Whether living on your own or with your family, your living room is arguably one of the most important spaces in your home. It is often a central point of the house where your family spends the majority of your time together. And it’s the room where most of the guests will spend their time in.
That’s why it’s important to decorate your living room to reflect you and your personality. A well-designed living room is enjoyable and comfortable for both your family and guests.
In designing the room, furniture plays a vital rule. Can you imagine a living room without furniture? If there is no furniture, Where would you sit to entertain your guests?
To pick the right furniture for your living room, you’ve to consider some important factors. Whether you want to buy living room furniture for small or large spaces, here are the things you need to consider. Follow these guidelines to pick the right furniture for your living room.
If you’ve just bought your new home or apartment, then you can read our guide on 250+ Essentials For New Home.
Livingroom Furniture Buying Guide
Step 1: Making Plans
1. Take Measurements: The first thing is to measure your room to get an idea of furniture size that will fit your space properly. Calculate your living room length and width by using a Tape measure, meter stick or yardstick.
2. Create a Floor Plan: You can use notebook paper, plain printer paper or formal grid paper. Figure out how much space you have to work with and sketch out some ways that furniture can fit into the living room. You don’t want to be squeezing in between your furniture as you walk the room.
3. Check Your Doorways: Measure your doorways to make sure that you’ll be able to get the furniture into the room. Nobody wants to purchase furniture only to discover that these unable to get it into the house.
4. Stage Your Living Room: After determining how much space you have for placing furniture and where you want the potential furniture to go, at this point, mark out the spaces on your floor to get a better visual. You can use Spread out sheets of newspaper or Painter’s tape.
5. Think About How Your Room Will Be Used: If your living room will be used heavily, then you should go for stain-resistant and sturdy pieces, especially if your kids are still young. But if you’re going to use your living room occasionally, you can buy more fragile items constructed with delicate fabrics.
6. Note The Room’s Natural Architecture: Some living rooms contain built-in design elements that may help you figure out the furniture types that will fit the room best. For example, if your room has a nice antique window and you want to make a focal point of. Then you can go for a period-looking piece to complement this.
Step 2: Picking Pieces
1. Start With The Basics: First you have to look for basic pieces like a sofa, sitting chairs, center table and side table. After adding these pieces, you can look for some extra pieces such as ottomans and additional tables.
2. Buy High-Quality Pieces: While purchasing your furniture, always look for solid, sturdy high-quality pieces. Though they may cost a little more, you’ll find that they tend to hold up better and last a very long time.
3. Purchase High-Quality, Stain-Resistant Fabrics: High-quality fabrics provide you more comfort and last for a longer period. They’re especially useful if you have young children in the family. It’s also better to buy high-quality stain-resistant fabric in case of stains and spills.
4. Coordinate Your Pieces: Every piece of furniture in your living room should look good and complement the others. If not, then your living room will look chaotic and thrown together. If your room has an interior design theme, then make sure to buy pieces that fit with your theme properly.
5. Choose Cushions Made Of Wrapped foam: Look for foams that are durable and comfortable. Some cushions may be filled with down which generally breaks and wears quickly.
6. Check The Strength Of The Frame: To check the strength of the frame, lift one leg of the furniture about 6″ off the floor. If the adjacent leg of the piece hasn’t risen, then the frame is too flimsy and flexible.
7. Know Your Themes: We’ve already mentioned the importance of knowing your interior design theme. The most popular and widely used themes often include the Traditional, Modern, Casual, Contemporary and Old world.
- Contemporary and Modern furniture pieces have clean and sleek lines. They generally make use of beige, white, creams or other neutral colors. More often than traditional woods, metal, glass, black lacquer are most commonly utilized.
- Traditional furniture is formal and elegant. It may include beautifully ornate details like rolled arms and skirted bottoms. They can come in many natural and rich colors.
- Casual furniture is cozy, comfortable and friendly. It often makes use of patterns, plaid and small prints.
- Old World furniture combines Spanish, French and Italian design. Rustic looking in nature, antique pieces are especially appropriate and earthy, deep colors are also favored.
- Wooden Amish Furniture is extremely high quality and handcrafted with genuine care. They’re well renowned for their durability, strength and craftsmanship.
8. Opt for a loveseat If your Family Is small: If you intend to use your living room for entertaining an occasional guest and you’ve smaller space or small family, them choosing a loveseat is a good option for you. This type of seat typically provides seating for two individuals.
9. Do not Overdo: You should avoid placing an apt number of furniture in your living room. Too many pieces of furniture will crowd your home. Overcrowding your room makes it look cluttered.
Now it’s time to give your living room a gorgeous look with excellent furniture. Just follow our guide and start purchasing your living room furniture.