Living rooms are often one of the trickiest in the home to design, because they are usually the room that multi-tasks the most.
As you bring a hard-working, comfortable space to life, two of your main considerations are what to put in your sitting room and how to position it.
To help you curate the living room of your dreams, leading interior design house Neptune have curated some key elements to keep front-of-mind during the planning and design stages.
Firstly, deciding the focal point of the room is one of the best places to start, as this will act as an anchor to your scheme.
If your living room does not have an obvious focal point, then create one – it could be a rug, statement art, or perhaps a dominant piece of furniture.
When it comes to space, if your living room is on the smaller side, it is tempting to put all of the furniture against the wall to make it feel bigger.
However, this just creates an empty space in the middle which is not as usable as you might think and leaves your room feeling off-balance.
Instead, in any size room, build your layout from the centre to make it feel more intimate and welcoming.
Now it is time to think about how to lay out the rest of your space, which is where zoning comes in.
Perhaps you want to tuck a work desk into your design, or you feel that a reading nook is a must for this space to make sense in your home.
Figure out what zones you want, rank them in order of importance and start to map them out on a scaled drawing to figure out what you actually have room to do.
Think carefully when it comes to furniture and only invest in what you really need or really love.
Overfilling your room makes the layout more complicated and in turn, your room will feel smaller.
A good rule of thumb is to leave three feet of space in ‘high-traffic’ areas and your main walkway so you do not bump into any furniture.
Something as simple as a large rug with your seating on top draws attention to the cosiest part of the room and makes this zone the focus.
But, let that rug spill over into your dining section, and it feels more informal and encourages people to move from zone to zone.
The little things can make a big difference, and even if you feel like nobody might notice, a thoughtfully curated room speaks volumes.
