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Formal Living Room Ideas and Designs

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Soho Loft
Soho Loft
Gabellini Sheppard AssociatesGabellini Sheppard Associates
Photo of a contemporary formal open plan living room in New York with beige walls, light hardwood flooring and a ribbon fireplace.
Whitcomb Place
Whitcomb Place
McNeill Baker Design AssociatesMcNeill Baker Design Associates
Past the Staircase is a large great room, that encapsulates the Family Room, Dining Room and Kitchen. The beamed ceiling and pilasters define the three spaces along with the rugs. This family entertaining area has a wood burning fireplace, doors to access the screen porch, and built-ins for the family's pottery collection.
Elmwood
Elmwood
Boomgaarden ArchitectsBoomgaarden Architects
Jen Talbot Design
Photo of a medium sized traditional formal living room curtain in Chicago with grey walls, dark hardwood flooring, no fireplace and no tv.
Napa Modern
Napa Modern
Kimberley Kay InteriorsKimberley Kay Interiors
Clean lines with two sectional sofas facing each other added lots of room for guests to have room to relax and chat.
This is an example of a large mediterranean formal living room in Phoenix with white walls, slate flooring, a corner fireplace and a plastered fireplace surround.
Artisan Tour Home 2018
Artisan Tour Home 2018
Grace Hill DesignGrace Hill Design
Landmark Photography
Beach style formal enclosed living room in Minneapolis with grey walls, carpet, no fireplace and multi-coloured floors.
Rose Bay
Rose Bay
Marylou Sobel Interior DesignMarylou Sobel Interior Design
This is an example of a medium sized contemporary formal open plan living room in Sydney with grey walls and light hardwood flooring.
Wagon Circle Residence
Wagon Circle Residence
Cottonwood Custom Builders, Inc.Cottonwood Custom Builders, Inc.
Inspiration for a large contemporary formal open plan living room in Denver with white walls, medium hardwood flooring, a standard fireplace, a stone fireplace surround and no tv.
Transitional Living Room
Transitional Living Room
This is an example of a traditional formal open plan living room in Portland with beige walls, dark hardwood flooring, a ribbon fireplace, a stone fireplace surround and a wall mounted tv.
Living Room
Living Room
360-Vip Photography360-Vip Photography
Dean Riedel of 360Vip Photography
Inspiration for a traditional formal living room in Minneapolis with grey walls, carpet, a ribbon fireplace, a tiled fireplace surround and no tv.
East Hampton House
East Hampton House
Eisner Design LLCEisner Design LLC
Large contemporary formal open plan living room in New York with multi-coloured walls, dark hardwood flooring, a standard fireplace and a plastered fireplace surround.
Mount Pleasant House
Mount Pleasant House
Haute Design, Inc.Haute Design, Inc.
Design ideas for a medium sized traditional formal enclosed living room in Charleston with grey walls, dark hardwood flooring, a standard fireplace, a concealed tv, a wooden fireplace surround and brown floors.
Brownstone Townhouse Living Room
Brownstone Townhouse Living Room
Grande Properties LLCGrande Properties LLC
View into living room of beautiful traditional townhouse/brownstone
Design ideas for a classic formal enclosed living room in New York with white walls, medium hardwood flooring, a standard fireplace and orange floors.
Martis Camp 506
Martis Camp 506
BMA ArchitectsBMA Architects
Vance Fox Photography
This is an example of a modern formal living room in Sacramento with medium hardwood flooring and a standard fireplace.
Vienna Way
Vienna Way
MK PropertiesMK Properties
This is an example of a modern formal living room in Los Angeles with black walls, a standard fireplace, no tv and a plastered fireplace surround.
Victorian Restoration
Victorian Restoration
Landry & Arcari Rugs and CarpetingLandry & Arcari Rugs and Carpeting
Designer Amanda Reid selected Landry & Arcari rugs for this recent Victorian restoration featured on This Old House on PBS. The goal for the project was to bring the home back to its original Victorian style after a previous owner removed many classic architectural details. Eric Roth
Contemporary Farmhouse
Contemporary Farmhouse
Sara Balough DesignSara Balough Design
Photo of a bohemian formal enclosed living room in Los Angeles with grey walls, dark hardwood flooring, a standard fireplace and a stone fireplace surround.
Traditional Living Room with French Doors and Cast Fireplace Surround
Traditional Living Room with French Doors and Cast Fireplace Surround
Bill Fry Construction - Wm. H. Fry Const. Co.Bill Fry Construction - Wm. H. Fry Const. Co.
Traditional Living Room with tall vaulted ceilings, french doors, a wood panel wall, and cast fireplace surround. This elegant room is is furnished with a sofa, large coffee table, side tables, tufted wingback chair, and upholstered arm chair. The original home had a dated brick fireplace. Aside from the fireplace cast surround, stone hearth, and cherry wood mantel, the other woodwork is original.
Woods 7 Residence
Woods 7 Residence
Douglas Knight ConstructionDouglas Knight Construction
Douglas Knight Construction
Expansive classic formal open plan living room in Salt Lake City with grey walls, a ribbon fireplace, a stone fireplace surround, a wall mounted tv and ceramic flooring.
Columbus Residential
Columbus Residential
Arc PhotographyArc Photography
Photo by Dale Clark: Arc Photography Listing Agent: Vutech & Ruff-HER
This is an example of a classic formal enclosed living room in Columbus with medium hardwood flooring, a brick fireplace surround, yellow walls, a standard fireplace and no tv.
Master Drive Residence
Master Drive Residence
THE SISTERS AND COMPANY – DECORATING DEN INTERIORSTHE SISTERS AND COMPANY – DECORATING DEN INTERIORS
This is an example of a large classic formal living room curtain in Atlanta with beige walls, medium hardwood flooring and a standard fireplace.

