The 10 Essentials for Designing Your Living Room (Part 1)

Todays blog is all about designing for your living room. The living room is essentially the place in our homes where we can relax, socialise with friends and family, unwind with a book or watch some tv.

For most of us the room is mainly used in the evening, weekends and special holidays. So these 10 essential design elements are unique to the living room and how we use it. In todays blog I will take you through the first five, as there is lots to cover!

Design Element One: Getting the layout right!

As a designer I spend a huge amount of time drawing out each room and seeing it in every different aspect. If you are designing for your living room, a basic floor plan is still essential, to make sure you have the right layout. This will also help you choose the right size furniture and allow you to check the scale of your selections.  

If you would like help with your living room then please contact us to book an appointment.

Design Element two: Determining the focal Point!

The living room needs a focal point, whilst we sit and relax we need to establish where our focus is, as this will have an impact on where we position our seating.

The most common choice is a fireplace and these will vary in terms of style. There are so many options, that even if you don’t have a chimney there are products that allow you to have an authentic looking fire without the hassle of building a new structure.

The TV is sometimes the feature, although this is not my favourite option, unless you have a room that is just a tv room and even then the design needs to be considered. 

Other options are large picturesque windows or striking pieces of art, choose one focal point from the start and this will give your room the foundation it needs.

Design Element three: Colour palette and moodboard

At this stage it is important to start to think about how you want your room to look and feel, this will impact your colour palette and furniture and furnishing selection.  Investing the time in putting together a moodboard is really valuable, this allows you to bring all your ideas for the room and see if they come together. 

Design Element four: Flooring

This design element must be selected early on, as it has a huge impact on the style and design choices for the rest of the space.

My personal preference for clients is wood, it is versatile, warm in touch and mood and it can then be accessorised with rugs. 

There are so many rugs to choose from and they vary in style, shape, statement and quality. The larger the better and ideally the front legs of your sofas should be sat on your rug. You can layer differenet rugs for impact and texture and if you are on a budget then source 2^nd hand or you can have off cuts of quality carpets binded.

Design Element five: Furniture

When it comes to the living room it is all about the seating. The sofa is the most important purchase for this room, it needs to be comfortable, look sensational and sit proportionately in the space.

This is why the layout is essential, there is no one size fits all. If you have a large space then sofas facing each other with additional chairs can work brilliantly.

For smaller spaces modular sofas or bespoke banquette upholstered seating can fit the room better. If the room allows bring the furniture in from the walls as it provides a more intimate seating area.

The colour and style is another huge factor and this is why your moodboard is essential. This way you can see if you want the sofa to be a vibrant statement or something more neutral to allow other elements to be the focus.

What additional furniture you choose to add to the room is really down to the size, style and flow of the space.

Unless I am working in a huge space, then I like to design in bespoke bulit-ins. It creates areas to display books, collections and photographs and it’s also a way of creating some soft directional lighting, which is perfect for living rooms.  

Coffee tables, ottomans, lamp tables, sideboards are also perfect additions for this room depending on layout and style.

In my next blog I will be running through the final five essentials for designing your living room but until then start thinking and implementing these first five.

If you would like more inspiration for designing your home, then check out my webisodes on YouTube.