Your living room is where you spend the most time; you unwind here after a long day of work, watch the game with your friends, and turn it into a pillow fort for your kids. It is the room that guests are ushered into when they come into your home, so it is their first impression of it. Making your living room look amazing is important, both to make you happy when you spend time there and to help you put your best foot forward when people come to your home. In this article, we will look at how to transform your living room.
Declutter Your Living Room
Over time, every living room will accumulate clutter, which can make an impact on how your living room looks and feels. One quick and easy way to transform your living room is to spend some time decluttering it. When you declutter, be ruthless with yourself. Ask yourself if you really need each item, why you need it, and if it belongs in the living room. You may have some things you are not sure if you should keep them or not; in that case, put them in a “maybe” box and look at them again in a few months. If you still feel like you should keep them, take them out; if you feel otherwise, then you can get rid of the item.
Light up the Room
Another great way to transform the look of your living room is to change your lighting. You can do this in two ways: getting new lights and letting in more natural light.
Natural Light
You can let in some natural light by swapping out your curtains for something lighter that will allow more sunlight to come through. Natural lighting can make a room look much bigger than it is, and you can better see the decor of the room.
New Lighting
When was the last time you changed up the lighting in your home? You can replace the covers on your light fixtures or get new lights altogether. The lamps themselves can even be part of the whole decor and theme of the living room like these wooden lamps do.
Change Your Color Scheme
If you want to make a dramatic transformation to your living room, changing up your color scheme is a great place to start. Before you start making changes to the room, make sure you have everything planned out, which can easily be done by creating mood boards. What parts of the color changes are you looking to make? Do you just want to change your wall colors, or are you planning on replacing the furniture too?
Redoing your walls should be the first place to start when working on your new color scheme. When deciding on the changes to your walls, you can go with paint, wallpaper, or add faux stone to your living room walls. Faux stone will add some new depth and texture to the room and give it a unique feature that not many homes have. It is amazing how much a change in the wall colors can make to a room, so sometimes that is all you need to do to transform your living room, but you can change other things as well.
Other things you can change to update your color scheme:
- Add an area rug.
- Replace the blinds or curtains.
- Replace the furniture, have it reupholstered, or buy furniture covers.
- Add throw pillows.
- Get new lights.
- Hang new pictures or artwork.
- Get new knick-knacks.
Rearrange the Furniture
If you want a quick and easy way to transform the look of your living room, you can rearrange the furniture. Look at the arrangement of the furniture with an objective eye and think about how the flow of the room could be improved upon by being in another position. Just moving your couch to a different wall can be all the difference that you need to change up how your living room looks and feels.
Change the Floor
Getting a new carpet for the living room can also be a big transformation. You can also change it up for hardwood or laminate to completely change the look and feel of the room. Adding, moving, or removing an area rug can also make a big difference.
Update Your Fireplace
If your home has a fireplace, the brick or stone surrounding it is probably pretty old at this point. Replacing the brick or stone with natural brick or stone is expensive and can take a while because of construction. Instead, install faux stone or brick veneer for a fireplace surround, which is much more affordable and was designed for DIYers.
Have you always wanted a fireplace, but your home does not have one? You can instead buy an electric fireplace and install it on your wall, then install faux stone around it to give it a more authentic look.
Reexamine the Decor
How long have the pictures hanging on your walls been there? What about the knick-knacks sitting on tables and shelves? This is the perfect time to change some of them for something more current or unique. If a picture on your wall does not fit with who you are anymore or does not fit with your new design or color scheme, it is okay to remove it and replace it with something new and fresh.
Final Thoughts
It can be a lot of work to transform your living room, but you can have some fun with it and enjoy giving it a fresh and new look. These tips are a great place to start transforming the room, and you can do any of these projects on a budget.
About the Author
Auz Burger is a freelance writer and an expert in faux stone and brick veneer and home DIY projects. She has a BA from Washington State University and has been writing and editing professionally for over a decade.
