Living Room Decorating Tips

The living room is a very important part of the house. It is where you entertain your guests and also where you spend much time bonding with your family. Here are some great home decor touches to lend to your living room space:

Theme: Pick a theme you like. Traditional, Asian, cartoon, something you, at the very least, don't mind looking at everyday. Themes like relaxation, desert, sea, and others make good themes for a living room.

Focal Point: The focal point should be the 'first thing' you see when entering a room. Build the focal point around a great lamp or an eye-catching piece of furniture.

Color: The colors you choose will affect how guests feel in the space. Colors can energize or relax the space, depending on how intense they are and how warm or cool they are. For example, find a rug that really ties the room together and balance the colors in the room.

Furniture and Layout: Living rooms are gathering spaces, so use furniture arrangement to promote conversation and interaction. Keep in mind the scale and dimension of the room when choosing furniture, so that the pieces fit comfortably in the space. You need to also consider the layout, the size in terms of proportion to your living room and the number of people you want to fit in the area.

Windows: Drapery can make all the difference to a room, provide elegance and opulence. They also help provide a soft warm environment as well as creating color, pattern and texture for your home decor. For understated elegance, you might consider going bare.

Finish the Walls and Ceilings: Traditionally, living room walls receive more elaborate or formal treatment than other rooms because the room is a public space. To make it a welcoming room that expresses your personality, choose wall-coverings or treatments that reflect your style.

Add Character with Architectural Trimwork: When doing renovation for your living room, keep in mind that trimwork serves practical purposes; covering the seams where floors and ceilings meet walls and supporting the structure around openings. These elements serve aesthetic purposes too. The style of trimwork helps give your home a distinctive look, whether classical, contemporary, old-world, or regional. Projecting lintels over the door and windows, a deep cornice, and a paneled and beamed vaulted ceiling combine to give this white-washed living room a sense of peace.

Choose the Right Flooring: In keeping with the function of the living room as a public space, choose a floor covering that provides comfort underfoot and makes a design statement as well. This vibrant wall-to-wall carpet lays the foundation for a refined mix of florals and stripes. If you prefer a less bold floor, choose a solid neutral flooring that allows attention to focus on furniture or art. Hardwood floors with area rugs are one of the most popular choices for living room floors, but ceramic tile, stone tile and full carpeting work too.

Accessorize with Art Collections: Walls come alive when you use them to display art or collections that you love. The most common mistake in hanging pictures is putting them too high. Group items for impact, and hang them low enough to relate to nearby furnishings or architecture.