small living room design ideas – The living room is the “capital” of any apartment or private house since this is where we spend our leisure time with our family, meet guests, and celebrate various celebrations. Often, the small dimensions of the premises pose a lot of difficulties in creating a comfortable atmosphere. To make things easier, we have collected many inspiring small living room design ideas that will help you create a stylish, practical, and cozy interior.
Contents
small living room design ideas
Redevelopment
If the room intended for meeting guests is already very small, consider redevelopment. The living room can be expanded by attaching a balcony, or loggia, or by combining it with neighboring rooms.
By attaching a balcony, you can arrange a decorative arched opening, a bar counter, place a relaxation area with armchairs, a sofa, or a mini-garden here. In small apartments, there may be an office or storage system.
Combining with a kitchen or hallway will deprive the living room of privacy – because now the room will be in plain sight. But you will get a living room that will be much brighter and more spacious than the previous room. Here you can not do without zoning, which can be done with the help of finishing materials or furniture.
Install a dining table, a bar counter, or a curly plasterboard partition with a TV on the border of the kitchen and the living room – now you will already save a couple of meters of usable space and delimit the boundaries of functional zones. You can “separate” from the hallway with the help of a sliding wardrobe, which will act as a partition and serve as a spacious storage system.
Use light colors
To make a small living room visually more spacious, it is worth choosing light colors for the main decoration. Nowadays, the white palette is very popular and used in many modern styles.
It is not necessary to get carried away with the snow-white design – you can choose something from shades, for example, milky or ivory, and use various textures.
Gray is no less popular, which is universally combined with any other paints, giving the interior a touch of solidity. Do you want maximum comfort? Choose light beige or cream tones, and match them with bright accents from the brown range.
The color must be chosen based on personal preferences and the general concept of the chosen style of the room. Nevertheless, dark and bright colors should be present in a small living room in a minimal amount and, preferably, in a glossy design.
Minimalism in the interior
The correct solution for a small-sized living room will be designed in a minimalist direction, which prefers the severity and freedom of space. In this design, a simple and, at the same time, elegant interior will be filled with monochrome colors, an abundance of light, and a minimum amount of furniture and decor.
Expensive natural materials of white, beige, or ash tones are used for decoration. Actively use mirrors and glass surfaces – this will make the room even lighter and airier.
Choose a “squat” modular sofa, a coffee table, and a small storage system with glossy fronts, and decorate the windows with short rolled canvases. Now your living room will become truly stylish, spacious, and bright!
Wall decoration secrets
There are many finishing materials for decorating the walls in the living room, so you can choose those that will best match the design.
Wallpaper with many interpretations is a universal option. You can also use decorative plaster, stone, plastic and MDF panels, acrylic paint, etc.
With the help of finishing it is quite possible to correct the geometry of the space. For example, in a narrow room, try to decorate one of the short walls with a dark color – then it will visually come closer, and the room will take on a square shape. Also, a good option would be horizontal patterns on the wall, which will “expand” the small living room.
To visually “raise” the ceiling, vertical lines will be required – it can be striped wallpaper, a diamond pattern, or the decoration of one of the walls with narrow high portal niches.
Selecting the same monochromatic palette for walls and ceilings will visually “erase” the boundaries of the planes and, accordingly, make the walls taller.
The beautiful floor in a small living room
Although the floor does not play a leading role in the design of a small living room, it nevertheless complements the interior with dignity. In addition, some materials are also capable of making their own adjustments to the perception of space. For example, a diagonal pattern on linoleum will visually expand the room.
If your living room is long and narrow, use a laminate or parquet board, laying the material perpendicular to the long walls – the room will take on a more regular shape.
Tiles are an excellent option for modern minimalism. But since the material itself is quite cold, the floor should be made with underfloor heating.
The most durable and aesthetically pleasing is the cork floor. It perfectly suits all interior styles and gives the living room a cozy and respectable look.
The original design of the ceiling
With the help of drywall, you can not only arrange the perfect ceiling in a short time but also make various decorative designs.
The finishing of the perimeter of the living room with a plasterboard rim with built-in spotlights and hidden LED lighting looks beautiful. Often, the zoning of a room is carried out in this way, highlighting a certain area with ceiling structures.
Tension canvases look no less impressive. They can be matte or glossy, plain, or have a picture with photo printing.
For a small living room, the best option would be a monochromatic glossy canvas, the mirror effect of which will visually enlarge the room.
Divide the living room into zones
Define functional areas and place them wisely! In small apartments, the living room often plays the role of a bedroom, study, or combined with kitchen at the same time. Since you probably won’t be able to install a partition because of the small area, use furniture and finishing materials for zoning.
You can define a seating area with the help of a sofa, setting it with its back or side to the surrounding environment. The working area of the kitchen will be separated by a bar counter, and the sleeping place can be hidden behind a rack with books, magazines, or accessories.
The zoning of a small living room with the help of lighting and finishing materials differing in color and texture looks spectacular. For example, a wall with a TV can be decorated with a contrasting color, photo wallpaper, or decorative stone.
Correct lighting
It is very important for a small room to be versatilely lit. Try to free the windows from massive curtains – let it be short designs such as Roman roller blinds. To “domesticate” the interior, add light or transparent fabrics, and light tulle to them.
Pick up small lighting fixtures for the living room and place them at different levels so that every corner of the room is not overlooked.
You can install a ceiling chandelier, and add spotlighting around the perimeter to it. Install a floor lamp or sconce in a recreation area; pendant lamps look beautiful above the bar counter.
Find compact furniture
A small living room should not be “loaded” with furniture – you need to leave enough space to move. A spacious modular sofa and a pair of armchairs will be enough for seating.
Install a folding coffee table in the recreation area, which, if necessary, can be transformed into a spacious dining platform. Place compact modular systems with glossy facades and glass shelves around the perimeter of the living room.
More mirrors
Mirrored surfaces have the ability to expand the space, and give it additional light – use this in the design of your small living room. A large rimless mirror or panel can be placed above the sofa, as well as on the wall with the TV.
If you intend to install a wardrobe, let its doors be mirrored. Then the closet will not be conspicuous, and the living room space will become much deeper, and brighter.
Work on the accents!
The interior of a small living room, made in a neutral color palette, needs to be “revived”, to bring in some dynamics. To do this, you can use bright decorative pillows or a contrasting carpet that attracts attention.
Decorative elements of cheerful shades will also help a glass vase with sunny yellow tulips, a landscape painting on the wall from photo wallpaper, a dish with colorful fruits, or a pile of colored magazines.
Read also:
- The Philippines houses to plan and design
- simple interior house design for small spaces
- Beautiful houses: architecture and design in detail
- One-story Finnish wooden houses: features of projects and their cost
- Features of the construction and decoration of houses in the Finnish style
Small living room – photos of real interiors
Summing up, we can safely say that even a small room with skillful hands can turn into a stylish function room. Now, our reader, you should definitely visit our photo gallery. Here are the most striking examples of the design of a small living room, which will help you avoid many mistakes if you decide to make repairs yourself.
Hopefully, the article on small living room design ideas is useful. If you have difficulty designing a design, you can use the services of an architect for maximum results according to your wishes. In addition, you can look for references to find the right design for your dream building. Congratulations on designing your dream apartment!