Formal Living Room Ideas and Designs

Looking for living room ideas? Whether your living room is lacklustre, your lounge is limited in space, your sitting room is suffering from outdated decor or your front room is full of clutter, there are living room ideas and designs that will inspire you to breathe life into your living space. Discover small living room ideas to help maximise tiny spaces or layout ideas that will work with awkward shaped living rooms. Perhaps you’re struggling to decide on living room colours? Read on for help with colours, layout and design ideas, or find inspiration from the millions of living room photos on Houzz.

Living room wallpaper ideas

A good place to start when it comes to redesigning your living room is with the walls. While paint may seem the simplest choice, and easy to change, don’t discredit the design opportunities of wallpaper in living rooms. There are tons of great living room wallpaper ideas, from modern geometric patterns to traditional florals, and loads of ways to use them – you don’t have to cover the whole room or go for the ubiquitous feature wall. You could wallpaper only above the dado rail (if you have one), either side of a chimney breast, or behind a shelving unit to give your displayed items a stylish backdrop. Discover more living room wallpaper ideas or if paint is more your style, there’s plenty of living room designs to discover when it comes to paint ideas; just browse through the huge selection of living photos and search for the specific paint you’re after if you really want to narrow it down.

Small living room ideas

When it comes to our living room design, we want it to feel as welcoming and personality-filled as possible, but that can be a struggle when we’re working with a small space. But not to fear, there are small living room ideas to help you make most out of what you’re working with. A couple of small living room ideas can include: working with the height you have – installing floor-to-ceiling bookshelves or drawing the eye to the top of the walls with wallpaper; choosing space-saving or storage-incorporating (or both!) furniture, such as corner sofas with storage space under the chaise longue section; and keeping things symmetrical – a central fireplace with seating opposite, or seats facing each other, can give the illusion of a larger, more grand room. When it comes to the best decor for small living rooms, you can either choose to keep things light and airy to open up the space, or embrace the cosiness of the smaller area you have by going for warm colours and filling the room with your favourite accessories.

Living room layouts and choosing the right living room furniture

When it comes to the layout of your living room, it will depend on what pieces of furniture you have – but how do you choose what living room furniture to add, whether you’re refreshing your living room design or starting from scratch? The best place to start is with the seating – one corner sofa will usually seat three to four people, and if that’s all you think you’ll need, then you can leave it at that. Placing your sofa along the longest wall helps to make the most of the space, but think about where you want the focus of the room to be, too. If you need more seating, look at armchairs that offer comfort but don’t take up too much space – cramming a room with too many large armchairs is something to avoid. But armchairs and sofas don’t have to be your only options – go for bean bags and floor cushions for an eclectic feel, pouffes and ottomans if you’re more traditional, and smart design chairs for contemporary living room ideas. Coffee tables are always handy, but you can always add a couple of side tables if you don’t want to clutter the central space in front of seating with anything. If you centre your living room design around a fireplace or TV, then you might want storage and shelving to feature around the focus of your room. There are plenty of style options when it comes to TV units, and you can even go for bespoke living room storage units to make the most of the space if you want a sleek, built-in look. Keep reading below for more living room storage ideas. Discover a huge range of living room furniture, as well as living room accessories, to help you finish your room design.

Living room design ideas

Struggling with what living room colours to choose, or what style to go with? While a grey living room design is popular at the moment, you might not want to go with the ubiquitous colour. Although, if neutral and contemporary are the living room ideas you’re after, a grey sofa or grey walls will give you a good base to work on. If you want to stay neutral, beige is not your only other option, either. Light yellows, taupes and soft greys will work. Why not try adding simple but plush cushions to your sofa and a rug in these colours to achieve a modern-traditional look? For contemporary living room ideas, dark blues and greens are on trend, but if you don’t want to dive straight into the dark wall trend, you could opt for a couple of pieces of furniture, or go for dark-hued living room accessories instead. Whites, woods and pastels could work well for Scandinavian living room designs. If an eclectic living room is what you’re after, you could go for large print wallpaper, a statement lighting piece, vibrant rug and lots of colourful book or ornament displays. For a country feel, rustic carpet, stone hearths, comfy armchairs and traditional patterns in creams, greens and browns will give you that cosy cottage feel.

Living room storage ideas

It’s natural that our living rooms tend to attract lots of items and belongings seeing as they act as multipurpose living spaces. Whether you love to read a book; watch a film; let your children play with their toys; practise a craft like knitting or drawing; play a musical instrument or play video games in your sitting room, there will always be a need for a few extra living room ideas that can help you with storage. Apart from the standard bookcases, side tables and TV units, there are a few other handy living room storage ideas you can invest in. As mentioned before, if you have the room and budget for it, a built-in storage unit could be the way forward. With a well-built unit you could hide your TV, DVDs, players, books, video consoles and all sorts away in one place. If you don’t quite have a large enough area for one, you could look at shelving – either side of the chimney breast is a great place to install shelving if you have one in your living room. And don’t forget living room furniture such as sofas, benches and ottomans that lift up to reveal hidden storage; providing seating and storing space at the same time. With the right storage solutions your living room design could open up and feel so much more spacious and stylish. Discover more living room storage ideas by browsing these photos. Once you have your living room storage, colours, design, layout and furniture sorted, all that’s left is to browse the millions of living room ideas on Houzz and save your favourites to an ideabook. If you’re still searching for specific living room ideas, check out the popular pages below:
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