If you’re going to get maximum pleasure from your living room, then a number of practical and aesthetic touches might be worthwhile. The right design choices can help the space to feel more cohesive – and it can also help you to deal with chronic clutter problems. If you’re looking to take the space to the next level visually, you’ll want to listen to your personal preferences, and to abide by a few simple principles.
Layer your lighting for instant atmosphere (and smarter energy use)
When you have light coming from one source, or even one kind of source, it’s unlikely that you’ll fulfil the aesthetic potential of the room. It’s worth thinking about artificial light as falling into three categories. There’s ambient lighting, which fills the space out; there’s task lighting, which allows you to see what you’re doing more clearly when you’re working in a specific area; and there’s accent lighting, which is purely decorative.
Think about how the brightness and warmth of your lighting might change the mood. In the evening, combining warm, dim lighting from many different sources might help to confer the required sense of comfort and luxury. You can do this effectively with smart LED bulbs, and save a considerable amount of energy in the process.
Get storage right so the room feels bigger and calmer
Clutter can only be managed when you have the storage space available. If the furniture in your living room doubles as storage and takes maximum advantage of the space beneath and behind your seating, you’ll have an easier time keeping the visible surfaces clear and clutter-free. Fitted furniture that’s built for specific alcoves and awkward spaces can help to keep everything seamless and intentional.
Upgrade soft furnishings with confidence
What often makes a big difference in living spaces are things like curtains, rugs, and cushions. With their help, you’ll be add a sense of softness and ‘quiet luxury’ to an otherwise hard and sterile interior.
Your upholstery should be carefully considered so that it matches the rest of your decor. Often, it’s a good idea to scour local second-hand shops in search of items that speak to you, and then to decorate the rest of the lounge to match those items.
Add “invisible upgrades” that make the room feel more luxurious
Not all of your changes need to be visible. The air quality and temperature in your living room matter, too. You can improve these with the help of the right smart heating controls, radiators, and draught excluders. Double glazing (or, in older properties, secondary glazing) can help to limit the cost of your heating, too.
All of these measures, taken together, can help you to keep the space suitably cosy, even during the dead of winter.
