When it comes to a small living room, you don’t have a lot space to work with. Yet, you want to make the most out of your space to provide a charming and welcoming area for guests who visit. The living space is the area in the house that is the most exposed to guests, hence it has to be both welcoming and beautiful. If you’ve been at the task of decorating or redecorating your small living room, you have come to the right place. We have some helpful tips and advice that should help you figure out the best design for your small living room. We will discuss the various small living rooms designs, so you know, what to add and what to simply leave out.
Cluttering the living space is probably on the biggest worries when it comes to decorating a small space. You don’t want to overwhelm the space with too much furniture to the point that it becomes difficult to get from one side to another.
Coupled with the quanlity of the living space, you would also have to keep in mind the colours that you use.
Regardless of how small your space is, there is a design that you can choose to make your living room look fabulous. Hence without further adieu, let’s dive into the integral component of designing a small living room, that you should first keep in mind.
Read These 7 Tips and Remember Them First
When it comes to designing a small living space, you have your work cut out for you. You don’t have a lot of space to work with and you don’t want to overwhelm the area with too much furniture. So what is the best place to start?
1. Sofa’s Choice
When it comes to arranging the furniture in a small space, this can become an overwhelming task. You want to ensure that you get furniture that is suitable for the small space. You don’t want to stuff the living room with a huge couch and not have space for anything more. Hence the main rule when it comes to design applies, choose the furniture that fits the space and don’t try to squeeze too much in.
Oftentimes, with decorating, you would find that less is more. You can always opt for a minimalistic design, however, there is more that you can do by way of design.
Choosing the sofa is probably the most important task that you have at hand. It becomes the centre-piece of the living area and is usually where the eye is drawn to first. Hence be sure to pick the right sofa for your space.
Armless sofas look amazingly sleek in small spaces, however, they aren’t the most comfortable to lounge on. One more thing to keep in mind is how you probably won’t have a small living room for as long as you may have the couch. If you are looking to move to a bigger space, you may want to choose a sofa that is more comfortable.
The sofa is the highlighting piece of furniture for the room, hence when it comes to picking a sofa, think of it as an investment and you can go about purchasing the less expensive furniture to accent your design.
2. Accent Chairs
When working on a small space, you want to diversify the look and feel of the living area without adding too much into the space. A great way to do this is by adding an accent chair.
When you are looking for the right accent chair for a small living space, you want to look for light colours. Dark colours on the contrary will make the chair look too big for the room.
Once again, armless chairs would be a good choice to make when you decide on the accent chair for your room. Slipper chairs are a great choice and you should avoid anything with a tall backrest. You can also opt for something like a ghost chair, which is a transparent chair, which works really well in small spaces.
3. Simplify Till it Hurts
Simplicity takes the crown when you are designing a small living space. Look for furniture with a simple and clean finish, with clean lines to ensure that eyes are not stuck in one place.
Just keep it simple and don’t try to do too much with the space. After all, you aren’t designing a huge living space with plenty of room, you want to make the most of the little space you have and make it look fabulous.
Don’t work to overpower your living space with overstuffed chairs and shabby chic slipcovers. These would work to overpower your design, hence always think of simplicity first.
4. Picking Colours
The selection of colours for your living space decides on the final outcome of the design and how well the decor works together.
So start with the bigger pieces such as your sofa. Remember to stick to neutral colours for the larger furniture. Once you have the big neutral colour in place, you can add some interesting texture by mixing smaller pieces of different colours and styles. This will ensure that you don’t have too generic of a feel to the space.
When you are furnishing your small space, you have to remember to stick to a lighter feel and keep colours and patterns simple. The more complexity you try to bring into the project, the harder of a time you would have to blend everything together.
When you are working with a small space, you should keep in mind that colour usually works better in smaller amounts. Hence opt to add colour to the room through things like throw pillows or accessories such as vases and lamps.
5. Finding the Right Coffee Table
You can choose to go for a centre coffee table or an ottoman for the arrangement of the living room. You could even completely opt-out from a coffee table.
However, if you are going for a centre coffee table instead of an ottoman, you should look for something that is transparent, such as acrylic or glass. You should work to steer clear of ornate furnishings and instead look for a table with simple and delicate lines.
With the right coffee table, your table should look to dissolve into the space and disappear, giving the illusion of a larger room.
6. Wall Colour
You should ideally pick your furniture first before deciding on a wall colour. Some people choose to work backwards and paint their walls first and once they purchase the furniture decide that the wall colour doesn’t work and have to go through the task of repainting the walls.
When it comes to wall colours, you should work to provide a small contrast and steer clear of darker colours which will make your space look smaller. You can also opt for vertical stripes which may give the impression of a higher ceiling.
A subtle and light shade of colour for the walls will give the living space a vibrant and welcoming feel, ensuring that the atmosphere isn’t too stuffy. You don’t want to go with too dark of a colour and completely overwhelm a smaller space.
