Is Your Living Room Missing Something? Try One of These Strategies If Your Living Room Feels Incomplete
What do you feel when you walk into your living room? If you’re like most people, you feel at home. You feel ready to relax. But you might also feel something else. You might have a lingering feeling that your living room feels incomplete, even if you can’t quite put your finger on it.
This often happens for one of two reasons or because of both reasons occurring simultaneously.
It could be that, from a design standpoint, your living room isn’t entirely cohesive. There’s an element that’s missing, something stands out as unnatural, or there’s no underlying theme that brings everything together.
It could also be that you’ve simply gotten used to your living room, and you no longer love it the way you used to. This often happens when you’ve lived in the same house for a long time without really changing anything. Humans crave novelty, so it’s important to change things from time to time.
By addressing one or both of these issues, you can instantly make your living room feel more alive, dynamic, and properly fitted to your needs.
These are some ideas to get you started.
Install a Fireplace
Installing a fireplace or a fireplace insert could be exactly what you need to bring the room together. Fireplaces have many benefits. They serve as a centerpiece in the room, and if you have an attractive mantel, you can use it for displaying other pieces of décor.
Regardless of what type of fuel your fireplace uses, you can use it to generate heat and secondary light. Some people simply love the aesthetics of fireplaces, using them as a gathering location for get-togethers and quality family time. If you already have an open space where a fireplace used to be or a non-functional fireplace, a fireplace insert could be perfect for you.
Rearrange the Furniture
If you have a slim budget, or if you just feel reluctant to make major changes to your living room, consider rearranging the furniture. It’s one of the simplest and easiest steps you can take to make the room feel fresher, but it can have a powerful effect on how you feel about the room. Try to create more open space or simply experiment with something unconventional; you might be surprised at how it makes you feel.
Remove the TV
In the modern world, most families use a TV as a kind of framing centerpiece for the living room. This makes sense if you’re the type of family that loves watching movies and TV shows together. However, the TV can also be distracting and limiting for your furniture and design arrangements. Consider removing the TV and relocating it to a different room so you can have more flexibility to make the living room appealing.
Hang New Art
Art is highly subjective, so almost any work of art can fit your living room – as long as it fits your personal taste. Experiment with different styles, different colors, and different sizes and mediums of art. Eventually, you’ll find something that indisputably adds value to your living room aesthetics.
Tweak the Lighting
Another inexpensive way to change how you see the living room is to tweak the lighting. Adding secondary sources of light like lamps, swapping out light bulbs for different colors and brightness levels, and even adjusting the angles of your existing lighting can all make a profound difference in how you view the room as a whole. You can even consider installing multicolored lights and changing the colors according to seasons, events, or moods.
Add a Fresh Coat of Paint
Take an afternoon to apply a fresh coat of paint to the walls of your living room. It’s an opportunity to choose a different background color, but it’s also an opportunity to make the living room feel cleaner and livelier by virtue of the newness of the paint.
Highlight and Accent
Similarly, you should consider highlighting and accenting certain features of your living room. Adding a complementary color to a specific wall or adding a spotlight to highlight a certain design component can really make the room pop.
Place Mirrors
Mirrors can make a room look bigger than it actually is, and they play an important role in how we perceive space. Experiment with mirror sizing and placement to see how it reshapes your perspective on the living room.
Sometimes, perfecting the design of your living room is an ongoing process. Changing one thing or adding one new piece of furniture may not completely eliminate the idea that the living room feels incomplete, but it should be a step in the right direction.
Even if you’re not happy with the changes, you can always revert them, and you’ll always have room for more experimentation in the future. Try to remain patient as you nail down all the specifics.
