How To Choose The Furniture For Your Dream Living Room

There’s hardly a room in your house that’s quite as important as your living room. You probably spend hours in it every day, lounging after work, reading a good book, or watching TV. It’s also where you take your friends when they come and visit, and the first room you show to your guests.

So naturally, when a room plays such an important function, choosing the right kind of furniture becomes crucial. You want your living room to reflect who you are as a person and also be stylish, comfortable, and characterful, but you’re not an interior designer, so how exactly should you do that? Well, allow me to give you a few tips and help you furnish the living room of your dreams.

Look Up Different Furniture Styles

If you have absolutely no idea where to start, looking up different furniture styles online might serve as an inspiration. There are dozens of styles out there — from Art Nouveau and mid-century modern to minimalism and contemporary. They all have their individual characteristics and suit different tastes, so pick the style you like and start decorating.

Of course, you don’t have to stick strictly to one style. Say, for instance, that you like the geometrical patterns and natural motifs of art deco furniture. That doesn’t mean you have to buy pieces and decorations that exclusively fit this style. In fact, adding a few art deco elements into an otherwise contemporary living room could end up having a stronger effect.

If you do decide to mix furniture styles, though, make sure to figure out what works and what doesn’t. If your living room is quite futuristic, adding antique details and decorations is a risky move. That’s not to say that some people can’t make it work, but it’s undoubtedly more difficult than sticking to the safe choices.

Choose a Center Furniture Piece

Usually, every living room has a focal point, a furniture piece everything else is centred around. In most living rooms, a large sofa plays this role — it’s the thing everyone notices as soon as they enter the room.

So, before you do anything else, choose the kind of sofa you’d like to buy and where you’d like to place it. Once that’s done, picking out the rest of the furniture shouldn’t be too much of a problem. For instance, you can get armchairs and coffee tables in similar or complementary colours and styles. Their positions also shouldn’t be difficult to figure out, especially since you’ll arrange them around the sofa.

When you finish with the essential furniture, add some decorations or art pieces that fit well into the overall design. If you want to play with various styles, these details are a perfect opportunity. An otherwise minimalistic room could benefit greatly from a colourful painting, and a plant or two is a good choice, no matter the style.

Careful With the Colours

Most designers with years of experience under their belt give simple advice. When decorating your living room, choose two or three colours and stick to them. Your furniture, rugs, and walls should be in those colours, and there’s rarely a good reason to add a new one. The decorations might break this rule at times, but even they should fit in with the rest of the room.

Right now, the most popular living room colour palettes contain mainly calming, earthy tones, pastels, and whites. That’s not a surprise either — a living room is a place of relaxation, and these colours certainly promote it. Golden accents are also in vogue, so consider that next time you want to spice up your room!

Mix Up the Sizes

We already mentioned that each living room has a focal point, a sort of a centrepiece. If that’s your sofa, then it’s bound to be the largest piece of furniture in the room. But what about other furniture? How big should it be, and does it really matter?

Well, if your sofa is already big, there’s hardly a reason for everything else to be as well. In fact, filling your living room with large pieces will only lead to overcrowding it, which certainly isn’t a good look.

So, instead, try to mix it up a bit. Use smaller or medium-sized pieces to complement the large ones. That’s not to say that you can’t put a large TV or a huge painting, but don’t overdo it. More than two or three big pieces are definitely unnecessary.

Put Some Thought Into Lighting

Finally, nothing sets the mood quite so well as good lighting. You want it to make the room cosy and pleasant but also be bright enough that you can read in the evening. Wall lights and small or standing lamps are an excellent choice — play around with the arrangements to see what works best. You may also invest in unique ceiling lights or chandeliers if they fit your aesthetic. Ultimately, what matters is that your room is well-lit and comfortable.

In Conclusion

Furnishing the perfect living room is by no means an easy task, and you’ll probably need quite a bit of planning and searching for the right pieces. We’ve given you a few useful tips, though, so now you at least know where to start. And while you should keep these rules in mind, don’t be afraid to experiment with details. After all, it’s your living room, so you should make it work for you.

*Collaborative post