What Type Of Decorative Objects Can You Put Into A Small Space In A Living Room

Small living room ideas may be short on volume but they tin can be big on style. Our favorite interior designers share their top tips and tricks for tiny living rooms.

There are tons of small living room ideas and tricks of the merchandise to assistance turn that awkward, small living room decor into something stylish and sophisticated, any its shape and proportions.

Though small living rooms can present challenges, there are several benefits to compact living. A well-designed scheme can feel just as comfortable as a larger space, with all the coziness and comfort associated with family living.

One of the main advantages is the convenient accessibility of everything that'south needed. Easy maintenance is another bonus.

In a modest living space, zoning is key. So hither are our favorite living room ideas for smaller sitting rooms and how to design and decorate a compact infinite with our best small living room ideas.

Pocket-size living room ideas – 38 compact designs for a lounge

Brand the nearly of a small living room by planning a difficult-working layout, keeping accessories to a minimum and picking the right colour scheme. And then whether you're working with a pocket-size apartment living room or a meaty sitting room in a family unit home, you lot tin make the space work all-time for you.

1. Employ the same color on walls, woodwork and article of furniture

Small living room ideas with blue walls and compact furniture

When a single living room color scheme is used on both walls and woodwork, a room suddenly feels bigger, considering having no dissimilarity means that y'all are less aware of the confines of the space. 'The eye does not stop to register a 2nd color and glides straight out of the window to the view, blending the garden and room together,' says Joa Studholme, color curator, Farrow & Ball.

2. Expand a small living room by introducing nature

A small living room ideas featuring two white sofas facing each other with green cushion and a green ottoman.

We mention beneath how utilizing mirrors can really open up up a pocket-sized living room, and y'all can see how well it works hither. Even so, other key elements combined with this design trick will also help.

Choosing light and airy living room color schemes – including a pale wooden flooring – with an accent shade will elevator a minor room.

'As well every bit the mirrors making the room experience bigger, they also reflect the greenery outside and bring it in,' explains Henriette Von Stockhausen, founder and creative director at UK-based VSP Interiors.

'So I accept used botanical fabrics with green and a bright white background for a fresh jump experience. The emerald velvet green cushions create a dissimilarity against a soft white backdrop, while the ottoman makes for a subtler distinction, then we used accents of green, inspired past the artwork, to help unite this elegant scheme.'

three. Opt for a neutral scheme based effectually symmetry

An example of small living room decor ideas in a neutral coloured room with a symmetrical layout.

Symmetry in interior design is introduced to create remainder and a feeling of calm. This works perfectly in long living rooms and is ideal for enhancing a minor living space. Max the feeling of serenity to the limit if you use at-home neutrals to decorate.

The beautiful brass accents that are a major design feature in this space help to distract the eye from the size of the living room. Sara Cosgrove, owner of Sara Cosgrove Studio which has bases in both Dublin and London, explains how this luxurious scheme was put together.

'Our client wanted to create a more formal reception and entertaining infinite, just at the same time keeping it calorie-free and airy so it could be used throughout the day.

'Our solution was to keep the walls fresh and light in tone and bring in a more than elevated feel through the antique brass accents, antique mirrored elements and a stunning Chesneys fireplace.'

iv. Cut the clutter

A small living room with white walls, pink arm chairs and shelving on either side of a black marble fireplace.

If at that place'southward one thing that'south going to create the illusion of more space, information technology's decluttering – it can really make a room feel wider in seconds. Make certain you lot keep your room tidy and organized by removing toys, plants, knickknacks and other unnecessary items, and your space will instantly feel bigger and more pleasant to exist in.

And, of grade, brilliant minor living room storage ideas are key to maintaining this clutter-free, space-enhanced experience.

With accessories and essentials neatly arranged and out of sight, the space will soon feel orderly and open. A room that's crammed full of 'belongings' takes up infinite, making information technology feel disorderly, decorated and pocket-size. Try and keep the floor as articulate every bit possible, too, as it's i of the easiest ways to maintain a sense of spaciousness, then remove any oversized rugs.

