Tom Dawson
Small living room areas don’t have to be a design problem when decorating a home. There are loads of ideas for turning limited square footage into an advantage if you pick the right design.
While every space has its unique features and challenges, there are some common layouts that call for extra design creativity.
However, this can limit the options for positioning furniture and adding shelving or finding free space for wall decor.
In this case, major furniture pieces will need to keep a low profile to avoid hiding the windows. Just like a small living room with lots of windows, one with multiple doors is also challenging to decorate.
You don’t want seating and other furnishings to block the path through the room or take up too much precious floor space. Unique wall shapes and angles can add interest but at the same time, they can be annoying when it comes to decorating. Odd corners, nooks, crannies and alcoves call for creative solutions and might require some extra workarounds. Open plans are great, especially for making a small living area feel larger.
If you don’t have a wall area large enough to anchor your sofa or television set up, get creative. If it starts feeling crowded, it will emphasize the lack of square footage in the room.
Choose lighter decor and opt for lighting fixtures that don’t take up valuable space. Whether visual or physical, clutter is your enemy in small living room decor.
To preserve visual space, don’t load the room with too many patterns, prints and colors. The resulting busy vibe will make already small spaces feel even more confined.
The open shelves make good use of the vertical space available and let the room feel more spacious and less cluttered. This living area offers a number of design challenges, including the awkward walls.
In addition, the patterns included are minimal and not overwhelming and the coffee table reflects those colors in the glass. Turn the room into a cozy seating area and focus your efforts on creating a harmonious décor while using as little furniture as possible without compromising on style and comfort.
Notice the subtle orange accents that complement the light neutral color palette and the texture on the walls.
Carefully chosen elements make the space interesting and not just a big neutral box of a living room. Instead, the right choices make it easy to create a welcoming and cozy small living area. Although this sitting room is only wide enough to incorporate a three-seater sofa, somehow it doesn’t feel tiny.
The large windows and the sliding glass doors that lead outdoors definitely help but the key is the simplicity of the design. The tailored blinds and streamlined chairs balance the bulkier sofa design.
Note the style of blinds, which are perfect for a small space that does not need to have total privacy because of the view. To make a room feel like a bigger space, incorporate open shelves anywhere you can. We love the way the wooden ceiling stands out and the fact that the lighting fixtures don’t overwhelm the room. Yet you can maximize the amount of light coming through the small window and the way it influences the décor by keeping the design simple and the room uncluttered.
Nonetheless, you can see that by making it the only seating and banishing cutter, the tiny room feels stylish and open despite the lack of natural light. In this case, the bold black, white and cream color scheme helps make it feel larger. Paint the walls the same color as the ceiling to make a room feel larger.
Another option is to create a uniform and cohesive look to start with by using the same color for the walls and ceiling and a similar tone for the rug and then to add a little bit of contrast to the room with the furniture.
The surround of this living space could feel a bit boring and dark, thanks to the small windows and low ceiling. Instead, the bright, warm colors of the sofa, cushions and art make it feel chic.
This living space has a couple of great ideas, including the best way to deal with TV placement. It might be a bit counterintuitive to use a mural, but the large expanse of the design is preferable to a collection of smaller pieces. For example, the fireplace is definitely the focal point of this room but the striped armchairs balance out the décor both in terms of color and ambiance.
This charming living room is about as traditional as you can get, but the pop of pattern makes it more interesting and helps draw attention to the middle of the space.
If you have a compact living room, it can be a blessing for your budget when it comes to decorating because you need fewer things. Other things you can do include painting the walls, using peel-and-stick wallpaper, adding artwork and shopping your own belonging for decor items.
Successfully decorating a little living room is easy if you call on your creativity and enthusiasm. As they say, good things come in small packages and that can mean a living room too.
