The living room is the face of our home. How to make it cozy, functional and modern? A universal recipe, alas, does not exist. But we will give you some basic tips.
The layout depends on the size of the room, the size of the windows, the presence of adjoining rooms, the needs and tastes of the homeowner, and the budget. Before you buy furniture or break down interior floors, ask yourself a few questions – a link.
What will you do in the living room: watch TV with your family, host guests, have a party every Friday, work on the computer, read, meditate, do yoga? Will friends or family stay overnight in this room?
When you understand the purpose of the room, you don’t make fatal mistakes. The secret to successful planning is to start from functionality, not to chase fashion trends.
Living room layout tips
Identify the lightest and darkest areas in the room to properly allocate functional areas and understand where you need to increase lighting.
Think of a “focal point” based on your needs. It can be a hammock for relaxing or a home theater. Further arrangement of furniture and other interior items will “dance” on this center.
Start the layout with the arrangement of large furniture: sofa, chairs, closet – Yurovskiy.
Try to maintain a balance between occupied and free space (at least 1:1). The more free space, the more comfortable your stay in the room will be.
It is also important to leave a passageway between furniture: residents and guests must move freely and not touch the corners.
Think in advance about where and how the equipment (TV, speakers, music center, computer) will be located. Do you have enough outlets or do you need more? It is important to keep a safe distance from the screen and speakers to the viewer.
Doors and windows, of course, are needed in the room, but they “eat up” the useful space. Take into account that they should open and close freely, and provide a place for it.
Think about how to create a bright accent that will attract attention. This can be a picture, a panel, photographs, an unusual floor lamp or colored cushions on the sofa.
Items of upholstered furniture can be arranged in different ways: parallel or opposite each other.
Think of your “semantic” center: a TV, a painting, a fireplace. Focusing on it, arrange sofas and armchairs.
If you live in an apartment where the floor area is too small, most likely the living room will play several adjacent roles. For example, will be a place to sleep or eat. In this case, it is important to competently distribute the functional areas.
Here are a few ways:
- Build a partition or a neat column.
- Leave part of the capital wall after the redesign.
- Highlight the zones with light.
- Use different texture and color finishes.
- Demarcate an area with furniture.
- Zone the space with textiles: curtains, drapes, carpet.
The most important thing in zoning is to adhere to a single style, otherwise a sharp difference (color or stylistic) will create visual dissonance.
A small living room
What to do if the room is a room of 20, 16 or 18 “squares”? This area needs to accommodate a corner for watching TV, relaxing, hosting guests, sleeping space, and perhaps a table for holiday dinners.
Professionals have techniques for furnishing tiny spaces:
- Use light colors in wall and floor finishes to visually expand the room.
- Don’t overload the room with unnecessary items.
- Open windows to let in more light.
- Mast-haver – furniture-transformer: folding sofa, chairs, table.
A compact room – not a reason to give up a corner sofa. Even on the contrary: sometimes it is better to use one large sofa than many small objects.
Kitchen-Living Room
Combining the living room and kitchen is a controversial issue that has many pros and cons.
On the one hand, if the kitchen is very small, and the refrigerator and table for five people do not fit it in any way, the decision to combine is reasonable. On the other hand – even the most intelligent zoning will not save from the smells of fried chicken and not give a snooze by the TV, if the kitchen someone rattling dishes.
And yet many people like the uniqueness and modernity that such a combination gives, despite its disadvantages.
The resulting large room can be clearly divided by function.
But in a tiny space there is little room for maneuver, so feel free to mix zones.
Different flooring will help to delineate the boundaries. A subtle point – the docking of coatings, think it through in advance, so as not to stumble later.
Divide the functional zones with furniture – a grateful thing. A sofa, a kitchen island, a dining table, a bar counter, an unusual countertop or any other of your ideas will help. Furniture is good because it divides the space into independent parts and at the same time keeps “air”.
So, the decision to put a sofa close to the dining table is optimal for small spaces, where you need to combine the kitchen, dining room and living room.
Combine the functional space with a TV, a built-in closet or a color. And to make the kitchen appliances less noticeable, put column cabinets. You can hide the oven, microwave, coffee machine, washing machine or refrigerator in them. Such a solution will help to balance the interior, so that the kitchen does not draw attention to itself.
Living-Dining Room
If the living room has a large enough area, you can allocate a zone for the dining room. This is at least elegant and unusual for a typical apartment. A beautiful dining table will add coziness and comfort at family gatherings.
The place for a meal can be placed behind the sofa, or it can be fenced off with columns or shelving. Often it is not hidden, and on the contrary, highlighted with the help of lighting. To stylistically unite the two areas, the same or harmonious colors are used in the decoration.
Living room-bedroom
Combining two seemingly incompatible zones – public and private – is a forced decision in a one-room apartment. The most important task in this case is to delimit them as much as possible.
First decide where there will be a bed or sofa for sleeping. The place should not be passable. The space near the window, which is often located on the opposite side from the door, is a good idea.
It is possible to separate the sleeping space from the guest area with the help of textiles. All kinds of curtains are excellent with this task: thick, lightweight of bamboo or beads. The advantage of such curtains is that they can be folded or removed during the day.
Living room in the house
The living room in country houses is usually located on the first floor and is the largest, central room. Sometimes it is combined with the kitchen and dining room to combine all the public spaces on the first floor.
But it is possible to go against the rules and place the living room in the attic!
In addition, houses built on individual projects often have bay windows, and they can be advantageously used, because then the living room from a boring quadrangular room will turn into an unusual space for recreation. The main thing is that the bay window and the living room should be decorated in the same style.
When the area of the room is not too large, and the ceiling height is less than 3 m, large windows, and even better – panoramic glazing can help.
If the living room is large, and the family is large, choose a roomy sofa that it can accommodate everyone, including pets.
If you like to host large groups of guests, you can provide a private corner with a small sofa or armchairs, where two or three people can talk away from everyone else.
