You always want your home to look picture perfect and be inviting for friends and family to visit. Deciding how to make your dream home a reality can be difficult – where do you start? What are the best accessories to include? How do you make your main living area as attractive as possible without being overwhelmed?
Experts suggest the following 7 ideas to help you decide an overall look for your main room, what items to include in your décor, and the best way to make your main room beautiful, welcoming, as well as functional.
Start with colour
Better Homes & Gardens suggests that you start by choosing a colour palette for your room. Do you want your room to have a cool, peaceful feel? Go with soft blues. Do you prefer a room that energizes and excites? Choose warm colours, like reds and yellows.
Starting with a colour scheme in mindsets you up on an easy path to choosing how to decorate and design your room. This will give your room a base from which you can choose furnishings and accessories that will compliment your room design and each other.
Remember, though, that picking a colour scheme doesn’t mean go monochrome, though. House Beautiful suggests adding pops of bright colour on top of a neutral base to make your room more lively without using a ton of colour. A bright red throw, navy pillows, and a bold painting with another splash of red or blue may be all you need to turn your neutral base into a gorgeous showpiece.
Paint Those Walls
Get ready to spread colour – or a nice neutral – all through your room by painting the walls. Giving them a new coat of paint can instantly change the look of your room. Pick your colour carefully, though. The Spruce suggests picking paint after your large furniture items is the best way to go to avoid any colour mishaps.
Don’t forget that you can take the colour up to the ceiling, too. Painting your ceiling can bring an extra pop of colour, a surprising detail, and a statement to your room. If you choose to paint your ceiling a surprising colour, be certain to find a few accessories that tie the colour into the rest of the room. Throws, pillows, and artwork can help with this.
Choose the focal point
A focal point helps to anchor your room and draw your visitors in. Your focal point can be a gorgeous view out of a picture window or a statement piece of art. In many homes, a television and media centre often serves as the room’s focal point.
A fireplace is usually an easy choice as a focal point for your room. Spruce it up a bit to add to its appearance and make it a work of art in itself. You can also hang an attractive mirror above it to help bring light and the appearance of a larger room. Be certain to check what’s reflected in your mirror, and you may want to tilt it a bit for the perfect angle.
Arrange furniture
An interior website suggests arranging your furniture so that your room has a nice flow to it – pieces that can be used for multiple purposes arranged so that people can move around the room easily. The magazine also suggests furniture with a low profile if you have an open floor plan – this will help make your room cozier.
Multiple seating areas can give your guests the feeling that while they’re all together, they can move into small groups, too. These separate areas are great for getting cozy, snacking, games, and more. Also, be sure to include conversation areas in your furniture layout. Give people cozy groupings of chairs to encourage people to sit and visit, whether it’s old friends catching up or new ones getting to know each other.
Area rugs can also be used to define spaces in your room. Plan to get rugs a bit larger than your seating space, experts advise. Larger rugs will make the room look larger and give plenty of space for all the pieces in your arrangement. And be sure to incorporate design elements like colour, pattern, and texture that compliment your room design.
Lighting and windows
Statement lighting can bring a show-stopping focal point to your room while still being utilitarian. Choose a fixture that is unexpected and provides a “wow” factor. Beautiful lamps can also add beauty and function to your overall design. Pick lamps with an aesthetic that match other decorative elements in your room.
You can choose heavy or light and airy window treatments depending on the look of your room and how much light you want to let into your room. Choose window treatments that best showcase your windows and room – different lengths and styles can change your room’s look dramatically.
Accessorize with art
Good Housekeeping suggests using a tight grid of art displayed in inexpensive frames to achieve a more high-end, expensive feel. You can include your own art, your kids’, mirrors, a forrest canvas with family names, or anything else that has special meaning to you.
A gallery wall can also be an excellent way to display your art – especially if your collection is eclectic. Using different sizes and looks of frames will give your display a personal touch while providing a bold statement about your style.
Other Accessories
House Beautiful states that you can “get weird” with collections of pieces in unexpected places. For example, instead of sticking to the same stack of books and decorative bowls on your coffee table, display a quirky collection of pottery or something else you’re in love with.
Green up your room with some nice plants, too. They not only bring a splash of colour and a bit of life to your room, but they also help clean the air and can help lift your mood. Oversized plants are a perfect way to fill in underused corners. Pop the plant into a woven basket or a favourite piece of pottery to change up its look.
Putting together an attractive yet comfortable living room may seem like a daunting task, but following these tips can help you design a room with a cohesive look, but that still has a few surprises. Your friends and family will love their time at your home and be impressed with your decorating savvy.
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