Home Comforts
Lovely living rooms
The living room is where most of us spend our downtime, so it needs to be a smart, comfortable, and relaxing space.
Choose a focal point as inspiration for planning your decoration scheme – the fireplace, a statement rug or beautiful painting might provide a useful cue for deciding on a colour scheme and positioning furniture.
A neutral colour scheme is calming and classic. Create interest and a relaxed feel by layering texture and pattern with rugs, cushions and throws in a variety of fabrics – think suede, velvet, chunky knits and jacquard weaves. In addition, a neutral colour scheme means you can easily give your living room a seasonal update by simply swapping soft furnishings and accessories, for instance by replacing lightweight linens in zingy summery shades with heavyweight fabrics in rich autumnal ones.
If your living room is small, pale walls can look dull, while deep, rich colours create a cocooning effect, making the room feel cosy and intimate.
Keep furniture compact and low-level to make the room feel more spacious and hang curtains slightly higher than the window to make the room seem taller than it is.
If your living room is large, try “zoning” it for different activities. For instance, group a coffee table and settee on an area rug, tuck your dining table and chairs behind a shelving unit, place a bookshelf, armchair and lamp in a recess or corner of the room to make a cosy reading nook.
Rebecca Snowden, Interior Style Advisor at FURNITURECHOICE.CO.UK, says, “Come summer, a light-hearted tropical palm print wallpaper is the perfect backdrop for a warm and inviting reading corner. Layer accessories in bright, summery colours like mustard yellow and sage green to complete the look, and add a plant or two for fresher air and longer hours of diving into a good book.”
For lighting, fit a dimmer switch to soften an overhead light, which may look attractive by day but can kill the atmosphere once switched on at night. Add a variety of lighting at different heights – table lamps, uplighters, wall lights, picture lights – to form interesting pools of light around the room.