How To Decorate Narrow Living Room

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Clever small living room ideas tin change a infinite from feeling crammed and cluttered to feeling cosy and calming, plus ensure there is no wasted space in a meaty living infinite. From clever tricks, to smart storage solutions and savvy pattern buys, our ideas volition inspire decor for even the smallest of snugs, turning it into the loveliest of lounges.

Before you start looking for any kind of living room ideas, start by drawing upwardly a listing of wants for your space and piece of work out exactly how you'll be using it. Will it be a space to entertain? A identify to chill with the dog and a movie? A place the kids will mainly use, or will it be an adults-only retreat. One time y'all know how yous want it to experience, you can start the fun bit of coming upward with ideas for decoration.

Minor living room ideas

From thoughtful furniture placement and genius means with pigment to savvy curtain tricks there's a whole host of smart ideas to make your pocket-sized living room feel bigger than it actually is.

Choose seating with legs so more of the floor can exist seen, making the room appear bigger. This trick lends itself well to any living room, equally many classic-mode sofas and armchairs are finished with beautiful turned wooden legs.

Fill alcoves or bay windows with congenital-in storage. If there is little room for a side table adjacent to your sofa, position a narrow console backside a sofa to serve as a display shelf.

When you are redecorating, 1 of the easiest means to brand a small snug area experience more spacious is to inject soft, neutral shades into your to keep the room warm and inviting. Bank check out our ideas for for more inspiration.

Take inspiration from our gallery of cute small space designs to unlock the potential of your pocket-size living room.

1. Open up a wall

Prototype credit: Future Plc/ Anna Stathaki

While this might seem a dramatic move, the owners of this space living infinite decided to increment the sense of infinite, past opening up the wall backside the sofa, revealing the calorie-free-filled hallway behind it. This is a clever idea if your front room feels dark and crammed, and won't impact likewise much on the structure of your rooms, as y'all'll only exist opening upwardly part of the wall. E'er seek professional communication before grabbing a sledge hammer just keep in mind a 'hole in the wall' could be the answer to your small space effect.

2. Brand the correct sofa option

Image credit: Futurity Plc/Colin Poole

'A neutral sofa tin assistance lighten the space, however it's worth remembering that neutral doesn't have to mean selecting a plain design. Opting for styles with cute details, such as curves, buttons or fluting, will add graphic symbol to a small space without overpowering your scheme. Additionally, cushions and throws in bolder shades and patterns tin continue the look from feeling besides pared back. Alternatively, an accent chair is a great manner to add a pop of color and volition effortlessly lift a darker space,' says Suzy McMahon, Ownership Director at Sofology

3. Proceed information technology cohesive

Prototype credit: Future Plc/Jo Henderson

In a smaller space, effort and keep your colours cohesive, when it comes to furniture, accessories and wall colour too. This way everything will seamlessly sit together and nothing will leap out too much, making information technology dominate the room. Use paint to zone spaces within the room and add together plenty of plants to bring a feeling of life to the room.

4. Choose storage furniture with a modest footprint

Image credit: Time to come Plc/Fiona Walker-Arnott

Whilst storage is yet very much needed, regardless of the size of your space, endeavour to make the most of ceiling height and avoid using too much flooring infinite. Kate Gibson, Domicile Ownership Manager at Habitat says, 'More and more customers have embraced ladder-style shelving to store and display, from paperwork and keys to houseplants and prized possessions. A versatile storage solution, this style provides valuable shelf space with a minimal footprint.'

5. Opt for built in everything

Epitome credit: Future Plc

If y'all need a lot of storage infinite in your living room, why not opt for built in everything! Built in shelving and cupboards are much ameliorate infinite savers than freestanding , but a built in seating expanse too, will hateful no infinite is wasted at all, especially if you add together nether-demote storage as well. Choosing a coffee table with an open, wire base will also make the space feel roomier.

6. Cull wall lights to save infinite

Image credit: Futurity Plc/James French

In small spaces, it's all about saving precious flooring space so the room doesn't seem too chaotic. Anna Cantankerous, Abode Living Buying Manager at Habitat says,"Opt for wall mounted lighting with a sleek profile to regain valuable floor space that would be lost to floor lamps or lamp topped side tables. We've seen high demand for plugin designs, equally customers seek to create a cosy glow without the hassle of rewiring."

