13 Inspiring Living Room Ideas for Your Home

Designing the Perfect Living Room: Tips and Ideas

The living room is not just any space in the home. It’s the inner sanctum where we let our guard down and are relaxed. However, to achieve the optimum space that can address all these demands, some careful thought is required.

In this article, we provide tips and ideas for designing the perfect living room. We start with colour and then include layout, furniture, decoration, lighting, flooring and wall treatments.

#01: Living Room Colour Ideas

Colour can be a good place to start when personalising your living room. Colour ideas for the living room should reflect your own subjectivity, but equally, be appealing to a broad spectrum of tastes. Living room colour ideas start with the walls and work outwards from flooring, ceiling, furniture and accessories.

It’s no longer the case that the home is dominated by the grey and beige living room. Today, there’s a rainbow of possibilities. The world is our oyster. Read on to discover some of the best colour ideas for living room décor.

Grey Living Room Ideas

Grey appeals to a broad range of palates and works across the spectrum. For instance, cosy grey living room ideas feature a predominantly tinted version of grey with orange, yellow or red. On the other hand, grey living room ideas can also be cooler with a blue or white accent. Nevertheless, the grey living room is anything but boring, it can also be warmed or cooled with colour accents.

▶ Note: Greige is an emerging tendency where brown or beige tones are added to grey. The result is still neutral but with a lot of character and potential to complement other tones.

Blue Living Room Ideas

Blue is one of nature’s most calming and ubiquitous colours. That’s why blue living room ideas are so varied and laden with potential. From powder blue to navy living room ideas, it’s all about balance and the calming influence of blue. The best results with blue are based on combining different shades within the same décor.

Depending on the effect you want to achieve that might mean contrasting dark and light shades of blue. Think of the living room walls as the horizon line, and treat furnishings and accessories as the foreground.

Beige Living Room Ideas

In one shade or another, beige is the go-to neutral colour for living rooms. Beige living room ideas are endless, just look at any interior design magazine or digital content.

Beige’s enduring popularity is rooted in its sophisticated aesthetic, which exudes understated elegance. Moreover, it complements a wide range of colour palettes, enhancing its appeal in any lighting.

However, to prevent the beige living room from looking too staid or boring, we recommend any of the following:

• Add strong colours that combine well with beige. These include buttermilk, cream, taupe and earthy shades.
• Texture is critical to creating a warm beige living room décor. As well as fabrics, wood and stone choose ribbed and other 3D textured materials.
• No other shade is better than beige for highlighting art on walls. The colour can complement pretty much any style of art.
• Add an accent colour as a theme to the living room. An upholstered ottoman, for example. Or a feature wall, and reference that shade with other accessories.

#02: Colourful Living Room Ideas

Colour is making a comeback in home décor. The living room is a great place to experiment with wall murals or strong paint colours. If your living room is saturated with light, it’s the perfect excuse for going deep and characterful with intense colour. For living rooms with less natural light, choose a more washed-out, or pastel colour.

For colour living room ideas, more is more. Pattern, contrast and accessories are the tools that will help make the décor work.

#03: Living Room Decorating Ideas

No matter what style you prefer, the principal influence on living room decoration is to create a place you feel comfortable. Whether it be a rustic or industrial design living room. A place where you can kick back with family, and friends or on your own. Living room décor ideas will help you get there.

The trick to living rooms with a lived-in ambience, that reflects your life and tastes, is the extras. Living room decorating ideas can include any or all of the following:

• The sofa is a large-ticket item in any living room. Choose one that reflects the décor you are trying to create.
• Small furniture pieces can make a big difference in the look of a living room. Examples include a drinks trolley, magazine stand, lamp standards, ottoman, and side table.
• Whether your living room is small or large, we recommend establishing a few different zones. These separate areas then have a theme that influences the choice of decoration. Even though they might be separate, their décor should create a dialogue with one another.
• Choose quality and robust materials for flooring and wall treatments which will stand the test of time.
• Accessories like potted plants, rugs and throws are a quick-fix solution to radically altering the living room décor.

#04: Living Room Paint Ideas

Paint provides a shortcut to creating a bespoke living room décor. Nowadays, paint is light-years ahead of the hum-drum choices of only a few decades ago. Contemporary living room paint ideas include both matte or gloss wall paint, finishing effects such as chalk or limewash, metallic etc.

Paint is more eco-friendly, easy to maintain, and relatively cheap than ever before. It is the perfect material for commencing the living room décor and establishing a style.

#05: Living Room Lighting Ideas

Never underestimate the importance of lighting in the living room. It is the one ingredient that can make or break a living room décor. Living room lighting ideas should include natural and artificial sources.

During daylight hours, windows should be equipped with a range of options to control the light. From louvre blinds to back-out curtains, and everything in between. We recommended layering the window treatment. And, after dark, think of the living room as a series of zones; each will require separate lighting.

