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Living Room Ideas and Designs

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21st Street Residence
21st Street Residence
Dawson & ClintonDawson & Clinton
Working with a long time resident, creating a unified look out of the varied styles found in the space while increasing the size of the home was the goal of this project. Both of the home’s bathrooms were renovated to further the contemporary style of the space, adding elements of color as well as modern bathroom fixtures. Further additions to the master bathroom include a frameless glass door enclosure, green wall tiles, and a stone bar countertop with wall-mounted faucets. The guest bathroom uses a more minimalistic design style, employing a white color scheme, free standing sink and a modern enclosed glass shower. The kitchen maintains a traditional style with custom white kitchen cabinets, a Carrera marble countertop, banquet seats and a table with blue accent walls that add a splash of color to the space.
Modern Interiors
Modern Interiors
Neil Mac PhotoNeil Mac Photo
A large modern living room in Hove, East Sussex Neil Macaninch Neil Mac Photo
This is an example of a contemporary open plan living room in Sussex with beige walls, medium hardwood flooring and a wall mounted tv.
Midwest Residence
Midwest Residence
Dirk Denison ArchitectsDirk Denison Architects
In Collaboration with: Leslie Jones & Associates
This is an example of a medium sized contemporary living room in Chicago with medium hardwood flooring.
Arlington Residence
Arlington Residence
KUBE architectureKUBE architecture
Complete interior renovation of a 1980s split level house in the Virginia suburbs. Main level includes reading room, dining, kitchen, living and master bedroom suite. New front elevation at entry, new rear deck and complete re-cladding of the house. Interior: The prototypical layout of the split level home tends to separate the entrance, and any other associated space, from the rest of the living spaces one half level up. In this home the lower level "living" room off the entry was physically isolated from the dining, kitchen and family rooms above, and was only connected visually by a railing at dining room level. The owner desired a stronger integration of the lower and upper levels, in addition to an open flow between the major spaces on the upper level where they spend most of their time. ExteriorThe exterior entry of the house was a fragmented composition of disparate elements. The rear of the home was blocked off from views due to small windows, and had a difficult to use multi leveled deck. The owners requested an updated treatment of the entry, a more uniform exterior cladding, and an integration between the interior and exterior spaces. SOLUTIONS The overriding strategy was to create a spatial sequence allowing a seamless flow from the front of the house through the living spaces and to the exterior, in addition to unifying the upper and lower spaces. This was accomplished by creating a "reading room" at the entry level that responds to the front garden with a series of interior contours that are both steps as well as seating zones, while the orthogonal layout of the main level and deck reflects the pragmatic daily activities of cooking, eating and relaxing. The stairs between levels were moved so that the visitor could enter the new reading room, experiencing it as a place, before moving up to the main level. The upper level dining room floor was "pushed" out into the reading room space, thus creating a balcony over and into the space below. At the entry, the second floor landing was opened up to create a double height space, with enlarged windows. The rear wall of the house was opened up with continuous glass windows and doors to maximize the views and light. A new simplified single level deck replaced the old one.
Basin Ledge Residence
Basin Ledge Residence
Dick Clark + AssociatesDick Clark + Associates
Design ideas for an expansive contemporary open plan living room in Austin with white walls and light hardwood flooring.
Modern Mid-Century
Modern Mid-Century
AA Real Estate PhotographyAA Real Estate Photography
AA Real Estate Photography
Inspiration for a medium sized midcentury living room in Other.
Habitus Venus Bay
Habitus Venus Bay
MRTN ArchitectsMRTN Architects
Design ideas for a contemporary open plan living room in Melbourne with light hardwood flooring, a wood burning stove and white walls.
Lahaye Residence
Lahaye Residence
Nakhshab Development and DesignNakhshab Development and Design
Photo of a contemporary formal living room in San Diego with white walls, no fireplace and a wall mounted tv.

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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