skip to main content
Photos
Photos
Advice
Stories From Houzz
Houzz Discussions
Houzz Research
Sign In
Houzz Logo Print
  1. Living
  2. Living Room
  3. sunken seating area

Midcentury Living Room Ideas and Designs

All Filters (2)
1 - 18 of 18 photos
Item 1 of 10
Midcentury Modern Home
Midcentury Modern Home
Lensit StudioLensit Studio
Luca Sforza of Lensit Studio
Retro formal open plan living room in Seattle with white walls, light hardwood flooring, no fireplace and beige floors.
Historic Preservation
Historic Preservation
Joanie Wyll & Associates, Inc.Joanie Wyll & Associates, Inc.
Design ideas for a midcentury formal open plan living room in Dallas with light hardwood flooring, a standard fireplace and a wall mounted tv.
Vista Residence
Vista Residence
Miró Rivera ArchitectsMiró Rivera Architects
Paul Finkel
This is an example of a large midcentury formal open plan living room in Austin with white walls, light hardwood flooring, no fireplace and no tv.
Find the right local pro for your project
Find top design and renovation professionals on Houzz
39 Capilano Drive, Novato, CA 94949
39 Capilano Drive, Novato, CA 94949
Angelo Cosentino PropertiesAngelo Cosentino Properties
McGuire Real Estate In House Photographer
Inspiration for a midcentury living room in San Francisco with white walls, dark hardwood flooring, a standard fireplace and a stone fireplace surround.
A Classic on the Beach
A Classic on the Beach
Dennis Paige Real EstateDennis Paige Real Estate
Retro living room in Seattle with white walls and feature lighting.
Mid-century Modern
Mid-century Modern
HomeSmart Realty WestHomeSmart Realty West
Linova photography
Inspiration for a retro open plan living room in San Diego with brown walls, carpet, a standard fireplace and a stone fireplace surround.
Living Room
Living Room
Scott Edwards ArchitectureScott Edwards Architecture
Pete Eckert
Photo of a large midcentury open plan living room in Portland with white walls, a metal fireplace surround and a ribbon fireplace.
KC Metro
KC Metro
Thompson PhotographyThompson Photography
Tony Thompson
Photo of a midcentury open plan living room in Kansas City.
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.
Buell
Buell
Yankee Barn HomesYankee Barn Homes
Design ideas for a midcentury living room in New York with grey walls, a two-sided fireplace, a stone fireplace surround and no tv.
Ranch Updated
Ranch Updated
Studio SchicketanzStudio Schicketanz
The large window wall and skylights bring the outdoors into this remodeled living room. The colors of the furnishings and fabrics are informal and playful, with a magnificent centerpiece – a console hand painted for the 1956 Biennale.
Dallas, TX: Brian and Katherine
Dallas, TX: Brian and Katherine
Sarah GreenmanSarah Greenman
Photo: Sarah Greenman © 2013 Houzz
Design ideas for a retro living room in Dallas with grey walls.
Hart Residence
Hart Residence
Blackbox design studiosBlackbox design studios
This is an example of a retro open plan living room in Salt Lake City with a reading nook, grey walls and dark hardwood flooring.
Ski Shores Lakehouse
Ski Shores Lakehouse
Stuart Sampley ArchitectStuart Sampley Architect
Casey Dunn
This is an example of a midcentury open plan living room in Austin with white walls and medium hardwood flooring.
Odyssey, A Carmel-By-The-Sea Residence
Odyssey, A Carmel-By-The-Sea Residence
Overland Partners Architecture + Urban DesignOverland Partners Architecture + Urban Design
Copyright © 2010 Misha Bruk. All Rights Reserved.
Medium sized midcentury formal and grey and yellow open plan living room in San Francisco with medium hardwood flooring, multi-coloured walls, no fireplace and no tv.
Hofkamp Living Room and Kitchen
Hofkamp Living Room and Kitchen
ReCraftReCraft
Photo of a midcentury open plan living room in Portland with white walls, carpet and grey floors.
Conway Rd.
Conway Rd.
The Muve GroupThe Muve Group
SKH Photography
This is an example of a large retro living room in Salt Lake City with dark hardwood flooring.
Dallas, TX: Brian and Katherine
Dallas, TX: Brian and Katherine
Sarah GreenmanSarah Greenman
Photo: Sarah Greenman © 2013 Houzz
Photo of a midcentury living room in Dallas with a brick fireplace surround.

Midcentury Living Room Ideas and Designs

Looking for midcentury 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 midcentury 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 retro 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.

Midcentury 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 midcentury 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 retro 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 midcentury small living room ideas to help you make most out of what you’re working with. A couple of retro 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 midcentury 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 retro living room furniture

When it comes to the layout of your midcentury 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 midcentury 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 1950s style 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 1960s style 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 midcentury 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 retro 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 midcentury 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 retro 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 midcentury 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:
1
United Kingdom
Tailor my experience with cookies

Houzz uses cookies and similar technologies to personalise my experience, serve me relevant content, and improve Houzz products and services. By clicking ‘Accept’ I agree to this, as further described in the Houzz Cookie Policy. I can reject non-essential cookies by clicking ‘Manage Preferences’.