5 Modern Design Inspirations for your Living Room

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Whether it’s used for entertaining guests, enjoying the company of your family, relaxing by yourself, or all of the above, the living room is one of the most important rooms in your home. It is also one of the most flexible to design because there are so many different ways in which you can personalize the room to make it special to you and your family. Either way, you no doubt spend a lot of time in this room, so if you’re thinking about renovating it to give it a fresh look, take a moment to read some design tips to give your living room a modern flair. The primary purpose of the living room is for it to be a comfortable place. As such, you want to fill the space with enough seating arrangements to accommodate everyone. This will vary depending on the size and nature of the room itself. For larger rooms with a lot of people, you can add an extra ottoman or coffee table for guests to put their feet up on, but smaller living rooms may not be able to contain too many extra pieces of furniture and still leave enough room for people to maneuver around in. The key is to balance the positive space of furniture with the negative space to create a comforting atmosphere for everyone. In addition to comfort, functionality is also a major factor in living room design. In general, living rooms tend to lean towards one of two main uses: they are either small sitting rooms for entertaining guests or are larger centers of entertainment for the family. If yours is used for the former, then you may want to consider a minimalist design. With this kind of design, you need not worry about having a TV hub, but rather you’d need only a few places to sit and a small coffee table. The rest of the decorations should reflect this as well. If you are using the living room for larger entertainment, usually the case for families with children, then it makes more sense to include a TV, stand, and possibly a gaming system. A larger cabinet can handle all this and becomes a focal point in the room. Again, depending on the function of the room, the rest of the decorations can either be minimalist or more active. When it comes to coloring and design, one modern concept is to contrast neutrality with bold presentations. Usually this juxtaposition takes place between the furniture and the wall colors or decorations. For example, if you have a sofa and chairs that are more neutrally colored, like beige or light blue, then you may want the walls to be a more pronounced color. This concept applies vice versa with a subdued wall color and vibrant furniture. Contrasting them like this helps bring the room together without it being dull or overwhelming. Lighting is an important factor in designing a room as well and will vary depending on how many sources of light are in the room. In general however, balancing light and dark will keep the room from being either too bright or too dark, as neither extreme is considered appealing to most. Natural lighting is always a good thing to work with, especially if you have a few windows in the living room. Curtains and window treatments can help filter out too much light and add an extra focal point when they are presented well. Lighting also affects furniture placement, as it is a good idea to angle chairs and sofas so that they provide appropriate light. For example, you want to put a chair by the window to allow natural light to read by during the day, while positioning the television in such a way that it catches minimal glare from the windows. Balancing the lighting can be tricky, but certainly pays off. Finally, the type of flooring that you decide to go with can solidify a room’s design. Most commonly, carpeting is installed in living rooms, but this need not always be the case. Carpeting does offer certain advantages because it is most comfortable on feet and can be colored to blend in well with the rest of the room. However, a case could be made for having hardwood flooring to give the room a more natural appearance, especially if it is paired well with the walls and furniture. The type and coloring of flooring is largely a personal preference, however having fresh looking floor goes a long way in increasing the overall appearance of a room. Family and guests spend a lot of time in the living room, so now may be the time to renovate and redesign yours. Depending on if you want to be more conscious of comfort or functionality, you may have a specific design in mind. Lighting, coloring, and flooring all play large roles in bringing the room together as a whole and Naffco Flooring and Interiors have much experience in the way of designing living rooms and more with all of these factors in mind. For more information about how we can assist with your interior living room renovation, please call the South Tampa office at (813) 254-4066, the Carrollwood office at (813) 961-1362, or the Brandon office at (813) 413-8313.