5. Use design as accents to perk upward plains subtly

A small living room with pink walls, a patterned rug and a blue sofa by a window.

This small, however perfectly formed living room in a stucco fronted townhouse in London's Chelsea was created by interior designer Henry Prideaux for an American client. He wanted Henry to bring a flavour of 'the English country in the city' to his London residence.

Henry says, 'Don't be afraid to go for bold color and design in a pocket-size space. Information technology's all almost residue. A scheme featuring cleverly selected furniture pieces layered together with textured rugs and tactile fabrics can create a really inviting and comfy infinite even if square footage is compromised.

'Sophisticated artwork and middle communicable accessories tin be displayed to provide lots of interesting piffling vignettes throughout.'

Henry also explains that clever pocket-size living room lighting ideas can not only make a room lighter, but feel larger too: 'A lighting scheme that includes low-cal sources at varying levels enhances the room and helps to create mood at different times of the day.'

6. Lite up a modest living room

A small living room ideas with white walls, wood floor and yellow accents

Lite helps to burnish up a room instantly, so first and foremost allow whatsoever natural light to stream indoors past taking down heavy, dark window coverings. Try sheer window treatments or install white wooden blinds or shutters to let the natural calorie-free menstruation into your room during the day, while simultaneously providing nighttime privacy.

Plus, broad horizontal slats help to magnify the illusion of a wider room. Dark corners tin make a room appear pocket-sized and cramped and then position a floor or table lamp in a blank corner to visually expand the area, while recessed ceiling lights can illuminate an entire room without taking upwardly much space.

7. Employ a colour-blocking play a joke on to backbite from a living room's size

An example of small living room decor ideas showing a blue sofa in a sitting room with blue walls and cream coloured drapes.

Finding the perfect burrow for a small living room is key to the experience of your space.

If you tin can't detect a make new sofa you love, merely your old couch looks a little tired and a little tatty round the edges, and so why non accept it re-upholstered instead of investing in a new 1? Information technology'southward more sustainable and if you love the comfort and style of it and then requite it a new lease of life.

And this is where the fob comes in – if you brand your sofa the focal point of your living room it will backbite the eye from the size of your space. A bold and vibrant shade volition give your living room touch on – then accessorize accordingly to pull the key colour throughout the residue of the scheme.

viii. Be fussy with furniture

An example of small living room ideas featuring a sitting room decorated with neutral colours

Furniture tin be a cumbersome business organization, particularly in narrow rooms, so it pays to arrange and buy items correctly.

One great way to make the near of a smaller infinite is by using multi-office furniture, like a chest that can be used as a coffee table, nest of tables, and folding chairs that can be tucked abroad when you don't need them.

Some other important pointer is to place large pieces of piece of furniture against walls then the open space in the center is not broken upwards.

9. Use mirrors to expand a compact infinite

A living room with a large fireplace that has artwork above it and two large mirrors on either side of it.

Not surprisingly, mirrors can make a room look a lot larger. When decorating small spaces, hang a mirror on a wall opposite a window or very most one to reflect the outdoors, broadening the experience of your room.

You can also try using a focal point and bending your mirrors towards it, which will requite the illusion of depth.

Mirrors reflect both natural and artificial light to make a room brighter during the day and night and they bounce light deep into the room, making information technology announced larger. Mirrors on the walls and glass tabletops will go far seem like in that location's a more open flow. You tin can too use mirrored cabinet doors to make spaces feel large and uncluttered.

10. Balance the ying and yang in your small living room decor

An eccentric example of small living room decor ideas showing a room with bright pink walls and a deep purple velvet couch.

We love the design contradiction betwixt this cute feminine shade called Nancy'southward Blushes and the visually heaviness of the mahogany sofa and center-catching Erstwhile Master'due south style portraits in the bohemian living room pictured in a higher place.

Keeping the floor the same color as the piece of furniture also helps to blend the room together – if nothing stands out, then your eye will menses around a space and in a small living room this can be cardinal to making it feel larger.

11. Get artistic with paint

A long white living room with grey carpet, a brightly coloured rug and floral armchairs.

