Summer has arrived at last. Now that you
have a bit more energy and your morale is higher due to much-needed vitamin D,
you’re ready to tackle some new
projects.
During the winter, you may find that your
living spaces began to get a bit cluttered; it’s almost as if you felt the need
to store extra items for the winter, because your subconscious was sending you
into some sort of squirrel mentality.
Hopefully you’ll get to spend plenty of
time outside this summer, but it’s also an important time to take stock of your
home’s interior as well. If you want to feel lighter, more refreshed and less
anxious, keeping a clean, organized and pseudo-minimalist home is a great way
to get started.
In this article, you will read about some
great space-saving living room decoration tips that will help you lighten up your
living room so you can lighten up your outlook on life.
Seating
Save space by throwing out (or donating)
your old armchairs, and instead tuck a couple dining style chairs with armrests
into two corners of the room. You can make these chairs more comfortable with colorful
cushions and a sheepskin throw.
Choose a sofa with clean lines and a low
height, this will make the surrounding space seem cleaner and larger, as well
as keeping it feeling open. Or instead of the traditional sofa, consider
something even more petite, such as a settee or a loveseat.
Entertainment center
Have you come to accept a mass of tangled
cables and unorganized games and DVDs as part of your living room décor? This
is the case in many family homes, but it certainly doesn’t have to be. Here are
some tips for tidying up the entertainment center:
Hide cable boxes, DVD players and gaming
systems by getting rid of your TV stand. If you’re out shopping
for 55” smart TVs,
consider finding one that can be mounted to the wall. After mounting your TV to
the wall, install a low cupboard along the length of
the wall that the TV is mounted too. Closing doors will conceal all of the bits
and bobs you now have lying around, and the top of the cover is free for
displaying more aesthetic items such as plants and family photos.
Tables
Even the smallest of living rooms need
surface space for decorative items, or holding snacks and drinks while you’re
watching a movie. The answer? Nesting tables! Nesting tables work just like the
names says: they are sets of tables, each one a different size that fits
perfectly underneath the one larger than it. When you need more surface space,
you can use all of the tables, and when you are straightening up, you can
simply tuck the excess tables away under the main table.
Lighting
Although light is not something that
physically takes up space, low lighting can definitely make rooms seem smaller,
cramped and more cluttered. Don’t have large bay windows? No fear — you can
still make your living room seem larger simply by using white or very light
beige shades. Semi-sheer shades are also the way to go to help maximize the
amount of natural light flowing into your room.
Color
It may be super tempting to choose a fun,
playful color for your walls as an outward expression of your inner artist, but
try to resist these urges. If you want to make your space look uncluttered,
keep your walls clean and white.
Additionally, try choosing just one accent color
for your cushions, throws or furniture. If you can’t resist a colorful living
room, then make sure the colors that you choose are in the same color family. If
you absolutely need crazy color,
just make sure you do some research before-hand.
Corner space
There is an epidemic in homes all across
the world. Every year, millions of corners go unused, literally taking away
space and making living rooms smaller. So what can you do to help in the fight
against unused corner space? If you’ve got woodworking skills, you can craft
your own corner display cabinet that will fit perfectly into that unused nook.
Not so handy? No problem! There are plenty of corner storage cabinets on the
market, and they come in any style you could imagine.
Consider mobility
If you live in a smaller home, you may be
dealing with a combined living room/dining room situation. If this is the case,
it’s likely that your dining room table, however diminutive in size, is taking
up a good chunk of space. You can find very attractive, handcrafted dining
tables that have castors as feet, making them easy to push to the side or even
roll to another space when not in use.
Storage
Besides choosing a minimalist lifestyle and
throwing everything out, plenty of storage space is your best friend when
saving space in the living room, or any room for that matter. You may be
looking around at your small space and asking yourself ‘Ok, but where do I find
space to put the storage?’. That’s where stairs come in.
Do you have a staircase that begins near or
in your living room? If the answer is yes, then you’re in luck. If your
staircase runs along a wall, then you most likely have a bunch of unused space
underneath it. Use that space to install drawers that can be used to store
everything from linens to school supplies. If the space under your staircase is
filled in, make it your big summer project to knock down those walls and make
use of that space.
Get your shoe
storage on! If there’s no way to access the space under the stairs, why not
turn each step into a drawer? You may not want to store your precious linens in
there, but these discrete drawers can be a great space for board games and
shoes.
Also, wall shelves. If you want to save
space, your decoration should be on the walls. That means, if you can, your
shelves should be on the walls. Why have a console table taking up space when
you could provide the same amount of storage and display space on the wall?
Put your furniture
to work
If you’re in your living room, have a look
at your sofa. Is your sofa serving any other purpose than looking pretty and
providing seating? If not, the base could and should also be a place to store
extra blankets and cushions. Unless you’re taking the above advice and buying a
petite settee, make sure you choose a sofa that has storage space beneath the
cushions.
The same can be said for your coffee table.
If you’re trying to save space, a delicate coffee table resting on spindly
cabriole legs is probably not the best option. Choose a coffee table that at
least has a bottom platform. If you want to go all out, convert a vintage chest
into a coffee table — that way, you’ll have tons of space for storage right
under the lid.
So, get outside and soak up the sun as much
as you can this summer. But on those days when it’s just too hot to be outside,
or you’re just way too sunburned from yesterday at the beach, consider cleaning
out your living room and giving yourself a space to relax that is
uncluttered and lets you breath. It may seem like a big project, but even just
taking one of the tips from this article will make a big difference in your
little space.
