Welcome back to my step by step guide on how to style your living space like a pro! In case you missed the first piece to this guide, you can find it here.
Now that you have a good idea, or maybe even a good start on, your feature wall for the room you are designing (in this post we will just refer to the space as a living room, but the same rules apply for other living spaces such as your bedroom or den, etc.), we can move on to the next step, which is placing your furniture in zones.
This step is really important, and it does come before steps like buying decor accents or artwork. Why? Because you want to make sure you are meeting all of your needs in this space before you make it stylish.
You are going to hear me say this a lot. Your design will be so much better if it is functional and stylish. Not just one or the other. You can have a glamorous room, but what good will it be to you if you can’t use the space efficiently and meet all of your needs?
So before we get further into the styling aspect, lets pause and make a plan for the furniture zones and functional needs.
So in your living room, what activities are you going to be doing there?
Most likely you are going to be sitting and having a conversation with other people. So you want to make sure your furniture is speaking to that. Don’t point all of your furniture toward your TV. I know that is really common and most people think that every seat in the room should have a good view to the television. But this is a big design mistake. Your tv should be in good view, yes. But more importantly, your seating arrangement should be conducive to conversation. It’s hard to have a good chat with someone when they are too far away or not facing you.
from houzz.com
What other activities will you be doing here?
Will you be serving cocktails? or Reading a good book?
Will you be watching tv? Playing games at the table?
Whatever you and your family/roommates like to do, or need to do, in this room, make sure you have a zone for that. (note: some areas will need to serve double duty: i.e.) a coffee table that serves as your family games table, or your console table will also serve as your bar when you are entertaining).
A typical living room (if it’s a formal one) will have the main seating arranged for conversation; a bar area, such a cart behind the larger sofa; and some may even have a secondary seating set for a more intimate conversation.
In a more casual living room (a.k.a. a family room), there will often be a large sitting area, some side seating, as well as a reading area, or maybe even a nap area 🙂
The other important part of furniture zones is making sure you leave room to walk through seating zones and around furniture (where needed). Don’t push your furniture against the wall, unless your in a tiny room and you have no other choice.
*Tip: Anchor your seating area with an area rug. Even if you already have carpet. (more on choosing area rugs later)*
Make your furniture set up inviting. Whatever your purpose is, make it clear. If you need a desk for your home office needs, make a zone for that instead of using the coffee table or kitchen island. Some of the coziest and cutest (!) family living rooms I’ve seen have a desk tucked away in a corner of the room. Don’t be afraid to make multiple zones. You can make it work by leaving space between the various zones, so that its clear which zone is for which activity.
The final point I need to make about zones is that each zone should have sufficient lighting for whatever the purpose is for that space. Ie., if you have a reading corner, make sure you have a floor or table lamp that is available and placed there. Your conversational area will probably be ok with your ceiling lights. But if not, you can always add a console table behind the main sofa and place 1 or 2 lamps on it. This is useful even for controlling the amount of light, if you are not so lucky to have a dimmer. Sometimes you want softer light, and then only the lamp light is needed.
Happy decorating <3
Stay tuned for my next post on styling your living room like a pro!
Please post your questions or comments below; I’ll be happy to answer to them!
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[…] If you’re totally lost on all that, check out my post on How to Style your Living Room like a Pro, and How to Style your Living Room like a Pro; Part 2. […]