Y'all tin visually widen a rectangular-shaped room with clever living room paint ideas such as painting the two end walls a darker color than the other 2 walls.

The gradation of shade and color of pigment on opposing walls can either lengthen distance by using a lighter shade or shorten a distance with a darker shade.

Light colors such as creamy white or light grey help to brighten a room, making information technology announced larger and wider. Satin pigment finishes tend to reflect more light.

Yous can too pigment horizontal stripes on a wall to make a room feel wider. Utilise two alternating colors to pigment each stripe well-nigh 12 inches wide.

12. Mimic the symmetry of the room'south architecture

A small living room with two large windows, modern furniture and a geometric rug.

Smaller living rooms do good from lodge and a more de-cluttered feel. This is where symmetry tin be your best friend. Keeping furniture in line eases the heed as Liv Wallers from British design studio, Yellow London explains:

'Symmetry provides residuum within a room and it often starts from a focal point similar a fireplace or windows in the sitting room. It brings a sense of comfort and rhythm to a space which is an integral part of our design approach. It tin can be used correct down to the smaller details of the room, cushions on the sofa to lamps on a dresser.'

13. Echo a pattern to enhance infinite

An example of small living room decor ideas where the leaf pattern on the sofa matches the window blind.

Matching your bullheaded or curtain fabric to your sofa is becoming a trend we love, particularly when pattern and print is really to the fore in the design globe currently.

It works in a smaller living room when the background color to the impress is pale, and in this instance with Colefax & Fowler's Callista textile it likewise brings the outside in and so that helps to create an airy feel in tandem with the white painted walls that act similar a blank canvas.

14. Zone a narrow but long living room

A small living room with blue patterned wallpaper and antique furniture

Long living room ideas rarely experience homely, only there are tricks you lot can employ to zone the space to make information technology feel far cozier. A rug can visually draw together the furniture in a space, giving a room focus and calculation comfort.

While a focal point that contrasts with the rest of the scheme can be visually interesting, disguising the awkward layout, something like quirky slice of art, coffee tabular array or hitting lampshade.

15. Exist inventive with color

A living room with a neutral colour scheme contrasted with a mustard yellow ceiling.

Painting ceilings in a colour is huge right now, and you can brand a room feel cozier past painting it in a warming shade.

Some other design flim-flam is to paint the same color outside of the room – like the hallway here for instance. Information technology plays on the visual aspect and draws your eye through to another space – and not having a door helps to make a room feel large too.

xvi. Hang art in a small space

A small living room with a grey scheme and map prints on the wall above the sofa.

When it comes to planning a living room characteristic wall, quite frequently, bigger is better. Walls that are covered with pictures and other wall hangings tend to make a room feel closed in, narrow and busy, and so simply hang 1 or 2 big pieces of artwork on your walls to make the room feel wider and more spacious.

Avoid hanging pictures loftier on the longer wall as they volition just highlight the imbalance in the proportions, instead cull art that tin can sit wide simply depression over the couch for case, to bring the eye level downwards and help make the room seem wider.

17. Think: scale and proportions

A simple small living room idea with a corner sofa

Select piece of furniture pieces that are in proportion to the size of your room – oversized cabinets, living room sofas and chairs can make a small room feel narrow.

Living room furniture that is the same color as your walls tends to blend into the wall, making information technology expect wider.

Make sure y'all accommodate your furniture at an angle to create a sense of depth to the room, otherwise if you place all piece of furniture against the walls y'all might stop upwardly with a narrow 'bowling alley' expect.

xviii. Create a focal indicate in a minor living room

A small living room with white walls, blue drapes, a blue sofa, rattan lamp and a wooden coffee table with fresh flowers on top.

When decorating a modest living room, create a focal point – 1 surface area or feature that volition draw the centre, so there'south less emphasis on the room's layout. In the living room, the focal signal volition near likely be the coffee table, so make certain that focal point is the star of the room.

19. Unite ii rooms

A small living room with blue walls and wood floor leading through to a dining room with navy blue walls.

