When designing the perfect living room for you and your family, S&S design team has a couple tips. This is a room that you spend so much of your time in as a family and when you have guests over. Here are the 9 must haves for the perfect living room.
1. Neutral sofa or sectional:
As the largest piece of furniture (and probably your most expensive) this piece should be comfortable and a neutral pallet. You can have fun with color and patterns with other pieces/decor in the room.
2. Big coffee table:
We love a big table and we can not lie😉 This table needs to be big enough to hold your coffee in the morning, your plate of food in the evening and anything else during the day. It always becomes a landing zone.
This concrete table we had custom made for a client, because the living room was so big and we could not find a table big enough to fit the space properly. The legs of the table were made from the remnants from the custom ceiling beams in the room.
3. Accent chairs:
At least one accent chair helps make the living room more conversational when guest are over. You don't want to all be on the couch facing the same way. Place that chair up to the fireplace or book shelf. When decorating, people get nervous to float furniture items in the room and end up pushing everything against the walls. It feels more conversational when the chair is angled towards the couch, like in the picture below.
4. Area rug:
Even if you have carpet, an area rug helps define the space and makes it visually feel more cozy. It also helps to anchor the space, and define where the furniture should go. Whether you have all the legs of your furniture on the carpet or just the fronts legs, these are some general rules to consider when choosing the size of your rug:
Typical living room rug sizes are 8’x10′ and 9’x12′.
Make sure your rug is at least 6″ wider (8″ is ideal) than your sofa on both sides.
Run the rug the length of the sofa.
Give 30″ to 36″ of a walkway between large furniture pieces (if your living room allows for it) if not then at least 18″-24″. That will help to inform your rug size.
Below is an example of layering rugs, which is great if you have a rug that you love, but it is on the small side. (All this talk about rug sizes and furniture layouts makes me think I need a whole blog dedicated to just this subject...Stay tuned!)
5. Pillows and blankets:
This is where you can have fun with color and pattern. Your style changes throughout the seasons and this is a less expensive way to bring in trends that come and go. Also, everyone loves snuggling up on the couch with a pillow and a blanket.
6. Different types of lighting:
Overhead lighting, table lamps, candles and of course the fireplace. The ambiance changes throughout the day, and so should your lighting.
7. Stylish Decor:
Personal items, baskets, pictures and coffee table books to name a few. Most of us spend the majority of the time in the family/living room. It should make you feel happy being in it and there should be personal touches sprinkled throughout. Sometimes the best items are the ones with a story behind it. So, don't forget to pick up beautiful pieces along your travels.
8. T.V. with a sound system:
The pièce de résistance is of course the T.V. Let's be honest, it is why we all love hanging out in the living room. Having a flat screen and a great sound system is a must. When guests are over, the sound system is great for some background music as well. We partner with HMI for all of our sound system needs.
In this home, we have have sound system speakers throughout the main floor, and even on the front porch outside. The bigger television speakers are hidden behind the firewood in the built-in niches.
9. Fireplace with wood storage:
It has been a design feature in all of our model homes. We don’t typically put a wood burning fireplace in a living room, but we love the look of it with the built-in fire wood storage. Read this Fireplace blog to learn how to bring wood safely into your home and not unwanted bugs.
We hope this was helpful and you feel inspired to have a little fun decorating your own living room!
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