Inspirational Living Room Decor Ideas

Your living room should be more than just a place that your TV and your sofa is, and that you slob out in your pyjamas in on an evening. There are so many ways to create a great living room, and whether your taste in a great living room is elegant, cosy, sophisticated, or even historic, there are some great ways to elevate your living room, and to create a space that you can be proud of. In this post, we’re going to take a look at some of the most intriguing ideas to inspire your living room, no matter how much space you have to work with.

Indigo With Pops Of Yellow

Do you remember that 60-30-10 rule that we spoke about in our bedroom colour scheme ideas post? In this room, the 60% is the indigo, 30% is the yellow, and then the 10% is white, with the brown at 10% to break the rule, and to tie in with the brown and white just outside the sitting room area.

Repeat Accessories

Bringing in greenery, check. Bringing in green cushions, check. Repeating the greenery on the cushions. Check! It might not seem like a logical thing to do, but repeating accessories – or at least, the motif – means that there are ample opportunities to create a theme. In this example, the cactus on the table is what is being repeated, but whatever your favourite thing is – whether it is a llama, giraffe, or any other animal (made from ceramic!) – using that to inspire your other accessories can create a fun little touch to your living room. Just be sure not to go too overboard.

Make Outside The Focus

Well – we’re not sure what we can say about this one – but if you had a view like this, you really would make the most of a big picture window, wouldn’t you?! With a view like this one, you need only a comfortable sofa to spend time enjoying the bella vista.

Create A Cute Gallery Corner

Gallery walls full of photos are wonderful – they give you a place to show off your great shots, photos of family and more. A gallery wall doesn’t have to take up a whole wall though – you can use it to attract attention to a corner, or certain section of the room, such as this mini desk, or this vintage chair and bar cart.

The beauty of the gallery corner? It can work for almost any style of décor. We can see a young girl chatting with her friends on the iPad in the white walled example, and in the wooden wall room we can see a father having a quiet moment with a glass of bourbon poured from a whiskey decanter – or perhaps a mother at the end of the day!

Let Your Art Dictate Your Colour Scheme

We absolutely love a beach scene, and this small sitting area takes its colour cues from the ocean. Greys and shades of blue on the sofa, framed by a lighter shade of seafoam green – it all works perfectly together.

Create Zones Using Colour

In open plan spaces, rather than sectioning them off or creating walls, create zones using colour. This example is a great one, with the deep green in the dining area being echoed on the curtains and the grey being repeated on the sofa and the chairs.

Perfect neutrals

Neutral doesn’t necessarily mean magnolia. In this living room, there is little beyond the TV, yet it feels like a nice space – and perhaps with the addition of a house plant or two, the space is complete. Painted completely white, with light beige sofa and curtains which tie in with the beech wood on the staircase – this is a great neutral living room that would work perfectly in a rental home or a holiday let.

Use Curtains To Create A Cosy Feel

This living room and kitchen setup is practical and functional, but the cosy feel is brought in by the use of curtains that even go across the wall. Note also how the ombre effect wall creates a moodier tone without making the room feel too dark.

Go Bright And Bold

This living room is definitely not for the faint of heart, and there is a lot to unpack! The key to making a space this bold work is to have a very neutral background – which is why the pure white walls and ceiling, the black lighting fixtures, and the grey flooring are all important. The big, bold design features are all in the purple colour palette, so there is some cohesion despite the seemingly disorganised feel.

The Devil Is In The Detail

When you’re putting together the final details of your living room, don’t forget that the details count. Personalised touches – the things that have been in your family for generations, the unusual items that you found and fell in love with at a flea market or charity shop, right through to the designer pieces that you saved up for – they are all really important for making your space feel like your own.

Bring The Outside In

A really bold wall is a great way to create a talking point. You might use wallpaper, vinyl mural stickers, or if you’re blessed with artistic ability, then you might go freehand and paint your own directly onto the wall – but however you create a big, bold, jungle inspired look (or a beachscape, mountain vista, or wildflower meadow) be sure to balance the space by using furniture in solid colours, and coordinate accessories like lampshades, rugs, and cushions. If you can find house plants to complement your bold wall, then so much the better – long, lush stems of dried pampas grass in a tall vase would be a great low-maintenance addition here too.

