Easy, elegant, and engaging ideas to liven your living room

The investment piece.

Purchasing from local manufacturers can ensure your furniture is made to order, meeting your specific requirements with plenty of on-hand advice to get it right. Alternatively, expert importers of reputable brands can provide the pathway to those hard to find pieces. Whichever you choose ensure you get robust sales support to guide you through the process. Scale and proportion within the room are very important to consider – a handy tip when you have found a style you like is to use newspaper on your floor to better visualise the space it occupies – as well as the all important comfort factor. Quality construction is essential if you want a piece that will last, this is an investment and you need to maximise your returns!

Choosing the correct fabric is essential, consider sunlight/UV exposure and mitigate fading with a UV resistant fabric if this is a concern. High performance or stain resistant fabrics are ideal for families, especially if you prefer to eat and drink on the sofa. Easy clean options are critical for children, pets and those who struggle to navigate the route from snack bowl to lips with skill (hands up who else has a spill-y housemate!).

Article -  How to choose upholstery fabric

This is where you have endless opportunities to be brave with the colour, pattern, and shape. Create uniformity in the same style and fabric or mix and match for an eclectic look. Think about your style and choose pieces that reflect this to create a cohesive look. Breaking up your seating between a sofa and chair or chairs makes entertaining more convivial.

Great to pull up for extra seating and to add some engaging shape elements within the space, ottomans fulfil numerous functions. In smaller living rooms, look for sizes that will slide under a coffee table when not in use. Look at colour as the overarching anchor for your design, then use pattern, shape, and texture to amplify. These small items can be easily re-covered over the years as your style and colour preferences change.

The coffee table anchors the seating area and is a functional item that can be styled up to create a focal point. Round and ovoid tables can counteract hard architectural elements or strongly linear sofa and chair designs, though square or rectangular may better suit the space and will work anywhere. By adding books, flowers, or a tray of special treasures there are many creative ways to link tone and texture back to your overall palette. Mix up metals, stone, and glass to add surface detail and interest.  

Custom storage, such as built in shelving and cupboards, is the perfect solution for ensuring your lounge remains tidy and functional. Surface effects including recessed handles, negative details, and reeding from walls to furniture bring tactility and texture to interior spaces. Shelving can also be used to create a gallery or showcase a collection of ceramics or books.

You can incorporate storage into ottomans, side tables, and coffee tables which is a great solution for smaller spaces to give pieces a dual purpose. There are modern solutions for hiding the TV too – it can disappear into an entertainment unit or behind an artwork. The TV is no longer the focus of the room, we don’t need to point our furniture at it!

The devil is in the detail on your decorative journey. One can’t have a living space without a cushion or two in the mix! Cushions are ideal for embellishing with fringing, pleats, trim, stitching details, and raw edges. It’s also a place to be bold with texture, colour, and pattern without committing to a large piece of furniture. Mix colours to bring your palette together, pulling in complementary elements from rugs and artworks for a cohesive scheme. 

Books and decorative treasures, objet d’art, candles, and flowers can create curiosity and intrigue while providing hours of fun creating lovely vignettes of your favourite items on a shelf or coffee table. Add a statement artwork or large floral arrangement for dramatic effect or hang mirrors in a small lounge to instantly open and light it up as well as adding dimension to the walls.

Put a shine on things and add a little sparkle. Side and floor lamps are perfect in the lounge to enhance the mood and define zones. Floor lamps are ideal when positioned beside an armchair – perfect for reading. Choosing lamps with dimmers allows you to control the light and enhance the mood.

The ambient light that lamps offer is flattering and calming, enhancing the space far better than downlights or try candles for ambience and aroma for special occasions and when entertaining. 

Layering creates contrast and texture and you can use this principle in cushioning, upholstery, art, even your flooring selection.

Textured walls, stone and plaster tiles all work brilliantly with rugs or carpet inlays and can define settings which is especially useful in large rooms. To achieve warmth through colour use earthy tones and natural materials such as linen, wool, mohair or sheepskin, and boucle textures – the ‘knobblier’ the better.

Use nature as your guide when choosing a colour palette to soothe and calm, or look to vivid colour trends that will excite and inspire. Greenery through living plants helps add movement while purifying the air at the same time.

Article - How to choose colour and pattern

Curtains completely transform an interior, softening and adding dimension to a space alongside privacy and comfort. Great for warmth and heat retention, they are functional and a major design element often unifying the room’s scheme through colour or pattern. Always add linings or bumf to provide insulation and body to your fabric, this is especially beneficial if you don’t have double glazing in your lounge, or are wanting to create a voluminous or opulent effect. If space is at a premium, opt for wooden shutters or roman blinds for an architectural look. 

Article - How to choose curtains

Just like art has the magic to draw you in and shake up your emotions, so does wallpaper. In a flash you can be submerged into a tropical oasis with Mokum La Palma, turning a wall in to art with a mural from Casadeco’s Beauty Full collection, or lulled by the tactile subtlety of the James Dunlop Linen collection. Wallpaper isn't only for the walls – wallpapered ceilings are having a moment and if you feel like a whole room is too much, create a feature wall.

Article - How to choose wallpaper

There you have it, ten simple and elegant ways to maximise the heart of your home. Start with a plan in mind and work your way through it to create a space that is uniquely yours and that ticks the boxes for function, comfort, and of course, aesthetic!