If you are planning to build a house or you have a friend or relative who is building a house, then you will keep hearing words like an interior decorator or interior designer very frequently. Are they synonymous, or are they different? Well, many ponder over this and Gharpedia is about to let you know all the living room design and décor tips in this write-up.
Living Room Design and Décor Tips
Before starting our journey with living room design and décor tips, let us first understand the difference between interior design and interior decoration.
What is the Difference Between Interior Designing and Interior Decoration?
The terms interior design and interior decoration are used synonymously, but they are fundamentally different. So, let us first know their meaning and understand the basic difference between them, which is stated very clearly by New School of Architecture and Design.
What is Interior Design?
Interior design is the multi-faceted profession that understands the behavior of the space and helps the owner of the house to create a functional space within the building that includes the shape of rooms, its walls, floor, ceilings and many more. They give more emphasis on local building codes, sound transmissions and acoustics, fire safety, accessibility, efficiency, and functionality of space.
What is Interior decoration?
Interior decoration is basically furnishing your interior space with pretty fashionable things and giving a space the finishing touch. It does not give emphasis on the designing or structural functions of the building. Rather, it considers color scheme, themes, textures, int erior style and its inspirations of space, accessories, fixtures, furnishings, etc. Thus, it might be now clear that though interior designers and interior decorators do similar things, their roles may still be quite different.
Now, have you ever wondered which space in your house needs to be well-designed and decorated? Yes, a space called the living room. The living room design and decor have something to do with your comfort as it is one of the most important rooms of your house where you spend most of your precious time during the day.
Let us Now Dive Deep and Understand the Different Aspects of Living Room Design and Décor.
How to Design Living Room?
The living room is the common area of the house that will be used by each and every person in your house. Thus, it is important to take all the differences into account and design the living room in such a way that it suits the lifestyle of each member of your family and also the structure of your house. Also, not all the living rooms are the same; there are many types of living rooms with reference to their shape, size, style or form. We have listed some general tips that can help you out in designing living room.
01. Planning the Basic Layout for Living Room
The living room might host a variety of activities. Thus, the very first step in designing living room is its planning. For the appropriate planning of the living room, it is mandatory for you to be clear with these general questions:
- What is the importance of a living room to you?
- What all activities would be carried out in your living room?
- The seating capacity needed in your living room and its location
- Do you want your living room to be converted into a media room?
- Is your living room meant to be a place where you’ll be working on laptops?
- Do you need any storage in your living room?
- Do you have a separate family room in the home?
After getting answers to these basic questions, share all your requirements with the interior designers, who will help you plan your living room as per your preferences and taste.
Before you start with any design or decoration, first freeze your layout, i.e location and size of different furniture and decoration elements that will be accommodated in your living room. This has to be done judiciously keeping in mind room orientation, location of doors and windows, connectivity to other rooms, staircase location etc. In fact, decide not just the location and sizes of your sofa, center table, TV etc, but also pay attention to other small furniture elements like a shoe rack or showpieces or even a swing that shall be placed inside the living area. Further, in view of their location, decide the placement of the lights and their switches. This will help you bring in basic efficiency and functional utility.
02. Plan and Select Living Room Furniture
The best idea to start planning and selecting the living room furniture is to start with the sofa design, because the sofa is considered to be the principal feature of any living room. Before selecting the sofa, it is important to keep in mind that the sofa should provide enough seating space, allow required circulation space and also look proportionate as per the size of the living room.
For larger living rooms, try to provide multiple seating areas whereas for smaller living rooms provide the sofa with additional seating facing it or at a right angle to the sofa according to the availability of the space.
03. Pay Attention Towards Living Room Walls
The walls of the living room play a major role in deciding the design style as well as the overall look of the living room. Therefore, you must let your creativity work. Think out of the box and do not confine yourself to mere painting the wall. Play with wallpapers; opt for some tile cladding, exposed brickwork, wall paneling, upholstery or even a vertical garden.
04. Decide Appropriate Flooring for Living Room
The flooring of the living room is indeed an area that needs attention because it is one element that catches the eye. You have various options for the selection of flooring as per your design style, taste and budget. For example, engineered wooden flooring keeps the flooring stable in the changing climate, temperature and humidity. Natural stone flooring can be attractive as far as the look is concerned. Porcelain or vinyl tiles can give you the same quotient of style and look like that of a stone or wood without the same amount of care. You can even go with carpets that are available in various shades, patterns and textures for warmth underfoot.
