In most homes, the living room is usually a designated area for families and their guests where they go to relax. But what happens when the room architecture is such that makes it very limited? The only solution is to maximize the space you already have. And if you are searching for small living room ideas, then this one’s for you!
Spice up and unlock your tightly packed small living room! Yes, it is possible. Just take inspiration from the below broadly discussed ideas. Do you want an elegant look, but doubt that it’s impossible in your small living room space?
See if these tips for elegant living rooms will work for you. The ideas presented below are destined to lend you a hand when it comes to adding some elegance to your home decor. Check great living rooms and get inspired today!
Elegant small living room ideas and tips
If you have a cramped living room, then you don’t have to sacrifice style. When you are focusing on well-cured furnishings and creativity, you can design a living room space that displays the aesthetic of your design. If you are curious about how your small living room can have a high-design arrangement, you can always check how designers utilize color schemes, stylish accessories, brilliant layouts, and double-duty furniture to craft small living rooms into looking stylishly big. Otherwise, you can check these small living room ideas below!
Add Ceiling Curtains
If you want to add drapes to your small living space, choose a color that matches the walls to avoid too much contrast. To add an elegant touch, take your curtains to the ceiling. It doesn’t matter if you use blinds, drapes, or curtains. Window treatments are a sure way to create an elegant setting.
If you don’t have enough surface and square footage space, you can get several spaces out of high ceilings. To take advantage of the vertical space, you can let your windows have show-stopping wallpaper and high curtains. Curtains that hang well add height and airiness to a room. The design of the curtain should be kept basic but using additional fabric for completeness.
Decorations can also be done vertically when your living room has a high ceiling. Consider using wallpaper designs that complement your lounge. When the floor space of your living room is limited, take the decorations up high. For instance, if your room is painted brilliant white, you could transform it with a characteristic wall of blue that attracts the eye upwards to make the most out of the high ceiling.
To have a cozy living room, you should include blankets as well. However, when it happens that you are short on space to keep the blankets, you usually don’t have a lot of options. You can always opt to stash them in a basket, but this takes the valuable floor space. The best option is usually to use a leading ladder to store them.
Let Natural Light In
A great trick when it comes to small living room ideas is the natural light. The living room can always feel spacious by ensuring layered lighting, either artificially or naturally. Lighting should be kept at multiple levels, such as through the use of task lights, chandeliers, and floor lamps. This can help create a moody but yet a perfectly-lit room.
If your living room area can access a lot of natural lighting, avoid blocking it with dark curtains. Allow light to pour into the room to help in making space feel more open and airy. Even if your living room lacks either large windows or accessibility to a lot of sunlight, always use curtains that are of lighter shades to help in maximizing the little light that you have.
Semi-sheer shades can also be used in the living room’s windows to allow as much lighting as possible into the room. You should take advantage of the natural lighting by marking out a living room space with a carefully placed round coffee table and a sticking out purist light. These two pieces work together for purposes of developing a central point around which you can add flour cushions, place a couple of stools or chairs when your guests visit. You can have your books and accessories displayed on open shelving that is industrially-shelved. This can develop a relaxed feel without hiding the gorgeous texture of a slate characteristic wall.
Natural light “naturally” opens up a space while also creating an elegant glow. It is a subtle yet powerful way to add elegance to your living room. Especially if you have a pastel or open color that dominates in your living room, that’s even better! Like in the example above, where the white and beige color palette makes the space more open and beautiful.
Use Darker Shades For Elegant Small Living Rooms
Believe it or not, painting your walls a darker shade can make your walls practically invisible and create instance elegance. If you are the daredevil type, try a bold elegant wallpaper, it will draw attention away from the room size and maintain the room’s elegant appearance.
Right Furniture Arrangement
If your small living room space is narrow, place your sofa against the wall and leave more space in the center of the room. Select a sofa in an elegant color like beige, black, or dark blue.
Image: The House Hotel
Large Windows
If you are lucky enough to have large windows with a striking view, bring those natural shades inside your living room to merge the outside with the inside, thereby increasing the space and creating an elegant natural ambiance.
