Style Your Living Room Like A Professional

Style Your Living Room Like A Professional

Ever wondered how professional stylists create such picture-perfect interior schemes that look super inviting and ready to move straight into?  Here are some tips that can help not only for your home to enjoy every day but to give it that extra appeal when you choose to bring it to market for sale.

12 Top Tips for whipping your living room into shape, and make it work whatever your style or budget.

1. Mix and Match your Seating: Introduce a relaxed vibe and soften the overall look of your scheme by a mix of contrasting textures. Team cosy sofas with rattan armchairs, luxe materials like marbles and metallic with distressed wood, and vintage leather with soft linen for a living room scheme you’ll sink into.
2. Try an Oversized Rug: As well as adding a sense of decadence due to its large scale, an oversized rug will also create impact and increase your living space, not to mention protecting your flooring.
3. Liven up a Wall with Shelving: Use a Display Cabinet or Bookcase to show off your chosen accessories and treasures. Small vignettes are easy to create – use a variety of object in different heights and textures for interest – everything from vases to books, trinkets to frames. Just be sure to not overdo it and end up with a cluttered effect. Sometimes less truly is more.
4. Don’t make the TV the Focus of your Room: Keep it off-centre and your scheme will be much more aesthetically pleasing as well as more sociable. With seating pointing towards each other rather than just at the TV, it makes for much better interaction rather than guests staring at the screen.
5. Create ‘Zones’ in an Open-Plan Space: Find it hard to work out where your kitchen ends, and your living room starts?  Use modular seating and L Shaped sofas to ‘Zone’ an Open-Plane space and segregate the living area from the rest of the room for a homier feel.
6. Choose Furniture with Streamlined Silhouettes: Furniture featuring angular lines and simple shapes, such as the armchair and coffee table pictured below, will help to create the feeling of more space and prevent your scheme from appearing too busy. STYLIST’S TIP: Love laid back coastal style?  Then introduce natural textures, faded neutrals and ocean-inspired hues, along with pendant lights and lamps in curved shapes to help the scheme from feeling too harsh.
7. Create a Seating Corner: The right furniture choices can make the most of a spare corner. A pair of Sleek Armchairs with a matching Coffee Table will create an appealing set-up for a morning tea, or choose an oversized, cosy Armchair and Bookcase for an instant reading corner.
8. Supersize Your Plants: Breathe life into your scheme and add impact by using one large plant for effect. Position it in a spot where it won’t be in the way and can add interest at the same time – corners and alcoves are ideal spots. Then simply choose a pot to complete your scheme, whether it’s a glamorous metallic design or a more rustic terracotta.
9. Choose Decorative Storage: Combine Form and Function – in this case by livening up a plain wall with a beautiful Mirrored Ar-moire. Not only does the detailing add interest – complemented by the pattered sofa cushions – but the mirrored doors will help bounce light around the space. STYLIST’S TIP: Get the look of calming Hampton’s Style, with faded neutrals, elegant accessories and antique – inspired furniture.
10. Try Low Seating for a Relaxed Mood: A sofa with a low profile will keep your room feeling calm and informal – ideal if you’re after a well – ordered ambience. Plus, if your living room boasts decorative furniture and lots of pattern, the simplicity of this style of sofa will help to diffuse the busy scheme.
11. Go Bold with a Statement Chandelier: Hung central to the scheme, an eye-catching light fitting, such as a shimmering chandelier, will draw attention to your seating area.
12. Introduce Tables of Different Heights: Break up a formal scheme and add layers of interest by choosing furniture of different heights. For instance, team a tall console with a low coffee table and a side table that sits somewhere in-between the two. STYLIST’S TIP: Achieve a traditional scheme by using symmetry, classic lines, and sophisticated materials such as crystal, gold and stone.