If you've got a long narrow room that'southward divided in two – like a living room 1 terminate and a dining room the other – it might be worth picking a favorite color and using it equally a fundamental tone to coordinate the ane space. This too works to make a pocket-size dining room experience bigger, also.

For example, linking navy blue walls in the dining room end with the same wall colour in the living room for a space that feels united and cozy.

20. Decorate with a calorie-free color palette

It'south always constructive to utilise a palette of light living room colors, but in dissimilar materials and textures. A mutual misperception is that the less piece of furniture and features you have in the space, the bigger it will look.

Just in fact, multiple zones and features create a perception of unlike spaces within ane room. Information technology'due south all about the right furniture size, the right swatch and the right modest living room lighting ideas. Try to stick to a neutral living room scheme in smaller spaces, introducing splashes of colour with accessories.

21. Paint the fifth wall in a small living room

A corner of a living room with green panelled walls, a grey carpet and a patterned armchair.

The fifth wall is often an afterthought when it comes to redecorating, but done correct, information technology tin can make a real departure to a small room. As long as your ceiling is painted in a paler color than your walls, no affair what the color, your ceilings will experience college, helping a narrow living room experience more spacious.

22. Keep a minor living room organized

Small living room decor with alcove shelving

The key to compact living is to exist exceptionally well organized. In my experience, pocket-size spaces can actually transform personal habits for the better, every bit they require careful editing and storage.

'Open the space as much every bit possible to allow for comfortable circulation. Every centimeter of a modest studio has to be cleverly utilized, so that it doesn't expect chaotic, yet provides a functional layout with optimized living room storage,' says Irina Townsend, interior designer at Keir Townsend.

23. Brand it monochrome

A small living room with a blue and white color palette

A monochromatic colour scheme, using dissimilar tones of the same color, will aid to make the furniture and other features recede and appear to have up less space. You tin can soften the palette by adding a warm grey-blue rather than a harsh black or white.

24. Play with scale in a narrow scheme

An old wooden dresser full of books sits against the wall of a living room with a neutral, rustic scheme.

Choose one big-scale slice – a huge cabinet, an oversized lampshade or a wall to ceiling mirror for a modest living room. By choosing advisedly these large accessories will describe attention away from the lack of space and focus the centre onto other things.

25. Swap curtains out for blinds

A bright living room full of comfy furniture and soft colours.

Curtains can wait bulky, so it is worth considering swapping them out for blinds instead. These, in this lovely pocket-sized living room designed by Stefani Stein, allow daylight to filter through, too, which will help the room experience all the same larger and brighter.

26. Choose dark colors but remainder them with light

A sitting room with a black feature wall containing a fireplace.

At that place's no rule that says you lot can't accept dark colors in a pocket-sized living room – in fact, if the room is lit well and has big enough windows and a south- or w-facing aspect, night colors on small living room walls tin can look beautiful and brand the space feel really welcoming.

Even so, if the living room lacks warm daylight, yous can create plenty of impact with dark colors on the focal wall and beyond, but that information technology's a wise move to balance that with paler shades, both on walls and furnishings.

27. Describe the eye to a focal indicate

Country living room with stove fireplace

This minor living room is a busy space, but still, the living room fireplace wall is drawing all the attention, and, as we all know, having a potent focal point within a room can make it feel larger than it really is.

'The lines created by the expanse rug, the trunk coffee table and the bookshelves all direct the middle to the fireplace wall,' says H&Thousand's Editor in Chief Lucy Searle. 'The huge main flick and those around it accentuate the width of the wall, simple past a burn down environs. This creates a unproblematic visual flim-flam of making a really quite (beautifully) cluttered room feel very well planned – its size isn't fifty-fifty an effect.'

28. Accentuate the vertical

Small living room decor with colorful accents

Another useful visual trick has been created in this living room, with floor-to-ceiling defunction creating a panel of color that emphasizes the superlative of the room. The meridian of the picture and of the pots sat at ceiling height farther exaggerate the room's proportions.

