You don’t have to be an interior designer or sacrifice style to be comfortable in your living room. In fact, crafting an appealing space involves considering everything from style to function.
One of the simplest ways is to begin by choosing a complete living room set that you like. From the color and style of the set, you can match the rest of the room’s furnishings. This helps keep the entire room focused on a limited palette, resulting in a cohesive space. When selecting a specific living room set, keep in mind what color palette and design aesthetic you are aiming for with the entire room; or, if you are uncertain where to start, simply select a set you like and build a unique room out from this foundation.
Of course, design is about more than appearance. Your living areas should be functional and effectively maintain their purpose. In the case of the living room, your furnishings have multiple functions. Your living room set should be reasonably durable, in keeping with how it will be used. Kids and pets, for instance, increase the amount of wear a sofa must hold up against. Materials like leather and tightly woven cotton are some of the best options in these cases.
But your furniture should also perform the functions you need it to. If you routinely host game nights and need to be able to easily shuffle seats around, consider sets composed of many smaller pieces. If you and your partner enjoy kicking your feet up on Friday nights to watch a movie, look for reclining living room sets. If you have thick, wall-to-wall carpet already installed, longer legs will enable you to clean beneath your set far more easily than shorter legs, which perform better on the hardwood. While these are only suggestions. Considering the uses of your living room can help extend the life of your furniture and save you the hassle and expense of repairs or replacements later.
Based on your selected set or sectional, you will be able to match wall color, wood stain for bookcases, lamp covers, curtains, even throw pillows. Of all of these, however, we recommend emphasizing only one or two main features to give the room focal points and keep it from feeling cluttered. A large indoor plant, for instance, breathes life into any room and can easily be matched to almost any design.
As you build out the room, the arrangement of items comes into play. Obviously, you want to select a living room set that does not overcrowd the room, but beyond that, the placement of each piece should reflect your personal preferences. If your living area is used primarily for TV watching, orienting the TV stand and sofa to avoid glare from the windows is probably a higher priority than arranging a straight path from the hallway into the living room.
To be well designed, your living room must meet your needs—aesthetic and practical—which includes keeping it affordable. You will find it difficult to be satisfied with a living room set that overreached your budget. With a strong living room set as its foundation, however, you will be able to confidently build a space where you can truly feel at home.