Nothing kills a décor like a single ceiling light fitting. You will need one, on occasion, but it must be complemented with several other sources. Ideas for lights in living rooms should, therefore, include scones, table lamps, lamp standards and indirect effects.

#06: Living Room Wallpaper Ideas

For a big impact with minimal resources, wallpaper is unbeatable on living room walls. Advances in printing have put pattern, texture, mural art and other options into the mix. The great advantage of wallpaper is the bang for your buck in comparison to cost.

A small outlay has a big effect and can transform an entire room, or just a feature wall. Living room wallpaper ideas start with the look you are trying to achieve. In other words, match wallpaper styles like industrial, graphic art, rustic or neo-classical with the room décor.

#07: Living Room Wall Décor Ideas

If we think about the typical four walls of the living room, it’s always a good idea to have a main axis. Usually, the longest dimension establishes the axis, which can be used to create a focal point or wall.

For instance, living room wall décor ideas might include a fireplace, a hearth, a bookcase (or shelving), a feature wall, an art gallery wall, etc. This feature helps create a major and a minor order throughout the living room. Elegant living room wall décor ideas, on the other hand, focus on the surrounding walls and treatments like a picture rail, ceiling moulding, or textured wallpaper.

#08: Living Room Feature Wall Ideas

As we have already established, a main axis in the living room will help with the decoration. A feature wall is also an invaluable tool in this regard. Specialist paints and wallpaper murals provide a quick-fix feature wall to create the room hierarchy.

However, for optimum and more long-term results, living room feature wall ideas combine material with texture. Some options, such as stone cladding, wood panelling or 3D tiles, are a great way to create a feature wall. Furthermore, special wall tiles for the living room are a simple and trendy way to get the ‘wow’ factor.

#09: Living Room Wall Panelling Ideas

Wall panelling is usually associated with older, more traditional homes. But modern living room wall panelling ideas can look sharp and impacting. Simple battens can create panels on walls, evenly spaced for maximum effect.

Tiles or wood panels to dado height (or picture rail height) will help to visually divide walls. For low-ceiling living rooms, this helps elongate the walls. Wood effect tiles will create a similarly warm and protective effect. Wood wall panelling is a surprisingly wide category of possibilities nowadays.

#10: Living Room Design Ideas

In the past, the living room was separate from the rest of the house. It wasn’t used as intensively as it is today. However, interior design ideas for living rooms nowadays recognise their pivotal role in the home layout.

Living room design ideas can be open-plan, opening to the dining room and/or kitchen. Alternatively, the living room can be separate but visually connected via glass doors. Suitable living room floor tiles can also unify the open plan space, and there is a great variety of styles to choose from. These living room interior design ideas reinforce the layout.

Therefore, we strongly recommend maintaining a single style for open-plan living rooms. There should be a visual and decorative thread running through any spaces that can be seen together.

#11: Simple Living Room Ideas

To avoid getting over complicated, simple living room ideas should reflect a more minimalist approach. Firstly, the colour palette should be kept within a maximum of two overall colours. Secondly, contrast is good for a simple colour scheme, but make sure the predominant tone is bright.

Additionally, add furniture with a clean-cut silhouette. Similarly, the main light fixture should be non-fussy. And finally, style the living room with small decorative objects that are interesting but not dominant. Simple living rooms should have a clear definition of zones.

#12: Cosy Living Room Ideas

Cosy is a way of decorating, independent of living room size. Even if your living room is small, don’t despair. Cosy living room ideas make up for the lack of sq. ft. with character and charm.

In some ways, the small and cosy living room allows the budget to stretch further. Mixing small pieces of furniture with larger pieces of furniture will add depth to the space.

These tips for small living room ideas and cosy spaces provide a guide:

• Get the scale of the key furniture pieces correct. That goes for large and smaller living rooms.
• Timber or timber effect floors are unbeatable. Add rugs in the winter to provide an extra layer of warmth and insulation.
• The cosy colour scheme is warm and neutral. It can be complemented by more daring colour pops, but these are extras.
• A vintage-style sofa is a shortcut to getting a cosy atmosphere. Style with more contemporary design pieces. This can create a stylish contrast that prevents the space from feeling too dated or overwhelming.
• Provide several different light sources throughout the room.
• Create a few islands or zones with furniture groupings (i.e., a couch, a reading table and a floor lamp).
• Add lots of personal decorative effects and plants.
• Artworks and photographs on walls are a bonus.

#13: Neutral Living Room Ideas

There are many ‘makeover’ type programmes on TV today. In a way, they are all chasing the same design idea: a look that is inoffensive. The neutral style is about choosing colours, designs and elements that have the broadest appeal. Neutral living room ideas include simple traditional-style furniture choices.

Beige is unbeatable for neutral living rooms. Keep light fittings discreet, hidden if possible. Moreover, shelving is the perfect neutral feature wall. And if there’s a window, match the upholstery and the curtain fabrics.