White And Gold Perfection

This look is absolutely stunning, but our example here is most definitely a grown-up home, rather than a family home! The white carries through the open plan space to the all-white kitchen, and the touches of gold on the sofa, coffee table, and the chandelier all tie together to create a magnificent space that is perfectly uncluttered, yet not boring.

Choose A Bright Sofa

Brightly coloured sofas are sometimes thought of as being less versatile than a neutral one, but the reality is that it with the right background, they can work in almost any spaces. This bright sofa doesn’t feel nearly as gaudy in the room as it could – and that’s because it has been tempered by the charcoal accessories.

Highlight Existing Features

If the room that you are intending to use as your living room hasn’t been plastered, or a certain part of it hasn’t, such as the chimney breast, look critically at it before you decide to book the plasterer. Can you make it part of the design of your space? The brick in both of these examples is pretty pleasing, and it really does seem like it would be a shame to cover it up. We love the idea of hanging a bike on a wall too – nothing like using clever storage as a design feature!

Create An Ombre Wall

The ombre trend has been around for a while now, and we can’t see it going anywhere anytime soon. It started in the hairdressing world, as a technique for applying colour that is shaded or graduated in tone – and designers everywhere soon caught onto it.

In this example, the darker grey at the bottom graduates to a white towards the ceiling, giving the effect that the room is taller than it is. The beauty of the ombre look is that it doesn’t have to be too exact, which means you can make it work with your space as you like.

Add A Conversation Nook

Conversation pits became popular in interior design around the 1950s, but today they’re seen as a little kitschy and certainly dated. While there are some designers that are attempting to bring those sunken areas back into fashion, the idea of a conversation nook is much more practical, since it can be used in different ways.

This little setup seems like an ideal place to gather and have an intimate conversation, share a cup of tea or a glass of wine. If you have the sort of architectural feature in your home that makes this possible, with careful planning you may even be able to utilise it as an extra bed – which could come in extremely handy during the holiday season.

Basement Living Room

The basement isn’t traditionally thought of as the main living room in a home, but if you have one then it might well have crossed your mind. Once it has been emptied of the detritus that tends to gather in the utilitarian areas of our homes and a great floor has been laid (assuming there isn’t one already!) it has the potential to be a place for the family to gather.

In basement living rooms, you may be able to work with the walls as they are – in our example below, the slate effect has been left untouched and works to create a cave-like feeling. Effective lighting is essential in a basement living room – LED spotlights, table lamps and sconces are ideal to ensure you can see your family and your guests!

The dark furniture plays to the darkness of the space, while the lighter floor keeps it from feeling too dingy – we can picture ourselves nursing a quiet (or perhaps not so quiet!) nightcap in this room.

Choose A Timeless Sofa

The Chesterfield sofa is a distinctive style of sofa, and can be found in homes across the world. They’re chosen for their classic look – and their ability to fit into almost every style of home. With careful use, a leather Chesterfield sofa will serve you and your family for years to come – and the beauty of the original ones is that they look better as they age.

If a real Chesterfield isn’t for you (they are made from leather, which is a complete no-no for some people) then you can get fabric versions, and plenty of modern interpretations on the classic look including bright colours and patterns. As you can see in the example we’ve chosen here, they can look even more comfortable and cosy than their leather counterparts.

Create A Sitting Room And Play Space For Kids

While a living room tends to be for the while family to enjoy, if you have the extra room, set up a space that kids can use as their own personal living room. Once play starts and the toys come out, there is little chance of it looking like this for long, but there will be a lot less chance of you stepping on a Lego in the family living room!

To help your children to keep their living room tidy, be sure to add plenty of storage solutions – lots of baskets and storage boxes that make it easy to pack their toys away quickly when it is time for bed.