7. Use alternative furniture choices

Image credit: Future PLC/ Rob Sanderson

The thing you should never practise if you lot have a pocket-size living room is cram in also much furniture. Instead, choose a sofa that's proportional to the size of the space, and if you're all the same in need of more than seating, use stools. They'll accept up far less room than beefy armchairs, and tin can be easily manoeuvred – or used equally footrests.

For extra space-savvy points look for stowaway piece of furniture, such as these cube stools that can exist tucked nether a coffee table when you don't need them, or ottomans that hide hidden storage inside.

And if you're brusk on space merely still desire to be able to entertain, then consider multifunctional furniture like one of the all-time sofa beds so you can put up occasional overnight guests. Thinking near furniture which offers two uses in one is a great mode to make each piece in your home work harder.

8. Choose light colours for the walls

Image credit: Future PLC/ David Wooley

Dark colours are definitely having a moment right now, but they can be tricky to work with in modest spaces. Light colours tend to work best so stick to pale tones such as white, foam, and gray to go along your room scheme lite, airy and open – specially effective in small spaces with minimal natural low-cal sources.

Light shades volition brand whatever small living room feel fresh and inviting – cosy, and withal not closed in. Steer clear of vivid whites and instead pick those with a subtle green, grayness or taupe tone. With so many dissimilar shades bachelor choosing the best white paint can experience like a minefield – be sure to effort tester samples in the space before yous paint.

9. Embrace natural calorie-free

Image credit: Time to come PLC/ Colin Poole

Brand the most of natural light in the room by keeping window treatment ideas simple. Shutters are a brilliant alternative to defunction, providing privacy and light control without taking up space. If you exercise choose curtains, proceed them light and make sure they can be swept away from the window for light or alternatively go for Roman or roller blinds.

10. Paint the skirting boards

Image credit: Future PLC/ Rachael Smith

Breaking with convention, the trick to make a space feel bigger is to paint the skirting boards in the same colour as the wall. No more bold white borders. Interior designer Kelly Hoppen enlightens with her communication, 'One little tip, pigment the skirting boards. Considering it volition make the whole wall look a lot taller. Because when you lot pigment them white information technology's a chip like wearing a sock and your trouser leg existence too high. Information technology kind of looks a scrap odd!'

A brilliant analogy for the look of bold white skirting boards standing out from the wall colour, for all the incorrect reasons – especially prominent when using a dark living room colour scheme. This trick will preclude the wall from being divided – helping to elongate them, and then the room feels taller and therefore bigger.

Kelly Hoppen's advice for painting skirting boards is a real game-changer in small spaces.

eleven. Add a feature wall in a warm colour

Image credit: Future PLC/ Fiona Walker-Arnott

We all desire our living rooms to feel cosy and restful. Still, in a small infinite, you may feel apprehensive nigh introducing also many dark colours for fright of making the room feel cramped.

In that instance, selection a rich warm colour like this plum shade as a properties to a function of the room that's all about relaxation. Behind the sofa is platonic. That deep shot of colour is a visual 'hug' that relaxes and draws us in, without making the room experience smaller.

12. Seamlessly transition to an outdoor space

Epitome credit: Future PLC/ David Giles

If you small living room is lucky enough to an adjoining outdoor expanse, no thing how big or pocket-size, embrace the feeling of extra space. Seek to take doors that open out fully, to open up upwards the infinite and create a sense of freedom from indoors to outdoors.

Choose coordinating piece of furniture and furnishings to decorate the two areas to unite them and make the journey from one to the other feel seamless. this will aid to brand any small living expanse experience more generous by just knowing the outdoor surface area is just beyond the threshold.

13. Create space using mirrors

Epitome credit: Future PLC/ Marking Luscombe-Whyte

It'due south the oldest trick in the book, but it really does work. You lot can instantly create the illusion of space by just adding more mirrors. All the better still, like higher up, opt for an over-sized mirror to encompass an entire wall. The mirror will create the illusion of space past reflecting light and of form the interior decor – doubling upward your interior space. Attempt keeping the colour palette light and airy to aid the overall result.

fourteen. Use lighting to your reward

Image credit: Futurity PLC/ David Giles

In club to brand the most out of your infinite ensure you have at least three working lights in the room. Light should exist located a unlike heights, be indirect and allow your eye to move about the room. More than low-cal and more than varied low-cal is always adept for a meaty room.

