Everyone feels like bigger homes are easier to decorate. You need so many things for a functional and comfortable home and you need to arrange them without making it too stuffy, you need a sense of openness and wideness. Nevertheless, any room regardless of its size has its limits. Even in the biggest living room, you may have to eliminate something you really like. While you may have to choose carefully, with a little bit of planning, you can have the living room of your dreams, even if it’s small. And with creative use of LED downlights, mirrors, patterns, wall coverings, flooring, and carefully chosen house furniture, you can create an illusion of a larger room, while having everything you need for a functional living room.
Furniture
Designing a small living room follows the same principles as designing a larger one. Aside from finding furniture pieces that you like and that will fit, you should think about proportions, and avoid putting too many elements that will take up all the floor space. That’s one advantage of decorating a small living room – buying fewer elements, means fewer costs and work.
Anyone with a small living room knows that functionality is the most important thing to think about. And, if you are designing one, you are in luck, because nowadays, many manufacturers put an accent on functionality. Furniture that plays more than one role in the home is becoming more and more popular, and as popularity grows, so do quality and ingenuity. More importantly, practical furniture comes in beautiful designs, made by reputable manufacturers, with superior craftsmanship and good materials.
So, when you are trying to find house furniture for your small living room, have this in mind. Aside from the proper size and shape, in a design, style and colour you like, the next key ingredient is practicality. Your goal is to maximise the space and create a living room scheme that will allow comfort, without lacking in all the things you need from it. To do this, think about convenient storage, for instance, a storage footstool, extra seating options, such as small ottomans that can fit under a table, look for designs that aren’t too bulky, such as shelves in simple designs.
Furthermore, choose colours that won’t make the room feel stuffy. Neutral, white, black and greys are your safest bet. Instead of installing a lot of shelves and storage space, opt for one built-in storage, to accommodate all your needs. Furniture pieces that allow you to see through them, like glass or acrylic tables, rattan armchairs, chairs or tables with stylish thin metal legs etc., can all make your space visually wider.
Wallpapers
Walls play a key role in the design, and the way you cover them can make a huge difference. Regardless of the style, the home décor and the size of the room, the walls provide the backdrop to the entire composition, tying everything together. With walls being such an important part of the décor, another key ingredient for a beautiful and comfy small living room, are wallpapers.
Wallpaper nowadays comes in such incredible diversity, not only in designs but also in materials and quality, that it offers great decorative opportunities for any room. This is why they are so popular amongst both interior designers and homeowners. If you find the right wall paper designs for your small living room, not only can you make it look stunning, but you can also use make it feel wider, brighter and more open.
As a matter of fact, whether you feel like you need a more luxurious vibe, you want to do something fun with the space, add more interest, add more texture to create the perfect living room from your dreams, etc. wallpapers can offer you many opportunities to achieve whatever you envision. You can create a feature wall with a beautiful wallpaper design, you can wallpaper an odd space in the room, visually mark an area, wallpaper the back of a bookshelf etc.
To enlarge your living room visually, you should choose white, cream and other light colours. For more style, you can choose textured wallpaper. However, dark colours can also be a great option, as it is a misconception that black makes rooms feel smaller. Furthermore, wall paper designs with patterns are your friend for small living rooms. Patterns with smaller prints are more subtle, and they are a good option. Nevertheless, even though it seems counterintuitive, big geometric shapes can be a great option for small rooms.
Vinyl Floors
One of the most popular floor solutions lately, vinyl flooring is a great option for the floor in your small living room. Vinyl floors offer many advantages over other types of floors, including fact that it is very easy to clean and stain-resistant. Moreover, they are incredibly resilient, durable and long-lasting, because they are made of quality materials. Featuring a layer of cushioning, they also offer comfort, protect you from falls, and lower the risk of broken things.
However, the most important reason why vinyl flooring is a key ingredient for a perfect small living room, is that it gives you an opportunity to create a beautiful coherent design, so important in small spaces. Floors are the second-largest surface in a room. It’s the fourth side of the frame that holds the entire image that is your living room design. So, floor choice really matters. When it comes to smaller rooms, if you choose well your room can seem wider, and, of course, if you choose poorly, the room may seem claustrophobic.
From an aesthetic point of view, it’s a great idea to choose vinyl flooring, because it can perfectly mimic any other type of floor, and more importantly, you can find it in a wide range of colours. This basically means that you can have much more control over the backdrop of your room, and you can design the room as a whole much easier.
The floors in a small living room should be lighter, with colours such as cream, light tan, off-white…, as it will make the place visually appear more open and larger. If you choose to go to different colours, you should still choose lighter shades, for the same reasons. Unlike with walls, when it comes to floors you should avoid patterns, as they will interrupt the vision making the room feel more cluttered. However, if you want to go with a pattern, you should go for larger geometric shapes.
