Common Living Room Design Mistakes

Interior designers dedicate their lives to understanding the little details that make a room attractive and inviting. Thanks to modern info sharing, you can now learn from their insights and put together a gorgeous home just by knowing a few essential design tips for your living room.

If you’re in the process of choosing living room furniture and want to know how to arrange it with other decor pieces, it’s critical to know what to avoid. Here are some common living room design mistakes and how to prevent them so you can arrange and decorate a room you’ll love.

Home Decor Mistakes to Avoid

The last thing you want is to pour your time, money, and effort into a room only to find that there’s just something not quite right about the space. With your living room sofa, chairs & recliners, rugs, and other decor, steer clear of these common interior design mistakes.

Choosing the wrong seating

Your living room starts with your sofa, chairs and recliners, so it’s essential to get this part right. One of the worst interior design mistakes in a living room is a sofa or other seating that is too big, too small, uncomfortable or just incompatible with the atmosphere.

If you’ve moved into a new home and already have a sofa that you love, it may be tempting to build your new living room around the existing piece. However, for the best results, you should start designing your space with seating that suits the room.

Hanging art incorrectly

If you hang your art on the wall the wrong way, it will be surprisingly distracting from the aesthetic you’re trying to create. While the rule of thumb is to hang art at eye level, there are some exceptions. For example, if you have very low ceilings – or if you are very tall – then hanging your wall art at eye level will result in it sitting too close to the ceiling.

To avoid this problem, mentally divide your walls vertically into four sections. Going from bottom to top, you should hang your art in the third section from the floor.

Limiting yourself to just one style or period

People often feel boxed in by their home’s architecture, and as a result, they set out to purchase furniture and decor pieces from the same period or style. When you limit yourself, you miss out on eye-opening decorating opportunities.

Does your living room have traditional crown molding? Try contemporary chairs and recliners mixed with antique Moroccan rugs, African beaded benches and modern art. The sky’s the limit in mixing and matching living room furniture from different eras, so feel free to get creative.

Housing clutter

Too much furniture and clutter can ruin a fantastic room easily. It doesn’t have to be “junk” that needs to be put away, either; simply having too many accessories in a room can make it look busy and overfilled.

Less is more when you want to avoid living room decorating mistakes (unless loud, vibrant and eclectic is the look that you love). To achieve a classy and functional design, consider grouping accessories together in a few strategic spots, such as on a bookcase or cocktail table, and leaving plenty of uncluttered space for a pleasing visual effect.

Overlooking lighting

Not complementing your lighting to your space is one of the most overlooked design aspects in a living room. Recessed lighting is too harsh for the relaxing space, while a single light in the center of the ceiling can make the room feel cold and washed out.

However, updating your lighting is an easy, cost-effective way to improve the ambiance in your living room. You can add a floor lamp or several table lamps around the room for mood lighting.

Things to Keep in Mind When Decorating Your Living Room

Common living room mistakes that people make often involve the same issues. To simplify the task of decorating and ensure you get a better feel for your space, here are the top three decorating challenges to master. Figure out these design elements, and your home will be the envy of the neighborhood.

Proportion

Proportion is one of the most critical elements of interior design. Proportion is how the items in a room relate to each other. You want your furniture, art, rugs and other decor to vary in size and shape for visual interest but still work together, so the room appears cohesive.

As a helpful cheat sheet, use the “golden ratio” (2:3). For example, you might use a coffee table that’s two-thirds as long as the sofa and a love seat that’s two-thirds the length of the rug.

Layout

Common living room layout mistakes often include lining walls with furniture and leaving an empty, cavernous space in the center of the room. It may seem as though this arrangement would be a way to make the room feel larger, but all it accomplishes is making your space feel unbalanced. Instead of maximizing your resources, it significantly limits the amount of usable space.

Resist the temptation to use the walls as your guide and focus on creating distinct groupings of furniture. For example, you may want to use a fireplace or large TV as your focal point and then center your furniture arrangement around this feature for a more intimate setting.

Layering

Your living room will probably be one of the most-used areas in your house, so you want it to be comfortable. However, comfort doesn’t have to mean the room appears so lived-in that you sacrifice form for function.

If you’ve noticed that the aesthetics in your living room are unexceptional, you can bring the space back to life with a bit of layering. In decorating terms, layering means using elements, such as wall coverings, flooring, furniture, lighting, textiles, wall hangings and other decor items, including a blend of textures and colors to create a complete look.

Furnish Your Dream Living Room at Home Zone Furniture

When you’re ready to start your living room decorating project, Home Zone has a vast collection of furniture styles and accessories so you can create the ideal space. Whether you’re upgrading your existing space or filling a new home with a whole new aesthetic, you can contact our friendly and helpful team for assistance in finding the perfect pieces to suit your living room interior style.