10 Small Living Room Decor Ideas
No matter how small your living room is, there are designer strategies to make it feel much bigger than it appears to be. If you know how to make it work, you'll forget about your small living room and create a space that you can enjoy relaxing and entertaining in.
Get ready to bookmark all these tips and transform your small living room into a comfortable, stylish oasis for you and your household to hang out in.
Choose light colors. Lighter colors occupy less visual weight, opening up the room. Use glass and thin-legged tables so the eye can see straight through to the floor, making it virtually invisible. Avoid dark stains, woods, or colors as they have a heavy effect, constricting the room.
Think in lines. It's so easy to think about the square footage of a room and completely forget that there's way more to it than that: just look up. If you can get the eye to move up from the floor, you're good to go.
Scale down your furniture. If your room is small, choose furniture that matches. Go for chairs that take up less space (without arms or thinner legs), loveseats, ottomans, etc. At the end of the day, there will be more space in the room.
Get a large print carpet. If you have a dark wood floor, this is an especially good idea. A large print carpet, ideally with lines, will open up your space, in addition to brightening it up.
Get multifunctional furniture. Start seeing double. An oversized ottoman in the center of the seating area can serve as a coffee table with a decorative tray added, while the piece can also double for extra seating. Or, trade a coffee table for a woven trunk with storage space inside.
Choose portable pieces. Select smaller, portable pieces that can be rearranged. Three small end tables grouped as a coffee table are easy to sprinkle around the room to open up traffic flow when entertaining or to clear space for children to play.
Use mirrors. Mirrors can easily make a small space look larger -- we've all walked into a room that, upon first impression, was huge, but with a second glance, it was just our eyes being tricked. If you can, use a mirror that expands vertically.
Control clutter. There are going to be things you need in the room that you may wish you didn't, so get creative when it comes to storing them. Invest in some cute cubes, boxes, or baskets.
Layer your lights. To really appreciate any room, the lighting has to be right, but this goes double in a small room. All curtains should be light and airy and able to be drawn back -- after all, natural light is best.
Build in storage. If your budget allows, design some light-colored cabinets or shelving you can build into the room. Not only will this draw the eye upward, but it gives the room character and function, too.
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