Image: Bjurfors
Add Special Furniture Pieces
Sophisticated furniture like accent chairs and sofas that are raised on legs create more space. Be sure to take into consideration the texture, pattern, and color of your furniture in order not to take away from the elegant style you are trying to create. In these small living room ideas, as you can see, every detail and piece of furniture counts. And it all depends on how you are going to combine things in the room.
Image: NZ House & Garden
Get Rid Of Unwanted Furniture
Creating an elegant style in a small living room space includes keeping the area uncluttered, which means getting rid of furniture pieces that do not complement to the elegant design of your living room décor. Get rid of any piece of furniture that takes away from the setting you want to create.
Neutral Colors Will Be Your Ally
Popular ways to create an elegant look and expand the space of your living room at the same time is with light and neutral colors. These shades are uncomplicated space extenders and offer a neutral backdrop for extras like accent chairs, wall art, and unique lighting. Another simple way, when doing room re-decorations, is to add soft pastel shades that can create inviting and warm schemes to make your small living room feel spacious.
Image: BD
Petterned pieces everywhere
Elegant looks in small living room spaces are simple when you combine plain colors with a unique patterned piece. For example, a simple blue sofa will work well with a patterned accent rug with bits of blue hues integrated into the design.
Image: Phoebe Howard
Use Some Mirrors For Space Decoration
Mirrors are usually used to help in making a small space feel airy and open. You could make your room display a dramatic effect many mirrors can play, plus you should use those that reflect all light available within the living room.
Fact: This is one of the oldest tricks which still works to date.
You can immediately create a space illusion by adding more mirrors in the room and as well chose a big mirror to wrap an entire wall. The mirror will function to create space illusions through light reflection and the interior space decorations doubling the space. Always try keeping a light color palette and help in creating the overall effect.
When your room architecture is designed in a weird shape, implementing the small living room designs you love can become tricky. Significant challenges small living room designs come with include cramped dining area. To remedy this, you could decide to hang some mirrors in the dining area. Not only will space feel bigger, but it also changes how the dining area will look.
You can put mirrors on one side and chairs on the other, and your dining area won’t look small. Mirrors work wonders. They add light, extend space, and create that lovely touch of elegance you are trying to achieve. A long, rectangular shaped mirror looks fantastic if you can fit it into your space.
Image: The Design Co.
Add Plants to Your Living Room Space
Just like mirrors and wallpapers, adding plants is an excellent way of adding depth to your small living room space. Plants help in fooling and softening of the eyes. And also into thinking that there is more space within the living room than there is. Plants are particularly effective behind or beside sofas and chairs and in corners.
Image: Entrance
Go for Floating Shelves
When your living room space area is small, you might consider utilizing floating shelves. Always consider giving the floating shelves the same color pattern as that of the wall for a sleek look. Don’t fear to get creative with sizes, like using scattered small shelves.
Try Using a Backless Sofa
Usually, in a space with an open plan, the perfect position for the sofa is not always on the wall. But in the room’s central area. However this is not unless your couch is small! A couch in the middle of a small room can maximize space and make it look bigger.
A backless sofa is also an alternative and can be used from all sides. It usually becomes a bonus when you have limited seating options. If someday you’d want to use it in a bigger room, it can act as a diving agent between two seating areas. These small living room ideas are great just because of this versatile element that they carry with them.
For instance, you could have a backless couch floating in the middle of open-plan space with a pair of lavish armchairs and a small table next to the sofa. When holding a party within your small living room, the backless sofa can accommodate two individuals resting on each side. And say you end up moving to a bigger place. Then this can be handy even in that case, too. Practicality is key here, don’t forget about it.
Avoid Creating Attention towards Your Front Door
Whether it is a studio flat or a bijou country cottage, it can be challenging to create a relaxing space. Especially when your front door opens straight into your living room. Always put emphasis away from the front door by developing a central point with carefully arranged seats. For instance, you could decide to have a nice two-seater couch and a comfy armchair placed at a 90-degree angle to a lamp and slim side table.
