The living room is truly the heart of a home. It is the place where one can unwind after a long day at work, where family members can gather on weekends, or where all household members go to put their feet up and watch some TV or read a book. To put it simply, a living room revolves around the idea of optimal comfort for a wide range of purposes and people.
If you are thinking about redecorating your living room, this guide will provide you with some inspirations and ideas to elevate it in terms of both style and comfort, including things to look out for when selecting and buying new furniture.
How to Select a Colour Palette
When it comes to interior design of any kind, colour is important because it's likely to be the first thing guests notice when they enter the space. It is simpler to block in colourful furniture that lets actual personality emerge through living spaces that have minimalistic wall paint colours, which typically come in shades of white, cream, or beige.
If you're planning to furnish your living room with new furniture, consider the mood you want to create in this room. You might choose furniture in brighter colours like yellow, orange, and brown if you want to set an energetic tone. Blue or pastel furniture with wooden accents can inspire peace if you are looking for peace-inspiring furniture. Or, you can use mostly black or white furniture with pops of vibrant colours like red, cyan, or green for a more modern living room design. Once you have your colour palette picked out, it's time to start shopping for furniture!
This makes it crucial to design a space that inspires feelings of serenity and joy by carefully including components like colour, furniture, and decorations.
Tips for Choosing a Colour Palette
(Credit: Homes & Gardens)
A tip to choosing the right colour palette is to limit to 2-3 different colours that complement and juxtapose each other. In this case, the colour wheel may come handy when selecting the right colours for your interior. The rules of a colour wheel are that any colour you look at will have a different kind of relationship to another colour on another part of the wheel - for example, the colour blue is complementary to orange on the wheel (as they are directly opposite each other). You can also experiment with contrasting colour schemes, where you pick a light colour (such as pink) to contrast with a bold colour (such as dark green). Or, you could stick to a monochromatic colour scheme which utilises shades within the same colour family.
Creating a mood board will also help you to have a better idea of how the colours will match with each other or whether it is the ambience you are aiming to construct. Mood boards can come in many forms and they are a great way to exercise your creativity, but they will typically consist of your chosen colour palette, textures you plan to incorporate, furniture ideas, and spatial concepts or inspiration.
How to Choose a Sofa
It is vastly true that no living room is truly complete without a sofa, which is usually the centrepiece of the room. These pieces of furniture are almost synonymous with comfort, allowing you to recline at any time of the day.
To choose the most suitable sofa for your living room, you should first of course consider the size of the space. Make sure to choose a sofa that is not too big or too small for the space provided – a sofa too big might not leave enough room for any other furniture pieces or put you at risk of sitting too closely to other items such as the television or coffee table, whereas a sofa too small might look out-of-place.
Next up is deciding the feel of your sofa. Sofas come in a range of different materials and fillings. You should opt for a material that is fuss-free and easy to clean should anything stain it, such as high quality coated textile or leather. You also want to make sure your sofa is supportive and comfortable (according to your own preferences) – some people prefer foam cushion fillings if they like more support, whereas others will opt for feathers if they want something particularly soft.
You also need to decide on what style of sofa you want. One of our picks is the Molteni & C Paul corner sofa, which is well-suited for larger spaces or open-plan designs, and is a good option if you have numerous family members or often have people over. You can easily combine corner sofas with other armchairs or lounge chairs to create an atmosphere fit for gatherings. Medium sized spaces will benefit from a Normann Copenhagen Rope sofa with fillings made of supportive memory foam that you find in a highend mattress, along with a pair of lounge chairs.
To create a more modern living room, you can try contemporary sofas with tapered legs, stylish frames, or interesting silhouettes. This range of sofas is available in multiple seating options and can be produced according to your choice of material and colour. Made from a combination of high-density and low-density foam and wadding with elegant powder-coated steel legs, this sofa is not only extremely comfortable but impeccably chic, giving your space a contemporary touch.
How to Choose a Coffee Table
Choosing a coffee table is a similar task as choosing a sofa and these two items should complement each other nicely. Firstly, make sure you go for a model that fits comfortably within the space and also fits in with the overall colour palette of the room, especially with the sofa. You can also consider how many coffee tables you would like to fit in your living room, as these pieces of furniture are essential if you plan to have guests over or eat meals within this space.
You can opt to incorporate a round coffee table into your living room design, which can be highly adaptable in creating a cozy space. A long coffee table is best suited if you want a more permanent fixture in the living room, and could even work as a display table. If you want your coffee tables to be equally as decorative as they are useful, a Normann Copenhagen Solid Table or Scala Table may be just the splash of personality you are looking for.
How to Add Decor and Storage
Decorative touches make a space truly yours, and gives you the power to completely transform a room with just a few simple elements. You can add a few chairs or cushions in vibrant colours to instantly liven your living room up, or an elegant Eddy Lamp made of natural Italian marble to make the room more artsy.
If you are short on storage, you can add simple sets of Rib cabinets, Plank bookcase, Jet shelves, or Utopia sideboards which double as display surfaces. Lastly, a trick to make any room appear bigger than it seems is to add in some mirrors, which can be a key consideration when you are shopping for new furniture pieces.
Living Room Furniture Ideas
We hope the above guide has been helpful in your venture for buying furniture to spruce up your living room! For more living room inspiration, please visit our designer furniture store which houses unique collections and some of the best brands for stylish living room design.