While small living rooms have their own design challenges due to their limited space, bigger living areas present their own set of issues. Larger rooms can be wonderful for entertaining, but not as cozy or even functional for day to day living.
So how can you make the best of a large living room? Even if your room is not huge, it can be difficult to furnish if it is awkwardly shaped or connected to another space in some way, so these tips or inspiration photos might apply to a variety of sizes and shapes of rooms or great rooms!
Here are 5 tips for decorating a larger living room:
1. Anchor the room.
Great rooms or large living areas can end up feeling cluttered if you put too many small pieces in the room without at a couple of anchoring pieces. A sectional, large sofa, large coffee table and even built in bookcases or a piano will help anchor a room so smaller pieces can be tucked in here and there as accents if necessary. Be sure to shop in furniture stores in Kansas City that provide a wide selection to choose from.
2. Creative lighting.
No matter what size of a room you have, lighting can make a difference in how the room feels. Fortunately with a large room there are often more windows, so during the day lighting isn’t as much of a concern. If you have just one center ceiling light, you will likely want to add more light with lamps. Having said that, a room can look awkward if you have too many lamps, though, so here are a couple of tips for lighting a large room.
Perhaps pick two or three lamps of larger scale with similar shades and then mix in slimmer less obtrusive metal floor and wall lamps to bring lighting all around the room. Mixing in glass lamps can also prevent lamp overload. You can have an outlet put into the floor near the perimeter of a conversation area for a lamp cord if it isn’t convenient to plug it in the wall.
3. Use color.
Color and pattern can be used to break up big expanses of walls in a great room or cut the size of a tall wall down to a more comfortable height. Add wainscoting with varying shades of neutrals or colors painted above and below the molding. If you have a high ceiling, you may want to try a simple trick to cozy up your room. If you paint the ceiling a shade or two or even several shades darker than your walls (or use paneling!), your ceiling won’t seem as tall and your room might feel more snug and cozy.
4. Avoid too much wall ‘hugging.’
A common mistake is when the furnishings are pushed back against one wall and the chairs on the opposite size of the room against the other wall, leaving too much open space in the middle. If you have to shout in order to have a conversation with someone sitting across from you in the room, it is likely your furniture is too far apart.
5. Bold is best.
Art work and accessories in a big room should be bigger and bolder. If you have framed prints or photos for your wall, go with a larger size than the standard 8 x 10 or 5 x 7 frames. Go group larger pieces together to make an even more bold punch in a room rather than several smaller pieces spread throughout the room. Coordinating your wall art with your living room furniture is the best bet and will really pop.
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