Choose The Same Furniture In Different Colours

This little setup is most likely part of a show home in a store, but we love the idea of having the same piece of furniture in different colourways, to create a cohesive look without it being boring. You can switch out coloured accessories too – because the raspberry and teal in this shot are reasonably complementary, swapping the cushions would coordinate well too.

Café Au Lait Perfection

This larger living room space is much bigger than most living rooms in UK homes, but the styling can certainly scale up or down effectively. Shades of coffee, chocolate, caramel, and milk all blend together beautifully – and the palette can be applied to the space however works best. Cream sofas are quite a commitment, and can be labour-intensive to keep clean, even with slip covers!

Don’t forget that even when you’re working with a certain colour scheme, you can always bring greenery in – it lifts a space and makes it feel more alive.

Classic Recency Styling

The classic Regency era sitting room is definitely more of a formal space, but the greys and the detailed styling all ties together beautifully. While it doesn’t feel like a modern living room (and a TV would definitely feel out of place) the advantage to decorating a sitting room with Regency styling is that is timeless – and so won’t actually feel dated.

This is a pretty high maintenance sitting room – children with sticky fingers and pets are definitely not going to help keep the space pristine – but if you love all things Jane Austen (or perhaps Bridgerton has inspired you!) then this look could be right for your home.

Classic Recency Styling

The classic Regency era sitting room is definitely more of a formal space, but the greys and the detailed styling all ties together beautifully. While it doesn’t feel like a modern living room (and a TV would definitely feel out of place) the advantage to decorating a sitting room with Regency styling is that is timeless – and so won’t actually feel dated.

This is a pretty high maintenance sitting room – children with sticky fingers and pets are definitely not going to help keep the space pristine – but if you love all things Jane Austen (or perhaps Bridgerton has inspired you!) then this look could be right for your home.

Statement Fireplace

A beautiful fireplace is a great thing to have in your living room, whether it is a traditional fireplace, one that divides your living room from another section of your home, or one with a wood burning stove. If your fireplace has the potential to be the centrepiece of your room, then it is well worth making it so, since it will provide a cosy ambience, even when the fire isn’t lit.

Working fireplaces are wonderful, but they do take quite a lot of work. If you have gas in your home, then a statement fireplace with a gas fire is just as effective, without the clean-up, or alternatively electric fires and wood burning stoves can look stunning – and trust us, they have come a long way from the two bar electric fires that our grandparents had.

Statement Patterns

Statement patterns are exactly that – a huge statement! This armchair is almost certainly not to everyone’s taste, but it is certainly the type of item that will receive comments and compliments when you have visitors. Statement sofas have been a thing for a while now, and they’re a big commitment – you have to know you’re going to continue to love them for quite a while!

If you’re worried you’re going to change your mind about the pattern after a year or two (which is understandable with such a big purchase!) then bring in statement patterns with other soft furnishings instead. Curtains, cushions and throws are generally much lower commitment, and if you do decide they’re not right for you, then you can switch them out at much lower expense.

Create An Outdoorsy Sitting Room

Larger homes may be blessed with more than one space that can be used as a sitting room, and we imagine this outdoor space is pretty popular in the warmer weather! The wood tones and the colours on the furniture tie the look together, and notice the details – the flowers in the vase on the table are the same colour as those in the artwork on the wall.

If you’ve got an enclosed veranda, a summer house, or a conservatory – these are all ideal places to create an outdoor sitting room without actually being exposed to the elements, meaning that you can enjoy the space with your family and friends all year round.

Let The Light In

A huge picture window with a beautiful view is a huge selling point when you’re buying a home – and if the picture window is in your living room, so much the better! We probably don’t need to suggest this, but if you have a beautiful view, then position your furniture so that you can sit comfortably and enjoy it.

If you’ve got a huge window but the view isn’t perhaps as amazing as you might like, then don’t discount making it a feature of your living room. The light in these examples is pretty special, and the way that the light falls through the window is in similar lines to those on the artwork on the wall – probably in the late afternoon – is pretty satisfying.