Choose a Loveseat Couch
When you happen to be staying with your partner or roommate, a loveseat is more than enough to meet your needs. Combine a comfy loveseat with a small table for a cozy yet a more spacious living room. There is always more to living furniture than having a heavy armchair and a full-size couch. You could opt for a piece of small furniture by having a downsized couch for your small living room. Choose a sofa with exposed legs and clean lines for the airiest look.
The ideal place to find small-scale furniture is at the antique shops; because the size of the room was small until the last half of the century. Always opt for small chairs, love seats, and settees that can work for your living room space.
For instance, you could have the loveseat placed centrally in front of the bay window. And place some small tables on each side. You could also have a pair of armchairs sit opposite a sofa, with a coffee table in between. You could also opt to have an antique sofa positioned diagonally to the wall with a slim table opposite it.
Completely Fill a Corner
Using a dark sofa on a corner usually creates a corridor effect. However, by swapping it for an L-shaped design with lighter color shade, you could create an opened up space and a cozy corner. With this, a room can also be created for more seating using big floor cushions. It is quite illogical, but for small living room ideas sometimes opting for a large piece of furniture can make maximize space in your living room and make it feel bigger.
This is because a big couch can be comfy and seat a lot of people. Since a large piece of furniture will always read as just one piece, it can help make the living room feel uncluttered. Having a modern sectional with tidy, straight lines works better in a small space than a stuffed form. For instance, you can opt for a tailored sectional couch in one corner, with a pair of folding stools pulled close to create a casual group. With a small living room, you can also opt to fill out the group with a slipper chair.
Opt for a Large Rug
Opting for a big rug with a bold pattern is an idea you can use to make your living room feel bigger. Unlike smaller rugs, the big ones usually don’t break up the floor visually. This can help in anchoring the space. And provide you with an ideal staple main piece to design the rest of the space around. Corner seating can also help you to acquire more space out of the small room for a longer customary sofa.
Keep Your Living Room Cozy
What can make small living room ideas feel inviting and cozy is leaning into the smallness of space. You can try to keep seating intimate and close together by opting for a luxurious, soft rug. This is usually advised, especially if you are decorating a room where you’ll need things to be perfectly functional and welcoming. If you would want your living room looking cozy and cute, try color-coordinated items that are clustering together. This can range from cushions to pictures for the creation of a consistent look.
If you are a newbie, always try to keep everything as simple as possible, especially when you lack enough room to play with but still want to add some color. Begin with a base of neutrals and inject in one characteristic color for the invitation of different finishes and textures. This can help in adding depth while remaining airy and light on the eyes. Always keep your window dressing simple by making the most of natural light in the living room.
If you are lucky to have a high ceiling, consider using full-length curtains. The reason is because they will always draw the eye upwards. This helps in creating space illusion, even if the square footage in your living room is quite scanty. Designs that are of a subtle stripe usually add to the feeling of additional depth. Opt for curtains that can be easily swept away from the window for lighting purposes. Alternatively, you can also go for roller or Roman blinds.
Image: neatntiny
Opt for Light Colors for the Walls
Shades of dusky lilacs, pale grey or blue, and blush of pinks can make any small living room ideas feel inviting and fresh. Steering in brilliant whites instead of taupe, grey, or green tones can help make your room feel cozy. You can keep your floors and walls in white to aid in brightening up your living room space. Having a large artwork hanged on the wall is eye-catching, yet not at all littered.
That way, you can ensure a colorful piece of furniture is placed at the center of the room. This can help in creating a feeling of the walls closing in on you. Having a small living room space should not prevent you from having fun with colors.
If you are always in love with incorporating vivid bright colors and pretty pastels but still want to ensure your living doesn’t look chaotic, the best thing is to get attached to a tight color palette. Doing pattern mixing cheerfully and masterfully is also recommended. Always go bold but neutral. Mixing of patterns should be lively and fresh, while a subtle, neutral palette helps in ensuring that things are kept from an overdone-feeling.
