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Small living rooms can be incredibly comfortable and cozy but also tricky to furnish and design. You want to ensure you get the most out of your space but don’t want to fill the room with furniture and clutter.
If you are unsure where to start, here are some tips for optimizing and maximizing the space in your small living room.
Ditch the Couch
While this is difficult for some, not having a couch could be the best way to maximize your space. You can opt for round coffee tables to add storage and furniture pieces raised off the floor.
Instead, choose chairs for seating, as they can be moved easier and still provide enough seating for you and your guests. If you still want a couch, a modular one will ensure you can easily fit the pieces into your living room.
Go High, Not Wide
When it comes to shelving and storage, instead of purchasing a chest of drawers or a cabinet, use your walls for shelving that goes higher, not wider. Shallow shelving allows you to add decorations, plants, and books without taking up too much of your limited space.
If you still want furniture, opt for a bookcase instead of a chest of drawers.
Limit Clutter
This goes without saying, but your small living room should have little to no clutter. Instead, choose a few pieces you love that can be dotted around the room, and then keep the rest of your decorations away from the living room.
If you want more than a few decorations, try and group them on one side of the room, in a bookcase, or on a wall of shelves. Spreading them out could create the illusion that they take up more space than they actually do.
Maximize Light
One way to add the illusion of space to a room is through light. Dark, poorly lit rooms often look much smaller than they are, especially if they have one or two windows that are constantly closed.
If your living room doesn’t get great natural light, invest in a large lamp that can be used instead.
Mirrors
Mirrors are famous for making even the smallest rooms feel much bigger; you have probably experienced this in changing rooms at clothing stores, too. A big mirror could be exactly what you need if you have a small living room.
Where you place a mirror is also important. Placing it opposite a window is often a good idea, but placing it on any empty wall will give you the illusion you want.
Neutral Walls
While a pop of color can give a room some life, sometimes it can come at the expense of making it feel smaller. Darker colors tend to shrink rooms slightly, and considering this is what you are trying to avoid, it is best to stay away from them.
While you don’t have to paint your walls only white or off-white, keep the colors light and toned down. Pastels are another great option if you want the color without the darkness.
Be Selective with Furniture
When it comes to choosing furniture, be very selective about your choices. A small living room needs to perform two major functions; it needs to be comfortable to sit and relax in for you and your friends, and it has to have storage.
Since you are most likely only going to get three or four pieces of furniture into your small living room, ensure they look good, suit your needs, and are also versatile.
Scale & Proportions
All keep the scale of the room in mind when decorating and choosing furniture. If you want an L-shaped couch and you have enough space for it, think about how it will look and feel in the space; more than likely, it will end up taking up most of the room.
Pick a Central Piece
To add some direction to your space, choose a piece of furniture that is the focal point that you design the room around. This can be a window, the TV, or around a coffee table. This also allows you to create a room that still flows naturally, even if you are short on space.
Attach the TV to the Wall
One way we tend to waste space in small rooms is by putting the TV on a cabinet or dresser of some kind. Not only is this an unnecessary use of space, but there are also better and more effective alternatives.
One of the best alternatives is mounting the TV on the wall, either on a bracket or on an arm. This not only gets the TV out of the way, but you can use the space underneath it for something more useful like extra seating.
Finally, you should try and incorporate storage in smart ways. This can be done by having chairs or a couch that has storage underneath them or Ottomans or stools that double as storage boxes.