15. Replace defunction with blinds

Image credit: Future PLC/ Alexander James

Kelly Hoppen'south design communication for small spaces is to ditch the curtains and go for a window bullheaded idea instead. 'Often people focus on something which really doesn't need to be changed,' explains Kelly, appearing on This Morn. She suggests it can be as unproblematic as irresolute a few little tiny things to make all the departure – such equally the curtains.

If you are wondering how to dress a bay window, peculiarly one that is small and challenging with nighttime curtains hanging either side, Kelly offers this advice: 'I would put blinds upwardly rather than curtains, which would actually make the room seem taller.'

What a great insider blueprint tip to help brand any minor space feel instantly larger. The free space either side of the windows would create the illusion of airy space. And then uncomplicated, yet so bright.

16. Build in a window seat to save infinite

Image credit: Futurity PLC/ Rob Sanderson

If you have a bay window use the awkward space to build a smart seating solution. A smart window seat thought provides an for extra space for guests to perch without the need for bulky furniture taking upward valuable floor space.

17. Up the storage potential

Paradigm credit: Hereafter PLC/ Colin Poole

The key in a modest infinite is to make the most of every inch available. When information technology comes to storage think outside the box and create bespoke storage solutions that use the free vertical space on walls and unused corners and nooks equally an advantage. An affordable style to employ a recess space for storage is to fit stacked floating shelves.

Staggering them allows y'all to use both sides of the wall. the openness helps to keep the expect calorie-free and blusterous, rather than boxed in. Just exist sure not to overwhelm the room with clutter – utilise the shelves for displaying your favourite books and trinkets.

eighteen. Take storage to new heights

Image credit: Hereafter PLC/ Lizzie Orme

Don't let vertical space go to waste matter. Hang pictures, cull tall furniture and call back virtually practical shelving solutions. A striking moving-picture show or wall hanging volition draw the eye up, making a infinite experience more expansive than information technology actually is.

19. Swap your sofa for a modest snuggler

Image credit: Sofa.com

A beefy sofa can eat upwards living room infinite quickly, and so if you have an especially tiny room, enquire yourself if you could manage with an every bit comfortable only far less invasive 'snuggler' or 'loveseat'. Otherwise known as a 1.5 seater, information technology tin easily conform a parent and child – or a cuddly couple.

This room also employs another neat play a trick on that'south genius for modest rooms that back onto gardens – a botanical decorating scheme. Pretty florals are perfect for blurring the lines between indoors and outdoors. Creating this visual link will draw the middle outside and again make the room feel bigger.

20. Wall-mount and muffle a Idiot box

Prototype credit: Future PLC/ Simon Whitmore

A wall-mounted TV is always going to exist the amend option for modest living rooms. Firstly we don't want it taking up valuable space! Secure your modern flatscreen to the wall to create a streamlined look, freeing up the space beneath where yous would otherwise take to accommodate a Boob tube stand. Above a disused fireplace helps to utilise up otherwise redundant wall space too.

Look for smart means to disguise your TV to preclude it standing out as point of focus. Cleverly concealing the large black oblong, that looks similar a black hole, will help to finish it encroaching on a small space.

21. Make your own media centre

Epitome credit: Future PLC/ Jo Henderson

Costless upward floor infinite, from storage units, by creating your own media middle that takes up minimal space. Set an MDF panel to the wall and mountain your Television set screen and floating shelves on it, one above and one below if needed. The space saving shelves will permit for storage without taking up besides much needed space. The area underneath the bottom shelf allows for extra storage for items such equally slim drawer units or drum storage stools.

22. Utilise awkward architectural spaces

Image credit: Future PLC/ David Cleveland

Does your living room lack infinite due to awkward room proportions? Frequently with period properties the features which we love the most, such every bit bay windows, present a logistical nightmare for arranging furniture. Use the space to your advantage. If you have a compact sofa information technology should fit neatly into the position, without taking up valuable floor infinite.

Alternatively utilise the awkward surface area to house larger, bulkier furniture pieces such as sideboards and TV units. This prevents the pieces overpowering the residual of the petite room, because the space would be otherwise unused anyway.