7. Minimalism is Key
As with simplicity, think minimally and you are sure to have a great design on your hands. The truth about a small living space is, you don’t have room to add junk into the space. Hence, you have to ensure that you are making the most out of every square inch of the space.
The best way to ensure that you are making the most out of the space is to ensure that you stick to a minimalistic design. Add only what you need and don’t go overboard. As a rule of thumb, you should stick to one sofa, one chair and one table. It is that simple and that really is the winning formula for small living rooms designs.
Small Living Room Designs
With the basic tips in the bag, you are ready to take on your living room and make the design work for you. When it comes to designing a small living room, you want to opt for simple and beautiful designs that are sure to work well together.
Here are 16 small living room designs which are sure to help you along your way.
1. Anchor the Living Area With the Right Furniture
When it comes to working with a small space, you have a good chance to focus on the right furniture and you don’t really have much space to go wrong. All you have to do is pick a table, a chair and a sofa, so there isn’t much you can go wrong with.
The statement object of a space is what anchors the area. You can turn the TV area for instance into an accent wall, further highlighting the wall and anchoring it into the design of the small living room.
Another thing you should keep in mind is the dual purpose usability of some of the furniture. For instance, the side tables and upholstered ottomans could have dual purposes for entertaining and hosting.
Anchor the living space with the right furniture to give the space the balance it requires. Draw attention to the sofa or a highlighted wall or two. Once again, you don’t have to go overboard, think simplicity and you would be able to anchor the right furniture to fit a small space.
2. Scale the Furniture for the Best Look
When you are looking to work with a small space, you don’t want to misuse the space by adding an overstuffed couch. This will make the space look smaller than it already is.
Scale the furniture to provide the best look for the space by adding an apartment-size sofa that is also close to the ground. This will tend to have the opposite effect on the living area, making it look more spacious.
If you are looking to accent colours and decor by adding elements of shine, such as gold, make sure to blend it well with a good amount of light colours. For instance, if you are looking to add some gold decor to glam up the living room, opt for a lighter shade for the couch and maybe a transparent coffee table to give the space the balance it requires.
Don’t simply overload the space with one shine or colour, instead scale the colours to balance for the best look.
3. Adding Plants to the Decor
When it comes to small spaces, you may think that there really isn’t space for plants. However, you couldn’t be more wrong. Plants come in various sizes and you can surely find something to add to your living space that will brighten up the living area.
There is nothing prettier than adding some plants into the mix. So don’t be afraid of adding plants into the decor.
You could opt for blooming perennials like daffodils or tulips which add some beautiful colour to the room. Or, you could opt for leafy plants which are too beautiful such as ferns and spider plants.
Plants bring an interesting texture to the room and they work really well to clean your air. Hence, do not forget plants when you are thinking of designing your small living room.
4. The Sofa for a Narrow Space
Small living rooms often have a narrow space that you have to work with. In fact, living rooms which are narrow and small can be particularly difficult to decorate.
However, choosing the right sofa for a narrow space could win you a brilliantly finished look, ensuring that you make the most out of the precious square footage.
Opt for something like a sectional sofa, one that is long and can easily lean up against a wall. This will give your narrow space more depth.
5. White Wall Finish
Though you may consider white to be dull, walls painted in white actually work to provide the most calming effect. You can finish your small living room design with a white-on-white interior.
Simply paring white walls with light and pale shades of furniture will provide for an elegant and classy finish, which will undoubtedly make a small space feel much larger and brighter.
Remember when we spoke about wall colours, how we mentioned lighter shades will make a room look bigger. Well, using white is the best means to acquire this. You can mix splashes of colour and texture through smaller items such as accessories such as lamps and sofa cushions; don’t forget houseplants.
6. Don’t Overmatch, Rather Mismatch
Low slung furniture works really well in providing a small space with a larger look and feel. Don’t try too hard to match everything. In fact, you could give your space more texture by adding mismatched furniture and decor from different eras.
Use a vintage leather chair, when in contrast with a contemporary sofa, will pop. Though these individual pieces of furniture are mismatched, they will blend together as a seamless complete set.
Mismatching can be a great way to get the most out of a living space. You would find yourself pleasantly pleased with a vintage piece of furniture, which not only acts as a striking feature of the living space but also blends in perfectly with the other colours and textures of the room.
7. Pair the Best Furniture Together
Once again, low slung designs are your best bet in ensuring that you get the most out of a small space.
When choosing furniture, find the furniture that works well together and pair them. For instance, large mirrors could be paired really well with the interior design of the room to give more depth to the room by making the room appear bigger than it is.
Just the way, low slung furniture looks better in a small room, mirrors when paired with the furniture provide for a grandeur finish.
For more design inspiration, you could pair a lampstand with an accent chair or the sofa with a side table.
8. Rely on Modern Styles
If you are designing your living space from scratch, you should make sure that you stick to a low-profile neutral colour for your furniture, giving the space a more modern feel.
