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You are here: Home / Home Decor / How to Decorate A Small Living Room

How to Decorate A Small Living Room

August 27, 2011 by Scarlet

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In a small space, everything counts. How you place your furniture, how you paint the walls and even the floor scheme can impact the way your room appears. You can make a small room look bigger by using the following savvy decorating tips. Here is how to decorate a small living room to make it feel more spacious.

32 Tips For How to Decorate A Small Living Room

small living room

USE THE RIGHT COLORS

1. Use light-reflecting pale colors such as cream, icy blues, white, light yellow or ivory to brighten up your room.
2. Paint your wall molding and trim in a color that’s lighter than the paint used on your walls. This makes your walls appear further back than they are, giving your room the illusion of more space.
3. Stick to a monochromatic color so that light reflects equally off all the walls. Use of alternate colors will break the flow, making the room look smaller.
4. Paint the room in thin vertical stripes, using complementary light colors such as icy blue and icy pink. The stripes give the room a tall look, while the contrasting light colors add depth.

USE THE RIGHT FURNITURE

5. Buy furniture pieces that can combine as storage spaces as well. Pull-out sofa beds, coffee table with storage chests and so on are good options.
6. Buy furniture with clean, simple lines. Don’t opt for fancy extensions, large arms in chairs, or broad table tops. The bigger and more ostentatious your furniture, the smaller your room will look.
7. Opt for flexible furniture pieces such as folding tables and chairs, table nests that can be tucked under when not needed and extendable dining tables.
8. If you have large furniture pieces, lay them up against the wall to retain open space in the middle of the room. If you can see the open space from the walkway, the room will appear large.
9. Buy major pieces of furniture the same color as your walls. A white or ivory sofa looks great when accented with multi-colored cushions.
10. Coordinate your furniture color to the color of your walls. Contrasting colors tend to cramp space.
11. Place the furniture at an angle to create a long diagonal line. This adds to the illusion of length.
12. Your furniture’s height should not be too high, as this will make your ceiling appear low.
13. Your sofa should have open arms and exposed legs, to avoid looking voluminous. The same goes for chairs.
14. Use glass-topped tables to give illusion of open space. Glass allows light to filter under the furniture, giving the room an airy appearance.
15. Instead of putting a bulky television in a corner, put up a wall mounted TV in a delicate and discreet wall cabinet that has glass doors.
16. Use glass for shelves in room corners, if you want to put up showpieces. Chunky, bulky wooden shelves look solid and take up visual space, cutting the room’s space further.

USE THE PROPER LIGHTS

17. Natural light works best; if possible, increase window size to allow more light in.
18. If the room faces the outdoors, you could put in a set of full-glass paneled set of French doors to bring in light and air.
19. Think of having a large picture window; this removes the barrier between you and the outside view, adding space to the room.
20. Place light fixtures creatively to make the room appear bigger. Instead of one large fixture, strategically place ceiling lights that radiate outwards to the walls, and wall scones that light upwards.
21. Place lights in front of mirrors. You can opt for hidden mirrors just above mirrors on closet and cabinet doors. When the light falls directly on the mirror, a sense of space and depth is created.
22. Leave standalone lamps and use accented, ambient and fluorescent lightings instead. These are elegant and have a soothing appeal.

AVOID CLUTTER

23. Clutter tends to make any space look cramped and tiny. Declutter and keep the room organized and tidy all the time.
24. Put up sheer window coverings; dark and thick fabrics tend to close in a room.
25. Place a single large painting comprising of an airy natural scene on one wall. Don’t clutter the other walls with small paintings or bric-a-brac. This will only make your room look crowded.
26. Create a single focal point in the room so the eye doesn’t wander to take in the smallness. This may be the mantle if there is a fireplace. Arrange the remaining furniture to complement the focal point.
27. Don’t use multiple area rugs. Carpet the entire room in a light color carpet to add to the overall light and airy theme.
28. Clear the walkways of furniture, to that the room’s view is not blocked.
29. Build an open shelf a foot or two below the ceiling. The shelf can go all around the room and can be used to store things you don’t need immediately. A shelf at this height draws the eye up, and makes the actual ceiling look even higher.

USE MIRRORS

30. Place several decorative mirrors or mirrored objects around the room. Angle them towards your room’s focal point to create the illusion of depth.
31. Mirrors bounce light into the room, making it look larger. Be sure to place a mirror exactly opposite the window to reflect natural light.
32. Mirror your closet and cupboard doors to create illusory depth in the room.

I hope you found these tips for how to decorate a small living room useful.

Related Posts:

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Filed Under: Home Decor Tagged With: family room, home decorating

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Thanks for reading Family Focus Blog, which has been named a top family blog for parenting resources. It was created in 2010 by Nashville mom blogger, Scarlet Paolicchi. She shares tips for better family life, parenting, family fun activities, eco-friendly lifestyle, family food ideas, family travel, and home decor. Family Focus Blog has been named #3 in Cision PR’s 50 U.S. Top Mom Blog list. Scarlet Paolicchi is the author of four books.

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