23. Hang baskets to provide extra wall storage

Image credit: Future PLC/ Joanna Henderson

If you are faced with small space living the only mode actually is upward! Brand the most of whatever flooring space by keeping it as clutter-free as possible. That includes any small bits and bobs you lot might otherwise have laying around. We have used attractive willow baskets to solve the storage problem. Platonic considering one they look nifty and two they are sturdy enough to hold all manner of clutter – a savvy living room storage idea.

Hanging from decorative hooks that can take a lot of weight, these baskets are neat for quick cease-of-day tidy-ups for toys, books, magazines, iPads and all the other stuff that tends to lay around.

24. Add storage nigh the ceiling

Prototype credit: Futurity PLC/ Georgia Burns

You lot might not even have spotted it at first glance, but this owner has mounted some carefully camouflaged white storage units at the summit of the living room walls, where whatsoever clutter tin be stashed away. Off-the-shelf kitchen wall cabinets are platonic for this, if yous plan to practice the same, be very to careful the maximum load that each unit tin take when wall mounted – you don't desire everything crashing down on your head, after all.

She'south likewise stuck to piece of furniture in elementary shapes for a clutter-free look. Become for occasional tables with cutting-away sides that reveal more than floor space and play a trick on the center into believing the room is larger than it really is.

25. Avert a corridor outcome with a corner sofa

Prototype credit: Futurity PLC/ David Giles

This reception room is quite long and thin, and previously the owners had a long dark sofa, which merely added to the corridor issue. Past swapping it for a stake L-shaped pattern, they've created a cosy corner and opened up the infinite. Choosing the best corner sofa fix ways there'due south now room for more than seating by way of large floor cushions or a footstool.

26. Draw attention to the windows

Epitome credit: Walls in Cream White and Mustard Jar Easyclean Matt emulsion, £25 for 2.5ltrs, Crown Paint

To let as much light in equally possible make sure there is nothing obscuring your windows. Avoid hanging heavy curtains and opt for minimal blinds instead. As well, remember to continue windows make clean, this volition lighten and brighten up the room beyond. Painting the window surround tin can help to describe attending to the source of natural light, which aids the feeling of space.

27. Invest in multi-functional furniture

Image credit: Future PLC/ Lizzie Orme

When it comes to modest living room ideas, hard-working, multi-functional pieces of furniture are key. Take this coffee table, which doubles equally a storage bin, allowing you to clear away whatsoever clutter at a moment'southward notice.

Yous could too invest in lidded stools, or fifty-fifty a sofa with storage under the seat. Add wall mirrors and article of furniture with reflective surfaces into your design scheme to maximise the amount of natural light in your living room to brand it feel bigger and brighter.

28. Draw attention abroad from the door

Prototype credit: Time to come PLC/ Polly Eltes

Whether a land cottage or a studio flat, it can exist tricky to create a relaxing bolt hole when your front end door opens straight into your living room. Take the emphasis away from the entrance past creating a focal signal with thoughtfully arranged seating.

This space takes inspiration from shabby chic decorating ideas, with a cracking two-seater and comfy armchair placed at a xc-degree angle to a slim side table and lamp. A cool neutral palette works beautifully with the rustic plasterwork and the roller bullheaded makes the most of a recessed window to add actress square inches to the room.

29. Decorate vertically

Epitome credit: Future PLC/ Colin Poole

Think about living room wallpaper designs to complement your lounge. Take that décor up high when floor infinite is express. Here, a small department of a brilliant white room has been transformed with a characteristic wall of blue that pulls the eye upward to make the most of a loftier ceiling.

Geometric pattern at the window helps to echo the blueish tones, and ties in a statement blueprint in this smart small living room thought.

thirty. Skin it dorsum with multifunctional furniture

Image credit: Future PLC/ David Brittain

Retrieve about alternatives to traditional living room furniture, such every bit the three-slice suite. It'due south still possible to accept a cosy area for relaxing and reading with less space-greedy furnishings. Bandy an upholstered armchair for a wooden rocker with cushions; and bookcases for slimline ladder-manner shelving. Wash walls and accessorise with subtle colour.

31. Pop an L-shaped sofa into a tight space

Image credit: Future PLC/ Brent Darby

Before decorating or furnishing an awkwardly shaped living room consider how best to optimise the space available. Think about an L-shaped sofa in a tight eaves space teamed with trunks that tin part as coffee tables besides every bit handy storage. Proceed a night room white to make the most of what little calorie-free in that location is.

