10 Details Every Living Room Should Have
“The devil is in the details” is a saying true both for life and home décor. The living room, as the centre of social life, comes with the biggest potential for detailing.
From window treatments to a neatly placed side table, here are the 10 most important details and improvements to spice up your living room.
1. Adding window treatments
The biggest mistake a homeowner can make is to leave the window area “untreated.” Bare glass panes go well with only a few interior décor styles, such as brutalist interior design, while in most cases, you should cover the windows with draperies, curtains, or install blinds. The colour, the design, and the texture of these window treatments should match the overall décor of the living room.
2. Contrasting colours
Speaking of the colours inside the living room, the biggest surfaces to serve as provisional canvases are the walls and the ceiling. Choose the colour carefully, as it should be lively but not tacky. In this sense, beige, white, or light green are suitable shades.
For the ultimate impression, you should paint the ceiling in a different shade of the colour of the walls to create a light/dark contrast. This small trick can help turn around the drabbest of interiors.
3. Display original artwork
We are so much used to a large painting or the family portrait hanging over the living room sofa, that we hardly notice it. You need to breathe new life into the walls by hanging smaller pictures, posters, and even tapestries. Hanging up art is the surest way to create good vibes in your home. The artwork should be original, so even empty picture frames or your children’s drawings constitute art pieces worthy of display.
4. Where to keep the books?
Booklovers are constantly plagued by the issue of proper storage of their favourite paperbacks. The easiest solution is to build a custom bookshelf that would extend from the floor to the ceiling. Although a compact bookshelf is a good idea, you can use the books as décor pieces. Namely, by distributing sets of books across shelves, cabinets, and even the mantelpiece, you add a touch or cultural refinement to the living room.
5. A coffee table in the right place
A coffee table is a useful piece of furniture in the living room. Its style can match every home decor imaginable; temporary homewares included. With an extra shelf at the bottom, a coffee table can reduce clutter, as you can store magazines inside it.
6. The play of light at night
After dark, the most important detail in the living room is the lighting level. The positioning of light sources, their colour, and intensity determine the overall atmosphere in the room. Instead of going for a single light source mounted on the ceiling, add desk lamps and LED strips to create a play of light.
7. Blending in the TV screen
Ever since the latter half of the 20th century, the TV set has been an integral part of the living room’s décor. The same is today, although the shape and the size of the typical TV have changed dramatically.
The trick is to blend in a wide-screen TV into the room’s décor. Most homeowners opt-out of the entertainment unit and hang the screen directly from the walls, making it appear as yet another piece of artwork.
8. Proportion is important
A large TV can dwarf out furniture pieces in a small living room. Proportion and ratio are, therefore essential in interior design. The furniture can be larger or smaller than the actual size of the room, depending on the effect you wish to achieve.
However, individual pieces of furniture should be disproportionate in relation to one another. For instance, a coffee table significantly taller than the sofa will not only present an inconvenience but it will constitute a real eyesore.
9. A sea of colourful cushions
The living room sofa is a centrepiece in many homes. The family gathers here to watch TV together, eat, and hold important family conversations. However, it is hard to shake off the sofa’s neutrality in terms of décor, as reupholstering it every couple of years is expensive.
You don’t have to replace the sofa but you can rotate the cushions on it. Choose colourful cushions and pillows of various spaces and sizes to make the living room sofa catch everyone’s eye.
10. A powerful décor piece: The side table
Speaking of the sofa, it should sit alone, as a side table is a great addition to it. The table is small enough, so you don’t bump into it all the time, yet large enough to place the remote controller, smartphone, or a watch on it. The side table is one of the most efficient tools in combating clutter in the living room.
If you want a living room where you will spend hours with your family, then don’t skip the 10 details listed above. Improvements such as window ornaments and the placement of housewares will have a deciding impact on the overall atmosphere of the living room as the focal point in every home.