Whether your budget allows for designer coffee tables or IKEA kickstands, some guidelines can help you decorate your living room area like a pro. With more and more people opting for tiny homes, the challenges of decorating a smaller space have become commonplace. Fortunately, we’re here to help with our top five tips for decorating a small living room.
Items With Purpose And Design
The first rule of decorating a tiny living area is to ensure that the pieces of decor you choose make an impact, serve a purpose, and ‘belong’ in the space. In a larger living area, it is easier for an odd piece of decor to blend in without disrupting the general design of the area.
The smaller the space, the fewer items it can host. The fewer the items, the more attention each piece grabs. An odd or out-of-place item can quickly become an eyesore in a smaller living room. Opt for pieces that serve a purpose and match your overall aesthetic.
Less Is Not More, And That’s A Good Thing
In addition to avoiding odd or ugly items, you need to avoid clutter. The problem with a smaller living area is that it gets cluttered easily. One too many indoor plants or antique floor lamps, and the room is bound to feel claustrophobic and overdressed.
List the items you need, the functional items you want in your living room, and start by only adding those. Once everything is in the space, you can consider different decor. Does your coffee table look bare? Add something small to bring it to life. Are your couches a bit plain? Add scatter cushions one or two at a time.
Odds Are Even
There is a general rule in design about odd numbers. Most art adheres to the same concept, and interior design is no different. Ideally, you want to have one item or three. If you must have more, it’s five, seven, etc.
Two candles on an end table look like you had a power outage. Three make for a deliberate design. The same applies to just about all decor items. Choose one of an item where it makes sense, and stick to odd numbers as you add more.
Pick Colors Carefully
It is tricky to get the colors right when you move into a smaller home from a large house. In a large house, different color schemes bring character and differentiation to different parts of the house. However, in a tiny home, too many colors quickly become overwhelming.
When deciding on the color scheme for your smaller living room, stick to one base color, perhaps the same color as the walls or floor, and then one accent color. That might sound dull, and indeed it could be. To bring life to the color scheme in your tiny living room, use different shades of color instead of different colors to bring life to the room.
Highlighting With Lighting
Lighting is one of the most overlooked aspects of effective interior design. Rather than emphasizing an item or area with bold color or contrast, consider using clever lighting. For example, subtle, white led strip lighting can highlight and add dimension to decor that would otherwise fade into the background.
Likewise, traditional directed lighting, using a contrast of soft and direct lighting, can create depth in a room, making it seem larger. A smaller living area generally benefits from multiple sources of dim lighting over one bright source.
