Do you feel like your living room is perhaps a little more hostile, a little more cold and distant than you might like? Whether you’re looking to entertain guests in your home, or you simply want to be able to relax in your own space, being able to keep it welcoming can make a huge difference. But sometimes, that factor just isn’t there. Here, we’re going to look at how you can bring some warmth, comfort, and the feeling of indulgence to your living room, so that it becomes much more welcoming to both your family and your guests.
Start with the lighting
Lighting is one of the most important things for setting the mood in any space. While allowing access to natural light might do a lot of heavy lifting during the day, you want to make sure that you’re able to set the atmosphere right as the sun goes down, as well. Having one big light fixture to light up the whole room might be good for visibility, but if you’re looking to settle down and watch a movie, or to have a really cosy night in, you might want to start learning about accent lighting, as well. Being able to set the mood right with a few well-placed wall light fixtures, and lamps, as well as options like dimmable lights can really improve the comfortable feeling your lighting offers.
Find the perfect place to sit
It is the living room, just as often known as the sitting room, so you’re going to expect people to sit. As such, you should make sure that you have the perfect place for people to park their rears. Invest in plush and comfortable furniture that focuses on relaxation. If you’re trying to create a true communal space, don’t do too minimalist or hard-edged with your furniture choices. Whatever furniture you choose, add some throw pillows and blankets, layering on not just comfort but some aesthetic appeal. These extra furnishings can be great for establishing a color scheme working in tandem with your furniture. You might also want to situate furniture around the center of the room, if possible, rather than against the wall so that anyone walking through the space can walk around where people are hanging out and chatting, rather than between them.
Incorporate more soft furnishings
The aforementioned throws and cushions are just one way to add more of a touch of softness to your surroundings. If everything feels cold, smooth, and hard, while it might be more modern and a lot easier to clean, it’s not going to do a lot to make the room feel welcome. Look at the different spaces where you can easily incorporate soft fabrics. Throw rugs are a good choice, adding some contrast to your flooring. Switching out your window treatments for custom-made curtains can help you ensure that you’re able to meet the aesthetic you’ve decided on for the rest of the room, too. A sense of tactile indulgence makes the room literally feel more comfortable, so invest some time into it.
Look to your walls
Although they might not demand a lot of space, your walls are still going to draw the eye often and, as such, you should make sure that you’re using them to the best of your ability. If your walls are bare and boring, then your living room is going to feel much the same. To that end, you can look at switching them up, not just through paint or with wallpaper, but with options like DIY wall panels that can help you add a little more texture and depth to them, as well. Of course, you can turn any wall into a feature wall with the right choice of wall decor, art, shelving and the like, too.
Add some life to the space
There’s a connection that we have to the natural world that can just make elements of the outdoors and natural materials much more comfortable to be around. Nowhere is this effect easier to see than when you add some greenery and flowers to your living space? Incorporating house plants and fresh flowers into your home brings a rush of life and color that can instantly transform the feeling of the space. Plants do more than look good, too, there have been studies to suggest that they have a natural stress-busting property and that they might even improve air quality in the home to some degree. Just make sure that you choose a plant that demands the level of care you’re actually likely to provide.
Keep it organised and clutter-free
There is nothing that can spoil a cosy mood easier than having to navigate a bunch of clutter. Even if it’s kept relatively out of the way, clutter is distracting and stressful to be in the same room as you, so you should do what you can to keep it out of the living room. This can be difficult with kids, as any parent knows, but having temporary storage sections like wicker baskets in the corner of the room can help you tidy things away, saving them for later when you can return them to their right place.
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Appeal to all the senses
A lot of the tips above might seem like they address the visual side of the living room more than anything, but there are other senses that you can speak to, as well. Like plush furniture and soft textiles might help to add a sense of pleasant touch to the space, you can use pleasant scents to engage with your visitors’ sense of smell, as well. Introduce some pleasant scents to the room, be it with the help of candles, essential oil diffusers, or even the right choice of fresh flowers to make a big difference to the mood of the space. Try to avoid scents that are too overwhelming, sticking instead with widely loved options like vanilla or citrus.
There are plenty of other ways you can increase the welcome factor in your living room, but the tips above should be able to help a great deal.