Hygge The Space Up

We know, we said in our post about hygge that it isn’t a style of décor, but honestly – we can’t think of anywhere more that we want to feel cosy than in our living room! Pile in the blankets, light a fire, add fairy lights if you like, and enjoy drinks and something tasty to nibble with friends and family.

You don’t have to paint your living room white and have a log burner to get Scandinavian styling right. It is all about contrasts in texture, from rugs and cushions, to plants and candles, with a heavy emphasis on nature – so however you can bring those natural textures in, do so.

Use Playful Lighting

Who said lighting your living room had to be boring? Bring a cosy, celebratory feel to your space by using festoon lighting. This type of lighting used to be expensive to run, and the bulbs were prone to shattering, but thankfully today, that is no longer the case. There are plenty of LED options that are really efficient, and you can find different sizes, and different toned bulbs too – so if bright white isn’t great for your space, look for softer warm white ones, or ones with a dimmer switch function.

Festoons aren’t the only playful option, of course – fairy lights can look great and add atmosphere to a space (without feeling too Christmassy!), and with LED strips there is a huge range of options for adding bespoke lighting along bookcases, under cabinets and so on.

Use Maps As Artwork

Do you really love where you live? Consider getting a map printed onto canvas, etched onto wood, or printed as a poster that you can put in a large frame. If you love the idea of this look but don’t exactly love where you live, then world maps work perfectly, and there are plenty of options readily available online for pretty affordable costs.

If you’re a family that has moved around quite a bit, then you might use a series of prints for each place you’ve lived together – whether you create three, four, or more, with prints of different shapes and sizes. Keep the colours of the maps similar, and ensure that the colours in your maps link to your decor in some way, so that the look makes sense.

Use Gold Accents

Gold accessories are absolutely having a moment right now, and there are many, many ways to bring a touch of gold to your home. Gilded accessories are a fantastic way to bring lightness to a space, and there are many ways to bring them in. Light fixtures, tables, furnishings, and hardware such as handles and photo frames are all ways to bring the colour in.

Be aware though that these are accents, rather than turning your home into an Aladdin’s Cave – and it is very easy to overdo it. We mentioned the 60-30-10 rule in our bedroom post, and if you’re unsure whether you’ve got a bit too much, then that is a good way to measure it.

Another thing to think about is the colour of the gold accessories that you choose for your home. Some gold accessories can look a little tacky, especially if paired with certain colours – and while we’re not saying you necessarily have to spend a lot on products for your home, it is something to be aware of. If in doubt, understated antique gold finishes are likely to look much more refined.

Use More Than Pictures In Your Gallery Wall

The joy of gallery walls is that there is no single correct way to create them. You like a cohesive look? That’s fine, use frames all in the same colour palette. If you prefer an eclectic mix, that is absolutely fine too! Filling your gallery wall is pretty easy if you have lots of family photos, or artwork that you want on display – but photos and paintings aren’t the only things that have to go in your gallery wall.

Use Open Shelves To Section Space

If your home is more of an open plan effect, and your living room and kitchen areas are one space, look at whether you can use open shelving to separate the area into zones without needing to actually add walls. In this example, the darkness of the shelving is carried by the darkness of the flooring, and the black of the lighting strip in the kitchen behind.

Although the shelving units in this example go all the way to the ceiling, you don’t have to do the same in your home – as long as the shelves are sufficiently imposing, and tall enough to create the effect, it will work. In addition, you don’t need to keep the shelves empty – although you’ll need to keep in mind that you’ll be able to see both sides of the shelf, so look for accessories like plants, glassware, globes and sculptures that let the light through rather than books.

Add Statement Lighting

Getting the lighting right in any room is important, but if you’re looking for a way to invigorate a space without needing to change your furniture or to redecorate completely, then look at the lighting in the room. This room could feel pretty dull with a standard round beige light shade, but the circular light means that it feels lifted and modern.

Changing the light fixtures in your living room doesn’t mean that you have to spend huge amounts of money though. You can get creative, swapping the floor lamps or table lamps from other rooms in your home to give a fresh look, or you might add LED strips to furniture in order to lift the space and change the feel of the room entirely.

