The central room of any home, where most of the time is spent in the living area. No need to mention the importance of making sure it is equipped with all amenities that guarantee comfort and functionality. It’s the heart of every home, meant for rest, work, entraining guests, and spending family time, so no wonder it’s the first picture one imagines when fantasizing of a perfect home.
In most cases how you decorate your living area will determine the style of the entire home. And since it is the place most of your visitors will spend time in, furniture needs to be carefully picked. You can find a variety of living room interior design styles over at Beautiful Homes. This article will give you a couple of useful pieces of advice to follow, which will help you choose the perfect type of furniture for your needs.
Develop a plan
First and foremost, develop a plan. People hire professionals to plan their home decoration and furniture type for a reason. Not everyone has the same needs and amount of space available for a living room, therefore a smart use of space is something that requires careful planning.
If you’re about to do it yourself, grab a piece of paper and draft a plan. Take into consideration the amount of space you have available; your comfort will depend on how much space you have. This will also help you avoid having too much furniture in the room and use the space smartly. Plus, it will help you pick the pieces of the right size.
Once you draw the room plan, start thinking about where you can accommodate different elements and what size they should be. Falling in love with a sofa you saw in the furniture shop is ok, but if you happen to make a blind purchase, the rest of the amenities in the room might suffer, because you’ve failed to pick the right size.
Drawing a plan makes it easy to play with space and try different options before finalizing your decisions. If you find this difficult, the internet has tons of apps and programs you can use to help you gain a visual of what a perfect room should be. One more advantage of these programs is to get your imagination going. This brings us to the next point.
Choose a Style
Everyone has a specific taste and style they are usually drawn to. Most of the time it reflects their lifestyle. Therefore, this can be your starting point in where to search for the specific type of furniture. For example, if your choice is high-quality hand-crafted furniture, click here to explore your options of style.
Then go back to the room plan you’ve previously drafted, and see which piece would fit best and where.
A style will not only include the shape and size of the furniture but also the colors that need to match. Perhaps you found a really great chesterfield sofa from chesterfieldsofacompany.com, choose a 4-seater and light-colored variation if you’re going for a bright white interior.
Consider this when choosing the pieces for your living area.
Prioritize
What are the most important pieces every living room needs to have? The answer is simple, the basics are the sofa, coffee table, side tables, and TV stands with some shelves. These are the first couple of pieces you should accommodate in your plan, they are your priority.
Further on, you might have some more expectations from your living area, based on which you will choose. For example, you’ll spend some time working from home and your apartment doesn’t allow you to have an office, therefore you need to squeeze in a work desk. In this case, it will also be on your list of priorities. And if you have been following our advice written above, you’ll know exactly what type and size of desk you’ll need.
Naturally, when you set your priorities right, you’ll have a clear picture of where most of your investment should be directed towards. It should go towards the furniture you’ll use most. Other things like lamps and small decorations are something that can be bought additionally and one thing at a time.
The purpose
Not everyone spends a lot of time in their living room. Some people simply like to cook or don’t spend too much time at home, and they invest more funds and planning time in other rooms.
But if you like to entertain guests or have family, the living room will for sure be a central gathering area. Therefore, the furniture needs to serve its purpose. The seating for example will be important. A crowded home needs more sitting area, and choosing an adequate sofa with some armchairs, in this case, is important. It will require space, but that’s not the only thing you should be concerned about. The materials and the construction quality are.
Having children and frequent guests means there’ll be a lot of possibilities for stains and dirt to accumulate. Fabrics that are easily maintained are what you should be aiming at, as well as a construction that can endure a lot of people. If you invest in these two things, you’ll surely avoid buying another sofa after some time. If you’re single, or a couple without children, “sensitive” furniture pieces are ok.
One more thing that you should consider for your home or apartment is entertainment. Leave at least a corner for that, but, if you have a bit more space, we would recommend checking out this article on how to set up a perfect entertainment center.
Calculate how much you can allocate
If you’re still reading this article, then the living room must be the space you wish to invest in most and invest smartly. Considering you have been following what’s written above, you must have planned and set your priorities right. If so, budgeting will come easily. You already know what style you like, and have a rough overview of how much you can spend. It’s the best-case scenario. Now is a good time to go furniture hunting.
If you’re still struggling and have somehow managed to lose your direction, stop worrying. The final piece of advice is to hire someone to help you. As we’ve mentioned in the beginning, there are professionals in this area that can help you in no time. Some companies can even offer smart planning of the entire space and furniture procurement, to save you time. So, there’s always a solution.
