Decorating Your Living Room

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The living room is typically the one room where you spend more of your awake time than any other room in the house. Understandably this room can quickly become dull or feel outdated so it's a good idea to update your living room regularly in small ways to keep it looking and feeling fresh and fun. Use our quick and easy living room decorating tips to refresh regularly throughout the year.

Undecorate
It seems a little backwards, but undecorating a room is a great way to give is a clean look and feeling, and it's also great for spring cleaning. Take down everything you've put on the walls, on the tops of furniture, remove all throw pillows and blankets, basically strip the room of its personality. This leaves you an incredibly blank slate which can be refreshing by itself but may need a little work, so add pieces back or new pieces sparingly, editing your decisions as you go.

Shop your Storage
Try something new by going back to the old. Bring back old accessories, photos, decorations, pillows, even outdated and tired colors and give them new life in your living room. You really liked these items once, in fact so much so that you stored them rather than throwing them away, so let them breathe once again.

Go Antique
Keep the main pieces of furniture but add a couple antique pieces that bring in visual interest. Remember that antiques come in all styles so let your mind wander, a fussy Victorian table may fit your living room or perhaps you lean more modern or contemporary and a vintage Verner Panton plastic furniture piece is more your style. Find quality antiques that fit your decor and add them liberally to bring a novel feel to your home. You can accessorize these pieces by also bringing in other items from that era, family photos from that particular timeframe are an excellent accessory that's personal and fascinating to guests.

Subtract and Add
Traditionally a color scheme is made of three different colors. Figure out what the three main colors in your living room are and take one of those colors away and replace it with an entirely different color. And think outside the box, don't replace a neutral with another neutral but replace a vivid accent color with another bright color for a different look or with a neutral for an entirely different feel.

Move Everything
It's so easy to get stuck in a rut when it comes to furniture decorating, but breaking that mold and trying a new arrangement can give you a brand new room without replacing anything in the room. If you are having a hard time picturing a new arrangement there are a few things you can try, you can create a scale model on paper, find a website that will do the same thing, or just dive right in and start moving things around.

Paint
A little paint can go a long way. Sure painting the walls is an obvious way to add new life and spirit to a living room, but there are other things that paint can help refresh. Consider the possibilities, furniture, picture frames and artwork. Or use fabric paints on floor cloths, curtains, throw pillows, and even slip covers.

Add Molding
It will take a little longer than some other tips, cost a little more and require some skill, but adding molding is still just a weekend task and will leave your living room looking amazing and polished. This little finishing touch is such a classic look that it?¡¥s timeless and brings a lot of class to your preexisting furniture and accessories.

Find a New Focal Point
Most living rooms center around the television set and use it as the focal point of the room. If you really want the room to have a new feel, find a new focal point. If you are lucky enough to have a fireplace you're got a built in focal point and you simply need to rearrange the room with this in mind. If you don't have a fireplace, consider treating a coffee table as game central and draw the seating options around a favorite family board game, leave the TV in the corner and watch what happens.

Rethink Lighting
What are your main points of light and what do they illuminate? Establish new light sources, even look for different wattage bulbs, and illuminate different areas of the room. This simple trick is something that has been used for ages in the theater, just a simple change in lighting can bring attention to a new area or create an entirely different ambiance.

Be Seasonal
Feature seasonal touches throughout your living room. Get inspiration from Mother Nature with pine boughs, fresh bouquets of flowers or large vases filled with nuts and fruits. Look for artwork that seems inspired by a season or holiday or use family photos as artwork and change them seasonally so there is always something new to look at and discuss.