17° Partly Cloudy
Hi: 17° Lo:7° 7 day
Hi: 17° Lo:7° 7 day
Autumn is here and winter is just around the corner. It’s easy to feel down and dreary when the weather draws in and gets cold, so what better time to refresh the main room of your house. It’ll refresh your life in general, guaranteed.
Read on for top tips to refresh your living room.
There are a variety of simple techniques to creating a brighter look and feel to your living room. The first is to use a simple white or off-white colour for the walls of the room, and to ensure that the natural light coming in from the windows isn’t obscured.
The next step is to work out where there is a lack of light and how best to fill it. This can be done with simple lamps, standing lamps and brighter bulbs in existing fittings. You could even use chandeliers to create the ultimate, decadent lighting.
Creating more space in a room doesn’t automatically mean removing items or buying smaller furniture. Often all you need to do is rearrange what you have.
One of the most important things to keep in mind when trying to create more space in your living room is considering how many people use it and what they use it for.
Nowadays the focal point will almost invariably be your TV. However, this can quickly get boring and often leads to awkward seating arrangements for conversation, as chairs and sofas will usually be pointed away from each other. New focal points to try could be a coffee table, painting, fireplace or piano.
Once you know what the focal point is you can rearrange the objects in your living room to create the most space possible and create a free-flowing environment in the process.
Another very simple and very effective tip to creating the illusion of more space is to use a few strategically placed mirrors.
Add a few conversation pieces to your living room by picking out interesting paintings or photos to hang on the wall and adding interesting and unique objects or furniture to the surfaces.
Old apothecary jars, ornaments, old bound books, old maps and modern photography collections are just some things that can be put on a coffee table or around the room to help create a theme and stimulate conversation.
Secondhand or vintage markets are a great place to find that sort of thing – there’s probably none better than Portobello market in London.
Could the walls do with a new coat of paint or the floor with some polish? Maybe the sofas and chairs could be re-upholstered or a lamp needs repairing.
You might find that finally getting round to solving that little nagging problem may have been all you needed for peace of mind after all!
Some well-applied spray paint can help brighten up plain shelves and help make the room feel lighter and brighter. If needlework’s more your thing you could make some home-embroidered pillow cases or knit your own sofa cover.
You’d also be amazed at what can be turned from rubbish into a great bit of décor. Old wine or spirit bottles often end up lining windowsills doing nothing, but they make great candle stick holders and the melted dripping wax this produces on their sides makes them look charming when carefully arranged in a room.
Finally, check websites like freecycle.com to find replacement frames and furniture or even new items for your living room. They often have great finds and everything on the site is free!
