Feeling frustrated with the way your living room looks, but can’t pin down why? Perhaps you don’t enjoy hanging out in it. Maybe you don’t feel it reflects your taste. Well, we have some illuminating reasons why this oft-used room doesn’t feel ideal. Here are five common living room decor mistakes that could explain why. Let’s get to the bottom of this!
Settling on Furniture Too Fast
You just moved to a new home that you love, and it’s completely empty. The most important thing you can do? DON’T PANIC. Learn to treat furniture like high-quality clothing. If you bought all of your clothes at once, and assumed you’d wear and like them for most of your life, you’d be making a mistake. Tastes change, you change, and above all, your living situation may change. Learn to enjoy the empty space – of course, if you plan on hosting people right away, you may need a couch and some chairs – but other than that, don’t rush the process.
Forgoing an Area Rug (or Buying the Wrong Size)
Even if you have wall-to-wall carpeting, don’t forgo the almighty area rug. It should draw the room together, literally and figuratively. Ensure it’s large enough to touch all of your living room furniture, and invest in one that you actually like that is neutral (and ties together the colors in the room) or bright (stands out in a relatively mellow room). Either way, get a rug!
Cluttered Photos or Artwork
This one’s tough. Parents and Grandparents are prime candidates for “photo clutter” – which is a shame, because when there are too many photos or pieces of art, none of them get the attention they deserve. Pick out a few that mean a lot to you, and showcase those. Or, take all of the photos that are scattered in various frames throughout your home, and create a gallery wall using the same frame color to create unity.
Unbalanced Setup/Decor
The unbalanced furniture setup is often something that happens after the first mistake. When you buy furniture on the fly, you probably don’t take the time to think about whether that furniture will actually fit in your space. When you’re at the flea market or at a gallery, make sure you have your home’s measurements on hand so you can tell right away whether that mid-century Eames chair will fit in the corner next to the sofa. Because once it’s home, there’s a high likelihood it will stay there, too-big or not. Another thing to remember? If you can’t arrange even a few throw pillows nicely, you probably don’t know much about pleasant furniture setups. If that’s the case (we all know who we are), hire an expert or study some resources on the subject.
Uncomfortable Furniture
You’ve finally nailed it – your living room furniture is just the right size, it’s expresses your style, and you love the furniture placement. But when you sit down on the couch, you wince. It’s just so angular – and when you try to lie down on it that night to watch a movie, you can’t figure out how to make this gray modern sofa not feel like an actual rock. On the flipside, maybe things are too comfortable. Meaning you have 1,500 pillows on your couch that visitors always seem to toss to the floor. Two words: fix it. You don’t have to live your life on that rock like a lizard; just buy a new couch! And if you’re sick of arranging those pillows, get rid of them.
The bottom line? Life’s too short to work around the things we don’t love. While we’re on the subject – are you living in an apartment you don’t love? Well, perhaps it’s time to fix that, too. When you’re ready, the finest luxury apartments in Cathedral Heights await you.
Image Source: Flickr