32. Distract with argument pieces

Image credit: Hereafter PLC/ Paul Raeside

Option ane or two statement items, such equally an over-sized table lamp, an attention-grabbing piece of fine art or an armchair upholstered in a fabulous fabric, and keep the rest of the room relatively clutter gratis. These volition make the room experience up to appointment and draw attending away from its size.

33. Cistron in textural pieces

Image credit: Future PLC/ Brent Darby

Decorating with white on walls, ceiling and floor is a winning pocket-sized living room thought it can leave it feeling clinical and stark. Accept the chill off a meaty nook with a homely leather armchair, reddish floor lamp and woollen rug – all circled around a log-filled fireplace. A tactile cushion and soft throw in viridian green add a final designer affect.

34. Create a central focus with overhead light

Image credit: Hereafter PLC/ David Parmiter

Marking out a living space with an overhanging pendant light and carefully positioned round coffee tabular array. The two pieces work together to create a focal point around which you lot can sit a couple of chairs and add together flooring cushions or stools when guests visit.

35. Display objects of interest

Image credit: Future PLC/ Lizzie Orme

Just considering your living room is verging on the small side, it doesn't mean that you lot should hide away all your favourite belongings in storage. If you lot have objects that are worthy of showing off then brandish them along an open shelf, above the sofa. This thought is great for when floor space is at a premium. Hanging a neon sign as well helps to distract the eye.

36. Identify your pattern to create a theme

Paradigm credit: Future PLC/ David Brittain

Blueprint can piece of work as well in pocket-size living rooms as it does in large, only it pays to call up carefully nigh where you lot put it. Wool fabrics are made for cosy country-style firesides, only keep tartans, checks, paisleys and florals confined to throws and cushions on sofas and armchairs, leaving walls for plain paint finishes. Add a natural flooring carpeting to bring the two sides of a room together.

37. Distract the middle with characterful furnishings

Epitome credit: Future PLC/ David Giles

While banishing clutter might assistance a smaller living room feel more open, if you're a fan of the cosy, lived-in look such a pared back scheme volition do petty for you. But small doesn't take to mean bare and characterless. Endeavor the classic combination of nighttime leather furniture and traditional fireplace – there's nothing similar information technology for creating a warm, cosy environment.

Add together much-loved items and accessories – in an interesting, character-filled scheme, no 1 volition be thinking about how small the room is.

38. Make the most of the space nether the stairs

Image credit: Futurity PLC/ Jamie Mason

Make the virtually of the unused infinite under the stairs by incorporating everything from storage to quirky accessories. If you have space issues in your small abode and need to make the nigh of every nook and cranny so plow to that nimble spot under the stairs into a warm and cosy living infinite. Here a thoughtful staircase thought results in a built-in bookcase and sofa tucking in neatly in that often unloved and underused expanse.

39. Brand storage fit comfortably

Paradigm credit: Future PLC/ Colin Poole

Employ architectural features to incorporate smart storage. Build storage seamlessly into alcoves either side of a fireplace. Requite the surrounding original features a modern update with a fresh coat of paint and light retouching. Hither original features have been painted to give this grey living room idea a modern edge. The black fireplace remains the focal point, and adds a sense of cosiness along with the chunky sofa and rustic wooden coffee table. A wool carpeting brings texture to the scheme and enhances the inviting feel of the room.

forty. Maximise storage potential

Image credit: Future PLC/ David Giles

Small living room ideas need to be kept fresh and uncluttered with well-called storage. A great way to make a small living room feel larger is to keep it meticulously tidy and in order to practice that, everything in the room needs to accept its proper place. Floating shelves are perfect for small rooms because they can hold a lot of things on a wall or in alcoves, or choose bespoke fitted, floor-to-ceiling shelves and cupboards that make use of every inch of spare space.

41. Keep information technology to scale

If you take a little living room, don't get overboard with a huge Fifty-shaped sofa that'south big plenty for the whole family, the domestic dog and the neighbours when they pop round for a cuppa. Big furniture will easily overwhelm a small infinite, and so proceed it uncomplicated – a ii-seater sofa works perfectly in this sunny living room and a neutral scheme keeps things feeling calorie-free and bright.

