We call them living rooms, but is yours full of life? Whether you call it a front room, sitting room, or living room, it’s the room that shows your home at its best. If you feel like your living room is looking a little tired, it’s time to mix things up and add some new elements that make the room sing. To help, here are a few terrific tips on how to update your living room.
Rugs Do It All
As a wise man once put it, a good rug can really tie a room together. But area rugs can do more than that. Rugs bring color, abstract images, and startling patterns that can break up the monotony of a humdrum living room. They also provide engaging textures that can give a room a more comfortable and comforting feeling, and not just under your bare feet! Rugs bring a sense and actual feeling of warmth as well and can provide a bit of safety to the area if they’re non-slip and plush.
Paint Selectively
A full paint job of the entire living room can be costly, time-consuming, and even an ongoing offense to your sense of smell. You can save by painting one wall a single striking color, or use patterns, stencils, a quotation, or, if you’re artistically inclined, a painted or wallpaper mural or wall decal. People’s eyes will be drawn to your special, letting them ignore the blander coloring of the other three. But don’t let those walls go fallow. Decorate them with complementary framed photographs, prints, and paintings that make up for the field of beige they rest on.
Move the Furniture or Add a New Main Attraction
Sometimes all a room needs to feel new is a rearrangement of its furnishings. Try a new pattern with the idea of increasing air flow and improving traffic patterns in your living room. Get away from the same old pattern of all chair and couches facing one another, perhaps finding a way to provide two separate spaces where people can converse at family gatherings. Consider making an investment on a new central piece, like a chair or sofa, and slowly build a new living room on the old one.
Put a New Accent on Everything
When deciding how to update your living room, don’t forget the little changes that create a big statement. Accent pillows are a nice way to drop a different color, texture, or shape in the canvas that is your living room. Be brave and mix them up, avoiding the same sizes and patterns as you decorate the couch and chairs. Add a few different throws and other blankets, and decorate any surfaces like end tables, console tables, and the like with knickknacks in colors, themes, and styles that hearken back to the softer appointments in the room.