Create Symmetry With Furniture

There’s a lot going on in this room, but one of the first things that grab our attention are those chairs – they’re definitely encouraging us to sit down with a group of friends and a pot of coffee (or maybe a bottle of wine!) and have a real good catch up! By mirroring the placing of the chairs, it balances everything else out. The walls and ceiling are striking, and there’s an eclectic mix of art work, photos and objet d’art in the space, as well as the flowers – but the chairs and the table provide the anchor, meaning that although the space is busy, it doesn’t feel overwhelming.

Create An Industrial Living Space

We love this open plan living area that makes the most of what could be a pretty unrelaxing space. The large, mismatched sofas are ideal in the space – and facing the windows means that the room is effectively divided into the sitting room zone. By positioning the furniture this way, and keeping the focus on the windows, there is plenty of visual interest beyond the TV – and while this is clearly a city-based setup, we can see this effect working in other unusual buildings such as garage conversions too. Note how the industrial style floor lamp looks right at home in the space. Next to the open shelving to the side of the space, there is even a log burning stove, and we can imagine that when lit, makes the room feel cosy, despite the open plan nature of it.

Pair Blush Tones With Fawn

When you’re using shades of pastel and blush, things can get pretty soft, and maybe a little too girly for some tastes. However, when paired with dusky fawn tones, maybe a spot of sage green and some rose gold, it all comes together to create a dreamily relaxing sitting room that is stylish too. Check out the little pop of gold around the coving at the top of the room that draws the eye too.

Bring In Greenery

House plants are perfect for bringing the outside in, and not only do they look great, but they’re good for our psychological and physical health too, improving our mood, lowering blood pressure and stress levels. There are many that are great for cleaning and filtering the air in our homes – and when you think how much time we spend in our living rooms, this is only a good thing! They’re especially useful for cleaning the air in the winter months, when doors and windows aren’t opened as often. And if you don’t have green fingers, don’t worry. The Royal Horticultural Society suggest five easy to grow house plants, and there are 30 plants that have been deemed near-impossible to kill in this post. How you decide to bring the greenery in is up to you, and it may depend on the amount of space you have to work with. We love this beautiful natural living room with the blush-toned sofa and voile curtains, and the indoor trees framing each side of the sofa, but if you don’t have that much space, seek out tiny succulents and dot them along your shelves. Hammock Chairs Although they’re not traditionally part of a living room, in the right setting there is absolutely no reason for them not to be! Although they are right at home in bohemian living rooms like these ones, surrounded by plenty of natural wood flooring and surrounded by house plants, there are some much sleeker, modern designs that would suit a minimalist living room, nautical inspired designs, and many, many more.

Style Your Bookshelves

Despite the fact that so many of us are switching to reading on tablets or our phones these days – and given that it means you can be carrying around a whole library in your pocket, it is clear to see why! However, the allure of bookshelves in the home remain. In the example below, the open gold bookshelves are complimented by the square pattern of the rug, and the glass coffee table gives an open feel too. There’s a trend that some Instagrammers and home style bloggers are using when styling their ‘shelfie’ posts – notice how the books are all showing their pages, rather than their spines? This means that the colour of the paper is highlighted, rather than the multiple colours of the book jackets. On the closed bookshelf below, the books have been styled thoughtfully – they’re not all placed on the shelf vertically – and that’s purely to provide visual interest. The owner of this bookcase clearly loves the vintage effect, with those film cameras and the suitcases stacked neatly on top!

Our Final Thoughts

There really are some incredible styling ideas in this post, and of course, there is absolutely no reason that you can’t incorporate more than one of these ideas when you revamp your living room. These ideas are here to inspire you, and you don’t have to follow a style exactly. Every home is different, from the design features to the needs of the people living in it, and so it makes sense that there will be differences, even when the rooms are styled in similar ways. The main thing though, as always, is that your living room is functional and practical, but also inviting and comfortable.