Top Tips For Making The Most Of A Small Living Room

Lying at the heart of every home is the living room; a space for relaxation, socialising, entertainment and… well, living. Unlike other rooms in the house such as the kitchen and the bedroom, the living room has no strict definition of the functions it has to carry out.

Typically, most people will use their living room as a space to chill out, watch television, spend time with their family and entertain guests. In all honesty though, the definition of a good living room depends entirely on what you personally want to get out of your living room.

Despite the loose definition of what makes a living room, there is one crucial element that all good living rooms should have; space. After all, a room that feels cluttered and condensed isn’t going to be very relaxing, is it?

While some of us are blessed with rooms so big that we struggle to find the furniture to fit into it (a subject for another article), the rest of us are left with living spaces of varying sizes. For the unluckiest of us, this often means we’re left with a tiny living room.

Well, we say unlucky. Having a small living doesn’t actually mean that you have a depressing living room – far from it in fact. You see, space is as much in the eye of the beholder as it is physical. As such, there are a range of techniques you can use to transform your stuffy, constricting space into a spacious room of relaxation.

When trying to make the most of a small living room, light is your best friend. Whereas dark colours will add warmth and homeliness to a room, the downside of this is that it can make a room appear a lot smaller than it is. So avoid the temptation to go for a ‘cosy’ style.

Instead, paint your walls in light breezy colours – a light yellow or creams are good options. In addition to this, make sure you’re maximising the natural light flooding in from your windows; don’t place any furniture where it may block off a light source and lay out your furniture so that sunlight can illuminate it fully.

Scale is also important as well, so keep your furniture in proportion with the size of the room you’re in. Opt for small sofas and a small coffee table and not only will you find you can fit more in, but that the room appears bigger than it actually is. On the flipside of this, an oversized sofa will make your room seem even smaller!

Storage is also important for items such as magazines and books. Instead of forking out on a grand bookcase, try and buy integrated storage; you could have drawers under the sofa or a display case under a TV stand, for example.

Of course, all of the above are relatively common sense. For those looking for a secret weapon, try putting lots of mirrors in the room. This isn’t for vanity purposes (well, sort of) but rather because mirrors reflect light and can trick the eye into thinking the room is bigger than it is. Avoid making your room look like a hall of mirrors, however!

And finally, don’t forget to plan. When decorating a small space, planning is essential. Draw up layouts or use interior design software to get a good idea of what you want to do before you do it. It’ll save you a lot of time and effort in the long run.