A small living room with limited floor space can totally cramp your personal style. However, you can live large in your tiny living room when you know the designer tips for creating an airy, well-functioning space. Keep reading to discover how you can love your small living room in five easy steps.
1. Take Inventory
Make a list of the existing furniture pieces, decorative items, and wall décor that you’d like to keep in your living room. Get rid of the furniture that you seldom use or don’t like. The same goes for decorative items, window treatments and wall decor. Only keep those items that you use often and love. Think minimalism when deciding what stays in your living room. Clutter is the design enemy when creating a more spacious ambiance in a small room.
2. Create a Bright Atmosphere
Give your small living room a bright atmosphere with neutral-toned walls, more natural light, and plenty of task and mood lighting. Choose a neutral paint color for your walls, such as lightest gray, soft white, barely beige, or creamy ivory. Exchange heavy, dark window coverings for Roman shades layered with breezy sheer curtains. Top your end tables with stylish lamps to provide task lighting for reading. Brighten up a dark corner with a floor torchiere lamp. Place rope lights on top of your fireplace, armoire, or built-in ledges to provide a soft glow.
3. Think Vertical
Take advantage of the vertical space in your small living room to supply added function and a roomier feel. Install a custom floor-to-ceiling open-shelf unit to maximize wall space and provide a place to display your books, decorative items, framed photographs, and potted plants. Hang curtains a few inches above the tops of your window frames to create the illusion of taller windows. Create an accent wall by adhering neutral-toned wallpaper with wide vertical stripes to a single wall. The vertical stripes create the look of a taller room and the neutral tones offer a calming aesthetic appeal.
4. Make It Functional
Incorporate furniture pieces with dual purposes for increased function without crowding. For example, a square storage ottoman can serve as a coffee table and a place to rest your legs, while supplying storage space inside. A sofa sleeper is a great place to relax but also offers an extra bed for an overnight guest. Incorporate a television cabinet with an electric fireplace insert to provide a convenient spot for your television, extra storage space inside the cabinets, and a built-in cozy fireplace for chilly nights.
5. Embrace Coziness
One of the advantages of a small living room is its cozy ambiance. You can embrace the coziness with textured furniture throws, decorative toss pillows, chic table lamps, framed black-and-white photographs, a vase of fresh flowers, and potted greenery. However, cozy doesn’t equal cluttered, so don’t overdo it. You can also incorporate a sofa with a soft texture, such as corduroy or microfiber. Cozy up a classic leather sofa with woven throws and textured toss pillows.
Your space-challenged living room can provide the coziness, comforts, and function of a much larger space. Use the design elements you learned about in this article to create a cozy, functional, light-filled room that feels spacious and airy. Get started on transforming your small living room into a space where you’ll love to spend more time.