Modern styles rely on pattern rugs and of course house plants to provide for contrasting textures with a pop of colour against what should be a pale and light backdrop. The walls and the focus furniture such as the couch should be light. Hence, when you add the colours of a patterned rug, it gives the space a modern and tasteful finish.
If you find yourself trying to set up a floor lamp but are finding it hard to place it in the living area, you should think a little beyond and look to wall-mount the lamp or light.
9. Use Shabby Chic
Now, this is basically based on preference. If you like shabby chic, you could design your small living room to have a beautiful style with a mix of light colours which will make the space look much bigger than it really is.
You could use white slipcovered furniture and vintage accents to add some style to the living space while ensuring an enchanting feel which is both comfortable and stylish.
You don’t want to go overboard with the colours though. As mentioned repeatedly in this article, you should aim for light and pale shades which will accent the style of the interior and give your space a grander look.
10. Shelf The Gap
Unless you have your sofa backed against a wall, you may find that there may be room between your sofa and your wall. Now, this is a one-off design issue which only happens in certain circumstances. However, if you do find yourself in this predicament, there are things that you can do.
For instance, you can add a bookcase of shelves to the gap of the sofa and the wall to provide as a sneaky yet effective way to add visual elements to the living room. Further to this, a shelf provides a great place to store things in the small space that you have.
Shelves work well in small spaces, however, you should make a point to make sure the colours blend with the style and feel of the room. Once again, the trick is knowing if the space that you are working with can accommodate a shelf. You don’t want to overwhelm the space with too much clutter.
11. Add Portraits and Photographs
Adding a portrait to the room can make the room look much bigger than it really is. It works to draw your eye up, acting as a centrepiece within your living areas.
Try adding a single portrait to the room, or a few photographs. Art in particular has the means to provide a modern and boho feel. Based on the type of art you prefer, you can get varied looks.
It can also add an element of personality and character to the room, which can only be attained through art. Hence, when considering furniture and the overall design of the living space, look at the bland walls and fill them up. Once again, don’t go overboard with too much art. Keep it simple and minimalistic.
12. Low Ceiling and Verticle Stripes
As mentioned prior, you could give the impression of a higher ceiling by relying on striped wallpaper or colour.
If you have a low ceiling and are looking for a way to work with a low ceiling, then strips on your walls would be a good way to go. The strips also work to add some contrast and texture to the walls, which will make your furniture stand out more.
13. Add Architectural Detail Through Design
If your space doesn’t have a lot of architectural design, you don’t have to undergo expensive renovation to make the space look better. You can add a unique touch to the space by adding elements that add architectural detail to the space.
For instance, you could create an eye-catching feature wall, which will act as a focal point for the room to show off some personal style. The feature wall could have a varied pattern or colour to the rest of the walls in the room. This will enable the contrasting feature wall to pop out, making it an eye-catching feature within your small living space.
14. Pick a Look that Fits Your Age
When it comes to decorating your living space, you don’t want to give the vibe that you are older or younger than you are.
Hence look for a style and feel for the room that fits your age. Don’t simply add too much that doesn’t fit into the space. Look for ageless designs that are sure to showcase your style and personality.
Remember that elements such as floating desks can be a real space saver. Do what you can to add a one-of-a-kind character to the space with refined furniture and some colourful prints.
15. Use Those Textiles
You can have in your hand a boho haven, so long as you incorporate and use textiles with contrasting colours and textures.
Textiles are a great way to add style to a small space. It can give a very cosy feel to the room, which can be very welcoming and comfortable.
You can use cotton tapestry and Kilim pillows to dress up the simple budget sofa. Add a Turkish rug to make even more sitting room in the floor area of the living room.
Hence remember your textiles, they can really add a comfortable feel to your living space.
16. Awkward Angles
If you are facing a room with awkward angles, you should work the angles in your favour. If the room is an odd shape, there may be a smaller wall that you can turn into a feature wall.
The trick in decorating an oddly shaped room is choosing a wallpaper with bold patterns. This will allow you to establish a centre point within the oddly shaped room. The wallpaper can work to anchor the living space.
Though an oddly shaped room can be harder to work with, it is not difficult to make it work. Just think outside the box and try to draw attention to the focal point of the room, which should be the sofa and coffee table.
Decorating Small Spaces
Decorating small spaces can be hard, yet rewarding. Though you don’t have a whole lot of space to work with, what you achieve from the small space will delight you.
You are more than capable of making a small space stand out. In fact, even though the space is small, you can work to give the impression of a larger room.
All in all, what is important is that you create a welcoming space for your living area, where you can entertain guests and even host parties.
Use the tips and designs that we have mentioned within this article and you are sure to make some good choices with regards to decorating your living space.
We hope that you found this article useful and that reading this word to word has helped you on your path to decorating your small living room.
Happy Living!
