1. Not Considering Armchairs
Two sofas in a living room is often our first thought, but although we love the double sofa look – you’ll see it below – there is also a place for one sofa and a couple of armchairs. It allows for flexibility in that you can move them around easily to accommodate guests and they visually break up a scheme that perhaps needs a little creativity.
2. Creating A Minimalist Scheme With No Pattern
A minimalist living space has streamlined furniture, no clutter and bare walls, right? Well, of course. However, you can incorporate a fabulous print design like Black Edition’s Lune wallcovering while retaining that pared-back look – as Emily Mould, Design Director at Black.
3. Picking Matching Furniture
This is one of the most common living room design mistakes – but mixing up your scheme so that you have mis-matched sofas and chairs is bang on trend. So if you love a Seventies style armchair, but you also have a squishy button backed sofa, go for it! Just use color and print to tie the look together – that’s the magic element.
4. Not Hanging Art
‘Don’t be afraid to go big and bold with artwork in your sitting room. Generally the room with a big TV in the corner, the bigger and bolder the artwork is, the more likely to distract from the TV,’ advises interior designer Jordan Cluroe, one half of the fabulous 2LG Studio.
5. Only Having A Single Main Light
This is more common that you may like to imagine – that single lonely Big Light that hangs in the middle of the living room, casting its cold light about, washing out the room.
6. Not Testing Your Living Room Layout
Consider your views from all the seating elements that you have. This is most relevant when you have a key focal point like a fireplace or large glass doors that allow you to see outside all year round. A living room isn’t simply for watching TV, but also relaxing and entertaining in, so an all round experience with different types of seating that show various views will be more useful.
7. Not Considering A Classic Print With Modern Furniture
It’s a misconception that traditional style prints and modernity don’t go together – in fact, they add more life to the scheme. A beautiful exotic palm design like Manuel Canovas’ Salengro looks fabulous with sleek modern furniture – all you need to do is match the colors for a cohesive look.
8. Pushing The Couch Up Against The Wall
Instead, move your single or pair of sofas into the middle of the living room with a coffee table in between the two. Symmetry is your friend here, so use it to create an impactful space with the sofas as the visual anchor. This way you can walk around the seating with space to spare.
9. Not Mixing Old And New Pieces
It’s easy to be a little rigid when it comes to living room design, in that we unconsciously lean towards furniture and accessories from the era in which the house was built. However, mixing old and new pieces makes a room more individual and it’s a style that London based interior designers, Mary Graham and Nicole Salvesen from Salvesen Graham are renowned for.
10. Using The Wrong Sized Area Rug
In the Victorian era, rugs pretty much filled the entire floor space of the room, bar a foot or so up to the skirtings – and if you’ve ever taken up carpet in an old home, you can often see the outer varnished floorboards. They used them exactly how they should be used, as Emma Elles-Hill, Showroom Director at The Rug Company explains.