Your living room often ends up being the center of your home. It’s where people relax together and unwind after long days. It’s a room for reading and enjoying television shows, a room for board games and sleepovers, and entertaining guests. Given its central nature, the decor of your living room can help set the tone for your entire home. The following aims to keep that in mind as it offers a few simple approaches that can help you decorate your living room like a professional.
Lighting Comes First
There’s a reason even shabby rooms in movies look kind of cool: the lighting. First and foremost, it’s a good idea to maximize the natural light available in your living room during the day. This means choosing window fixtures that don’t prevent you from soaking up that fabulous vitamin-d-rich light that comes from the sun. It also means cleaning your windows before you make any decor choices, as freshly-cleaned windows will give you the most accurate sense of natural lighting in the space. If you have small windows, it’s an excellent idea to place mirrors opposite the windows to help maximize the natural lighting.
Of course, you also are going to want artificial lighting in your living room so you can use the space after dark. Take the time to figure out which shade of lightbulb you want most, as this can make a huge difference in the look of your space. Colder-toned lights tend to create feelings of cleanliness and freshness, but too cold runs the risk of making your space feel cold and clinical. Warmer-toned lights often create feelings of coziness and welcome, but too much warmth makes things feel dim and cramped. If you regularly watch television in your living room, you may want to consider dimming switches so you don’t have a glare on the television but aren’t sitting in complete darkness.
You might also want to work with lighting features. This might mean interesting lamps or an electric fireplace insert. These sorts of features allow for the light in your living room to perform double duty, helping cultivate feelings of comfort in your space.
Go Green
One major element of decor that is often overlooked is the life you keep in your space. Plants look lovely, but they also have a major impact on the experience of being in your space. Houseplants help clear toxins out of the air; they also boost your mood, creativity, and energy levels. Further, houseplants reduce stress and anxiety. Because of these effects, plants are great at creating welcoming feelings and a fresh ‘it’ factor, making people want to stay and hang out for hours. If you have pets, be sure to research which plants are toxic to the particular species you have, as many common houseplants are not great for dogs.
Staple Decor
One of the best decor tips for any room is to focus on a staple piece and build the remainder of your decor around it. This will prevent you from having several loud pieces competing with each other for people’s attention. It will also make it a lot easier to match things. Start with one big, different piece. That could be a fireplace, a sofa, or a central patterned rug. Once that’s in place, you’ll find the rest of your choices are limited by needing to suit that initial decision.
Learn About Colour Psychology
If you take a bit of time to learn about environmental psychology, you’ll discover that certain colors have certain effects on people’s moods. When you’ve made a choice regarding the color for larger objects like the walls, floors, or sofa, take a moment to check the psychological impact of that particular color. You might find that something you liked isn’t actually so appealing. Of course, always use your preferences as part of this process. Don’t select a color you dislike simply for the impact it has on your mood.
Storage Benefits
As a general rule, furniture that contains extra storage is a significant win when it comes to decorating. Just because you don’t need the storage now doesn’t mean you’re not going to need it in the future. It’s also super handy on those days when you have surprise visitors, and you want to tidy quickly.
The above information should have outlined a few key components of decorating your living room like a professional. It’s okay if this process takes longer than expected—hunting for the right pieces that work well together can be a bit of an adventure.
