize the lighting of the living room, thought out for each of the zones.
TIP #2
A beautifully designed entrance will provide half the success of a living room interior.
Unfortunately, not all owners have such an opportunity, and not in all houses it is constructively possible to do this. But if there is such an opportunity, try to increase the doorway, install swing doors with glass inserts.
To emphasize the importance of the living room and visually raise the ceiling, use doors with a transom at the top, which can be either with glass inserts or made of the same material as the door itself. Such doors always look especially festive and elegant.
Consider a beautiful entrance to the living room, it will emphasize the importance of this room and create a favorable impression from the very beginning.
Also you can make it with the help of the furniture pieces like some accent chairs or console tables. To find some interesting models you can use nyfurnitureoutlets.com.
TIP #3
The presence of perspective from the very entrance to the room will visually expand the space. Pay attention to where your gaze rests as soon as you enter the living room.
Try to make sure that the entrance is not restricted so that your gaze does not rest on the wall or side of the cabinet.
If the features of the room are such that it is impossible to arrange the entrance “with a perspective”, then in front of the entrance hang or put on the floor a large mirror in a beautiful frame, hang a picture with beautiful lighting, put a large vase on the floor.
In general, make sure that when you enter your living room, something beautiful and interesting attracts the eye.
Give the entrance a perspective or, if this is not possible, make it interesting with decor.
TIP #4
Identify the main character in your home interior.
Remember how you choose a festive outfit for yourself: more often than not, first you find a dress, and then choose shoes, a clutch, a cape, etc.
In the same way, it is better to approach the design of the living room, and the design of the apartment as a whole.
Immediately decide what space in the apartment will be the main one, and start from it when designing the rest of the house.
If this, in your opinion, should be a living room, then determine in what style you would like to make it.
Maybe you like a calm living room in a classic style, or you want to experiment and make an art deco living room?
Or is a Provencal-style living room ideal for your bright apartment? Whichever style you choose, remember that all other areas of your home should “play as one” with the main location.
Very often there is no harmony and unity in the home, it looks more like a furniture store exhibition stand.
The simplest exercise to test this is to imagine your apartment without doors. If what you see through the doorway from one room does not break the harmony and irritate the eye, then everything is fine.
But if a bright orange or purple color of the kitchen suddenly bursts into the living room in neutral pastel colors through the doorway, then you should think about it.
And either introduce orange / purple accents into the living room, or “extinguish” the kitchen.
Decide on the style of the entire apartment and highlight the key room that will set the rhythm for the whole house.
This will enhance the feeling of harmony in the house, the unity of space, and will help create a stylish interior with taste.
TIP #5
The right color and wall finishes can create the mood of your living room. Once you've decided on the style, you can move on to the colors.
And here an important aspect is the presence of natural light in the room. If the living room windows face north or northeast, there will be very little sun in it, so it is highly undesirable to paint the walls in white, pearl and bluish shades. All of them will look “dirty” and gray.
It is better to give preference to saturated colors and be attentive to the light – the cold bluish light of the lamps will only worsen the situation.
Also, in a room with windows facing south, be prepared in advance for all the colors to look yellower than what you choose on the palette.
Therefore, either deliberately choose a slightly colder shade, or filter natural light with blackout curtains and shutters.
Nowadays, a very common technique is to highlight one wall with a brighter or darker shade or even another texture.
Be careful with this – if there are obvious problems in the geometry of the room and it lacks beautiful symmetry, then it is better not to emphasize it.
Highlight walls that are really beautiful, heighten the effect and accentuate them with a special arrangement of furniture, and you will give them special attention.
Choose the color of the living room walls very carefully. If possible, never neglect a trial paint on the wall.