You can also opt for clear pieces such as glass, Lucite, and acrylic. These items are great materials to use in a small living room because they usually take up no visual space. You can also try nesting side tables or coffee tables with waterfall edges in one of the clear items.
Image: shades of blue interiors
Maximize Potentials for Storage
Small living room ideas should always follow some rules like being kept uncluttered and fresh with proper storage. The best way of making a small living room feel bigger is to keep it clean, and for you to do that, everything within the room must always have its ideal place. Floating shelves are suitable for small living rooms since they can carry a lot of items.
Floating shelves can be in the form of cupboards, floor-to-ceiling, bespoke fitted shelves, alcoves, or on a wall that utilizes every inch of extra space. Consider using an empty wall and shifting it into a top-to-bottom library. This will help change a small and sad living room space into your favorite room. It will give a lot of storage opportunities and display a deluxe built-in effect. If you want a more stylish look, opt for a vibrant color like green and add molding to help in polishing off the first look.
You can also use hidden storage options by choosing furniture with storages that are in-built to help in limiting clutter. You can also use a storage ottoman as a coffee table. Try using a small chest of drawers along the perimeter of the living room instead of a solace table to improve your storage alternatives. Instead of using several small pieces of furniture such as a chest and bookshelf that could eat up your small space quickly, just devote one complete wall to storage. Customization can always be done to a floor-to-ceiling storage wall to help in containing everything from a media center to books, and perhaps even a pull-down desk.
Image: home and fabulous
Make Your Living Room Multi-purpose
When your living room has limited space, the only alternative is to become creative and make things multi-functional. For instance, if you lack room for a separate home office, living room, and dining room, you could combine each concept into one space all-together.
Let your living room prove that the right pieces and layout can look perfect despite the size or shape of the room. You can invest in pieces of furniture that are multi-functional for your small living room space. You can opt for a coffee table that also acts as a storage bin to allow you to do away with clutter. Try investing in couches having storage areas under the seat or lidded stools. Add furniture with reflective surfaces and mirrors into the scheme of your design. This will help in maximizing the amount of natural lighting entering your room to make it look brighter and bigger.
If your living room is close to your dining area, try as much as you can to keep a cohesive look y using the idea of matching space decorations and color schemes. This will help in creating a large space illusion and enable you to combine the spaces when hosting your friends and visitors. Each piece of furniture within the living room should be able to earn its keep.
You can use ottomans that function as an extra seating or coffee table. Investing in versatile little stools or nesting side tables that you can easily move around could also serve as tables or seats. For instance, you can place an armless couch to float slightly away from the wall with two ottomans as seats and coffee tables.
Image: Tatiana Home Decor
Do Without Traditional Pieces
Don’t be so conditioned by the living room formula of a coffee table plus sofa, but you can focus on doing what works best for you. For instance, you can place a quarter of slipper chairs where a sofa can be put while using a rolling cart instead of a coffee table off to the side and secure a floor rug.
Image: Oh Beauty
A small living room can eat up the space of your living room faster after placing just a few pieces of furniture. As a result of this, many people think that having a big living room is better, but this isn’t always true in all cases. The secret of ensuring your small living room looks good is by taking advantage of the space you have. You don’t have to use tiny pieces of furniture, but there is no need for filling up the small living room space with a big table or couch. Doing this can make your room look crowded. Design elements such as having a robust color scheme, shelving, access lighting, and hidden storage also makes a small space look bigger.
Make use of your compact living room by incorporating the above discussed small living room ideas to save and brighten your room. These tricks will help you make the best out of your small living room space. When space decorating your small living room, always try not to make things feel cluttered and cramped. Adding colored pillows, curtains, lamps, artwork, photos, and walls can start to make a room feel smaller. Always ensure that you create a bigger space illusion and purchase the right kind of furniture. This will help you put together the ideal layout.
Once you pick on the right furniture, color scheme, and design, you can always make your living room space personalized with some unique artwork and customized pillows. And then the best small living room will be yours!
Beautifully Put and Showed! MC
I really enjoyed reading your creative and passionate thoughts on decorating.