05. Plan the Storage in Living Room
Planning for sufficient living room storage is very necessary so that nothing seems messy and scattered in your living room. Storage can be both – open or closed. Open storage can be used for displaying some items, whereas closed storage is best for the things to be kept concealed. There are various ways that may look pretty handsome and provide enough storage. You can provide storage in the form of cabinets, armoires, console cabinets, shelves, coffee table with shelves or drawers, extra seating with storage, or storage ottoman.
06. Choose Appropriate Color Palette for Living Room
The color palette of the living room reflects your taste. This will be seen in every component of the living room, i.e., walls, furniture, window treatments, rugs, ceilings, accessories, etc. Thus, it is very essential to choose a perfect color palette for your living room. Mostly, you may go with monochromatic schemes that have different shades of the same color, an analogous scheme that is adjacent to each other in the color wheel, a complementary scheme that has colors from opposite sides of the color wheel or a triadic scheme that has three equidistant shades from the color wheel.
07. Choose Suitable Lightings for Living Room
There are three types of lighting to be taken care of while designing the living room, and they are ambient lighting, task lighting, and accent lighting. Ambient lighting is general lighting of the room, task lighting is meant for the provision of lights for specific tasks like reading, and accent lighting is meant to highlight the best features of the living room and it contributes to creating an elegant atmosphere in your living room.
08. Choose Proper type of Window Treatments for Living Room
The window treatments are not just used to enhance the aesthetic value of the living room but are also meant for functional purposes. They might be used for creating privacy, darkening the living room or reducing the glare of the sun. Curtain, drape, blinds and shades are some types of window treatments. It is advisable to select the most appropriate one depending on the user’s choice and taste.
Apart from designing the living room, decoration also plays an important role in creating an impactful living area. Thus, let us have a look at some important points to be kept in mind while doing interior decoration of living room.
How to Decorate Living Room?
01. Mix Light and Dark Colors in Living Room
A living room should neither be too bright nor too dark. Either of these issues can be tackled by mixing dark and light colors to give a dynamic touch to the living room.
02. Redefine Neutrals
Apart from including some whites and blacks, the addition of some contrasting neutrals (like green, navy, marigold, etc.) can add a rich and welcoming look to your living room. If you don’t love playing with various patterns and colors, add these contrasting neutral shades by the means of anchor pieces, artworks, paintings, murals, lamps, etc.
03. Use Mirrors in Living Room
Use the mirrors to make the living room feel brighter and more prominent. It helps to add light in the space where you don’t want to install physical lights.
04. Upholster the Walls of Living Room
Upholstering the walls with various type of fabric or leather can make your living room look classic and timeless.
05. Make Your Living Room Cheerful
Make your living room cheerful by painting the walls of the living room with bright colors, adding playful pillows and ottomans, bright-colored wall décor pieces or lamps etc.
06. Hang a chair/swing in Living Room
The hanging chair gives a playful touch to your living room.
07. Add Some Textures to the Living Room Walls
You can add some eye-catchy textures on your walls other than the plain colored wall to make the living room look more stunning.
08. Install Statement Lighting overhead
The presence of just one hanging light in a living room can do the job of several accents. The hanging lights never fail. They can simply make the entire living room feel special.
09. Add some Wall Art/ Sculptures in Your Living Room
Wall art is a great way to add a big statement to your living room. Though wall art does not take the surface space, it completely transforms the aesthetic view of your living room.
10. Display Books in Stylish Way in Your Living Room
If you are a book lover, then try to display your collection of books in a stylish pattern. To display books in a creative way, offset the books with the artworks.
11. Try Gallery Walls
A gallery wall is a clear statement maker in the living room. Just mix and match the frames of various sizes that speak of your personal touches.
12. Play with Shapes and Colors
When we talk about the artwork, the bigger and distinct the artwork, the bigger is the addition of the statement to your living room.
13. Paint the Ceiling of Living Room
Why to play only with the walls when you have another good option to play with i.e. the ceiling. Painting the ceiling is yet another way to approach your living room’s decoration purpose.
14. Add Rocking Chair to Living Room
Adding a rocking chair to your living room and make it a super chic element of the living room.
15. Add Candles in Living Room
Just imagine your living room glowing with the candle lights. For creating proper ambience through candle lights, opt for chandelier with candle holders or you can even display it on your mantel and light them up when required.
16. Decorate Living Room with Plants/ Fountains
Adding greenery to your living room is the latest ongoing trend. So, style up your living room using plants and make the space more breathable and relaxing. You can also add a small fountain to bring in the water element inside the house.
Visit our Best Home Design page for obtaining inspirations for designing and decorating your living room.
Summing it up, create a living room, which suits your lifestyle keeping in mind the above-stated living room design and décor tips. Designing the living room might need lots of work, whereas decorating living room is fun. Thus, decide your needs keeping in mind your budget, and hire an appropriate professional for the best result.
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