Some ideas for decorating a small living room include avoiding bulky furniture, making use of all available spaces with shelves and making bold design choices in areas such as color, wall art and decorative pieces. Patterned rugs, light colors and mirrors help make the room feel bigger.
To decorate a small living room, choose furniture that is multifunctional, such as a bar cart that stores bar items and acts as a side table, or a modified book shelf that stores items for the dining room on one side and items for the living room on the other. To make use of all the space in the room, adding shelves in awkward corners transforms the space into useful storage. Choose functional furniture, such as L-shaped sofas, that provides enough seating for guests by taking advantage of all the wall space in the living room. On the other hand, using smaller furniture, such as a chaise or straight-lined bench-style sofas, leaves the room feeling less cluttered and more open.
Light-colored or patterned rugs open a room up and give it a layered, cozy feel. They also help make the room visually appealing. Create the illusion of more space by situating mirrors so they add dimension to the space, hanging curtains from the ceiling instead of the top of the window, or not using any window treatments.
Though lighter colors on the wall do make a room feel bigger, darker colors are bold and add drama and interest to a space. With dark colors, a satin or semigloss finish reflects light and keep the room from feeling too small.
