While the kitchen and bathroom often take priority when it's time to renovate, the living room is the first place decorators look at when a home needs upgrading.
We all want our homes to look as luxurious as possible but how do you manage to pull off that high-end feel without breaking the bank account? Believe it or not, there are a few easy styling tricks which can take a room from boring to chic, giving you the living room of your dreams. As the place your guests visit most, and the room where you’ll do most of your living, getting the space right is important.
Here, we take you through ten ways to add that sense of luxury to your living room.
1. Layer in Lighting
Just like any room in the house, a living room should have a combination of natural light and thought out artificial lighting that can provide you with options for ambience.
To create a more luxurious feel, we suggest layering in different types of lighting starting with the obvious ceiling lights and then looking for different sources of lighting including pendant lights, floor lamps and tables lamps. This will maximise warmth and add character to your room to create different experiences in the space.
2. Dress Those Windows
There is nothing like luxurious curtains to make a room look bespoke and quite frankly, expensive.
Custom window treatments don’t always come cheap, but, if you are interested in making a wise investment in your home, this is a good place to do it.
A great hack to make a room look taller is to mount the curtain track to the ceiling which will give the illusion the room is taller than it is. We also recommend having the curtains touch the floor to fully benefit from this hack.
3. Rug It Up
Wooden floorboards or tiles are great for kitchens and hallways, but when adding luxury elements to living spaces it is all about a soft rug. Choose a rug that will cover the entire space, which will give the illusion the room is bigger than it is.
We sometimes start with a rug as the first selection in the space and then layer on top of it. There are so many types of rugs out there, so have some fun selecting this focal piece in the room. Remember a rug is art on the floor!
4. Embrace Scale
One of our favourite design hacks is to play with scale in a room.
Think of how you can draw interest to the eye so that you have something to constantly grab your attention. Playing with the height of furniture, ornamental objects, different art and greenery is the easiest way to achieve scale and add interest to your space.
5. Add Some Art
Create a focal point and give your space a "wow" factor by hanging an oversized piece of art on one of your living room walls. It might seem obvious, but art adds instant value to a living room. Depending on the size of the room you might want to hang art on a number of walls, opting for different heights and styles to create a sense of luxury and design.
6. Play With Colour And Texture
Before starting any design, the obvious step is to create a colour palette for your space. Gravitate towards hues and tones that you feel comfortable with.
For a room to look more luxurious, choose hues that work well together and complement each other, rather than clash. It may sound simple, but opting for two colours (with a maximum of three) , will provide a more cohesive design. It’s easy to go into over design mode, but sometimes less is more.
Once you have established your colour palette, add in texture as well to bring the space to life. Texture is everything in a space, it provides that tactile feel and brings greater depth.
7. Include A Piece Of History
Give your space a sense of wisdom by incorporating some history into the room. Whether it's detailed cornicing, a patina aged mirror or a vintage side table, the small detail of history can create interest in the space.
8. Camouflage Your TV
One of our peeves is seeing the TV as the focal point of the room. If you are trying to achieve something more luxurious then we recommend you hide your TV behind some joinery or even art. If you can’t do that then, as a minimum, mount the TV to the wall and say goodbye to tangled chords!
9. Add A Sculptural Element
Prevent your room from becoming a sea of straight lines by introducing interesting shapes or unique silhouettes.
A tree-root coffee table or unusual side chair will add an artistic component to your design and make the space a more interesting environment.
10. Finish With A Fireplace
If you want to get fancy and seriously add some luxury to your living space, nothing screams luxury more than a cosy fireplace you can curl up to. As a focal point of the room, get creative with the design.
We hope these 10 tips help you transform your living room to something chic and truly unique.