42. Play with patterns

Image credit: David Brittain

Don't be afraid to experiment with fun, bold patterns in a small room and contain patterned textiles or living room wallpaper ideas.

This fabled floral impress not only creates a beautiful argument in this snug infinite just it also sets the colour theme for the room, which is fatigued upon in the soft furnishings and accessories. This gives the space a lovely unified, considered experience.

43. Prissy and neutral

Prototype credit: David Giles

Similar nosotros mentioned before, neutral tones will help a small room to experience larger. Light coloured carpets, walls and furniture are a cracking way to keep a space feeling vivid and airy, whatever the size of the room. We honey the lilliputian actress touches in this charming living room – the wall-mounted shelving unit provides the perfect infinite for personal mementos and accessories.

44. Make it multi-functional

Image credit: Carolyn Barber

If your living room doubles up as a place for guests to stay, multi-functional piece of furniture will make the earth of difference. Here a tailor-fabricated day bed doubles as a sofa and a cosy place for guests to rest their caput. Born storage is an added bonus, peculiarly when tight on space.

45. Go large

Image credit: Graham & Dark-brown

Go big, in a tiny room? Didn't we just tell y'all non to buy a massive sofa? Yes, yes, merely when information technology comes to wall décor and artwork, it's a different story. If you've got the wall space, use it! This pocket-sized living room makes a big impact thanks to this tropical feature wall.

Will you be incorporating any of these small living room ideas into your scheme? Make the near of a meaty home with these clever room brightening and infinite-saving decorating tips for minor rooms.

How tin I decorate my living room when it is minor?

It's all about making clever choices when buying your furniture, as Rachael Roughshod, Piece of furniture Ownership Manager at Habitat explains, 'Linear furniture designs with a minimal profile are platonic for smaller rooms. The open up lines of a wire metal coffee tabular array gives the illusion of more than space as the surrounding scene is visible through it. Look out for designs that incorporate shelving into their silhouette to maximise storage capabilities.'

And when information technology comes to colour, exist brave and go for that bold shade you love, regardless of the size of the room. Helen Shaw, UK Director at Benjamin Moore explains, 'Some fear that adding a deep or bright colour to a modest room will make information technology appear claustrophobic, opting instead for light neutrals to continue the space open up. Nonetheless, when working with a small area, dark colours cleverly blot the lite of a space, making the division between walls appear blurred. This 'blurred edges' effect adds depth and dimension to a room, making information technology announced larger.'

How exercise you lot make a small living room wait bigger?

Once more, you take to be clever with your decorating and furniture buying, but Patricia Gibbons, of the Design team at Sofa.com suggests,' If you are short for space in the living room, adding some height to your key pieces of piece of furniture will assist create an airy, open up feel to assist enlarge the room. Not every slice needs to be elevated but calculation legs to your sofa would be most effective for bringing in the illusion of infinite. There is something about being able to see more flooring which creates the feel of spaciousness specially when you lot aren't spoiled for it.'

And in terms of a flooring choice, David Snazel, Hard Flooring Buyer at Carpetright offers this communication, 'For pocket-sized rooms, a light woods finish flooring with a single plank design will help create the perception of infinite. In a broken programme layout deport the same floor through from the kitchen to conjoining areas to create a consequent flow between the rooms. Chevron wood flooring can be especially effective running from a narrow kitchen into a separate dining or living space to assistance these areas feel harmonious. '

Where do you lot put a Goggle box in a modest living room?

If your living room is more of a snug, and you use information technology mostly for cosying up and watching movies, you don't need to worry as well much about where the TV goes, as it's all nigh being comfortable. Céline Erlam of Indie & Co advises, 'A Goggle box needs to be at the correct top in relation to your sofa- you shouldn't demand to look upwards to view, and ideally, place it cardinal to your sofa.'

She goes on to say, 'Before y'all start work on your living room or snug, think about the sound systems and TV that you have so you can conceal any cabling'

But if y'all're not slap-up on having your TV on show, remember about hiding it abroad. 'Don't rule our concealing your Television receiver- you can even fit a projector in the ceiling, which drops downwards when in employ, as well as curtained built-in speakers,' Céline advises.

You could await at hiding your tv backside a set of framed prints or a screen, or even in a Television set cabinet.