Everyone has a different idea of what it is that they would like to get out of their living room. Amongst the many uses it can have, the most common are to kick back and watch some television, play a game, or simply converse – the latter being the original purpose of the dining room during the Victorian ages.

As there are a wide variety of purposes that the living room can fulfill, the décor and furnishings need to facilitate and motivate the room’s intended function, as well as appeal to the owner’s personal tastes. This is why I’m going to provide you with a few little lessons in how to create your perfect living room with some hints and tips that can alter the environment you currently have to the living room you desire.

A Room To Socialize In

If you’re intending to use your living room to socialize with friends and family, you’ll most likely benefit from an intimate setting that encourages such focused interaction. Colors that can create this effect are darker, richer tones e.g. dark browns, maroon, and earthy colors. A nice oak wooden sofa with black or dark brown cushions would be perfect seating for this. Add some mixed tones to it such as small cream and brown pillows for decoration to take some intensity away.

The layout of the room’s furnishings is important to the successful achievement of a living room fit to converse in. A coffee table that compliments the color scheme should be placed in the center of the seating arrangement and all sofas and chairs should have their fronts facing it. A great example of this is provided in the diagram below. As you can see, it allows the occupants of the seating to see one another and interact in conversation easily.

A Room To Spread Out In

For those homeowners who enjoy their open space, the complete contrast to the intimate living room is more likely to suit your needs. Rooms with a lighter color scheme i.e. your whites, pastel colors, and creams, create an illusion of space effect. This is because the natural light that enters the room is reflected to aid the removal of shadows and low tones.

Furniture that can help make this possible includes glass coffee tables, white or pastel upholstered furniture, a bright or neutral rug, and neutral colored walls. The combination of these various living room elements will really open up the space and allow natural light to evenly flow around the room, creating an ‘illusion’ of space. Examples of neutral color schemes can be found at http://www.creativecolorschemes.com/resources/free-color-schemes/neutral-color-scheme.shtml.

Another method of creating space is your selection and arrangement of living room furniture, which is dependent on the size of the living room you have. If you have a small living room, try to avoid having a big coffee table in the center of the room and instead consider a nest of small tables or a lamp table to place either side of your sofa. If you can fit a corner sofa, this will also help create space by pushing the seating to the corner of the room and allowing the rest of the room to remain open, providing you have no other seating in the room – shown in the diagram below. Click here for more living room furniture.

Physically creating space in the middle of the room and organizing it in a way that decorates the perimeter of the room adds greater effect to the color scheme and furniture choice. The room appears and feels free, open, and more importantly you can spread out without the fear of hitting something.

Learn Much?

The two settings discussed are the starting point for anyone looking to create their perfect living room. By knowing what kind of environment you want to design, you can incorporate some of the furniture choices and colour schemes discussed in the article to aid its creation. Good luck and happy furnishing.

Tony Richards is a blogger who writes articles on the topic of interior design and furniture for Frances Hunt.

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