Looking for tips for choosing furniture in your living room? Being thoughtful of your living room furniture and its arrangement is a key element in interior design. After all, it’s the first room you and your guests will enter. And for the latter—perhaps it’s the only one. Many homeowners, however, can fall on two sides of the wrong coin: they either overcrowd their living room with too much furniture, or they fail to add enough furniture that leaves a lasting impression. And even then, some homeowners may have the right amount of furniture—but fail to choose the right ones that complement one another.
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If you fall under any of these camps or want to avoid succumbing to either of these scenarios, read on for five design tips for choosing your living room furniture.
Know Your Style
Developing a sense of style is essential when picking furniture for your living room. For starters, forming a distinct style helps you concentrate your efforts on finding suitable furniture for your space. You won’t have to browse through a large catalogue of items only to leave the showroom (or close the tab) disheartened about not selecting any single item.
By having a style in mind, you can save time by funnelling your efforts in furniture that you’re already interested in in the first place. That said, it’s perfectly natural to not initially know what you want in your living room layout. Styles can also evolve over time.
That’s why we’ll throw in another tip: be as loose or as tight as you want with how you wish to style your living room. As long as there’s a sense of cohesion among the pieces and you’re happy with the outcome, then you’re pretty much halfway there. A classic and elegant piece like a Chesterfield sofa can add sophistication to your living room, especially if you’re going for a traditional or vintage aesthetic.
Don’t Be Afraid to Mix and Match
Don’t get us wrong, harmony among furniture pieces is a great achievement, especially if you’ve managed to make the living room essentials and decor fit together seamlessly like a puzzle piece. But good design is much more than a neat, balanced, and organised room. It can be bold. Imaginative. It doesn’t automatically resist disharmony—it considers it. And if done right, it can turn its intended canvas into a sum greater than its pieces.
Of course, the fundamentals are important. But if ever you feel like deviating away from the standard notion of what a good living room would look like, then ponder about it truthfully. Stay open-minded.
Mix that rough-textured ceiling with a smooth tiled wall. Use neutral paint colours sparingly, and bold ones more often. Use a mix of ArchiPro’s modern furniture and some antique furnishings. You could end up making your room stand out in ways that can get guests complimenting your place every time they enter your home.
Think Functional
When selecting furniture to fill up your living room floor, don’t leave functionality as an afterthought. As mentioned earlier, it’s one of the most-frequented areas in your room. As such, give some weight to the purpose of the furniture you’d end up choosing. For instance, if you have ample space in your living room and you tend to host social gatherings, you’ll probably need more than one sofa in your living room. Two may be adequate; three is better.
If you’re an avid reader and own a sizeable collection of books, installing a bookshelf in your living room is something to consider. A coffee table with relevant decorative pieces would also be a good, stylish option.
In the end, you know yourself best when it comes to your living room’s purpose. But it wouldn’t hurt to keep in mind the household’s needs, frequency and volume of visitors, comfort, and storage requirements in your furniture-picking decision either.
Measure and Scale Your Layout
When designing your living room, always keep your room’s size in mind. Large, rectangular, open-spaced living rooms generally allow for plenty of breathing room when it comes to varying your furniture options. But practically, not all apartments or homes are built like that. Many have dividing walls that limit the size and number of pieces of furniture you can squeeze in. Stairs and columns may also restrict your design.
The worst thing that could happen when buying furniture is finding out you can’t use it in the first place. That’s why it’s so crucial to work with the space you have and to also measure the furniture to ensure it fits in your space.
Even if the space isn’t enough for you to work with, you can use these little fluctuations to your advantage. You could, for example, fit a narrow cabinet underneath the staircase. Or hang hanging plants in living room columns.
Use Varied Materials
Having a living room filled with uniform materials can look nice, but oftentimes, it lacks the personal flair and uniqueness that makes the room truly stand out. Instead, choose furniture with different materials that have a few similar elements to balance each other out.
If you’re going for a rustic vibe, for instance, opt for a mixture of light wood and dark wood to create a more sophisticated design. Mixing metals and dark materials like marble with natural wooden elements can also simulate a relaxing and cosy living room atmosphere.
Play around with different colours and materials and get a feel for what works best for you. You can get away with three— maybe four—different materials in your room design before it gets too jarring.
Happy designing!