29. Proceed the scheme neutral – simply add bursts of color

A living room with a neutral color scheme featuring bursts of color

Decorating with primary colors is a wonderful way to add to create a successful pocket-sized living room scheme because information technology allows you to create a infinite-stretching neutral room, only with more exciting pops of colour in accessories that you lot can swap in and out depending on your mood.

thirty. Decorate with stripes to make small living rooms experience bigger

Two striped armchairs stand next to each other in a room with pink walls.

Decorating with stripes is another clever way to make modest living rooms feel larger. The direction the stripes run will have distinct effects – vertical stripes, similar on these armchairs to a higher place – will make a room with a depression ceiling feel taller. Run the stripes horizontally and it will experience longer or wider, depending on your perspective.

31. Create a sense of infinity

An open plan living room with white walls and wooden floors with a large window looking out into a back garden.

Paint is a dandy tool when yous need to maximize the feeling of space in a small room. Matching the clean white pigment – used on the walls – of this compact living room with the same color on the ceiling helps to blur the lines between the unlike surfaces, pushing them back then that the room feels more spacious and lofty.

Use night, richly colored furniture, flooring and statement artwork to add depth and interest to an otherwise simple scheme.

32. Stick to a simple palette

A Small living room with white walls and green furnishings

Aqueduct this contemporary accept on a classic look by making bold and vibrant patterns the stars – even in a minor living room. Combing a diversity of prints only all in greens and whites ensures this room feels at-home and non overwhelming.

33. Opt for compact furniture – upholstered in patterned textile

Compact furniture upholstered in patterned fabric

A sense of scale is a central principle for successful interior blueprint – try mixing it upward to take fun with your minor living room.

Be guided by the room's proportions and compages when setting the scale for piece of furniture. They key to good living room seating ideas in modest spaces is to avoid a couch that is too big. Instead, invest in a meaty design, and then take it upholstered in a gorgeous fabric for instant entreatment.

34. Instil coziness with a taupe color scheme

Small living room with neutral color palette

Get for a more understated style with a timeless taupe colour scheme. Non quite a brown, not a grey, either, taupe falls somewhere between the two. Become for warmer taupes in rooms where you desire to create coziness, and cooler taupes where you need a at-home feel.

To avoid colors merging into one and looking banal, layer on the texture with lots of tactile finishes and weaves with plush damasks and chenilles on curtains and upholstery. Invest in good-quality lighting to highlight different textures, sheens and finishes.

35. Keep piece of furniture away from the wall

Small living room with small furniture away from walls

A common misconception in a pocket-sized living room is to button furniture against the wall. Requite the room space to breath by leaving gaps between the piece of furniture and the walls. Enlarge a pocket-size living room by pulling the furniture abroad from he walls, fifty-fifty by merely a couple of inches, creates bathing infinite that will make your room appear bigger.

36. In a dark living room, choose a light effects

dark painted living room with light coloured modern painting, lamp and vase, blue sofa and cushions, wooden floor

It's important in any scheme to have a practiced balance between light and nighttime. Choose a lamp that is paler in color so it contrasts with night walls. We love how this trio of the lamp, vase and painting all link together visually.

'Continue the lighting every bit soft and warm every bit possible also, utilise wall lights or table lamps and avoid too many spotlights, as they tin make a modest living room feel stark and imposing in a infinite that's purpose is for relaxation,' advises Camilla Clarke, artistic manager at Albion Nord.

37. Play with scale to create impact

living room with green sofa, sideboards with two matching table lamps and mirror

We asked Emma Deterding, founder and creative director at Kelling Designs her thoughts on working with calibration in a small living room:

'When it comes to pocket-sized living room lighting ideas information technology is all about being clever with the placement of your light sources and playing with scale. A argument ceiling lite tin be just as effective in a compact infinite, helping to create a focal point, and using floor and tabular array lamps to supplement this will brighten up corners to make the room feel brighter whilst giving the illusion of space. Y'all should also non be afraid of using bright colors and assuming patterns – they can assist a smaller living infinite feel bigger past adding effulgence.'

38. Get the lighting only right

'Some people feel the need to flood pocket-sized spaces with ceiling lights to brand them feel brighter and therefore larger,' says Claire Sa, director, De Rosee Sa. 'However, I remember atmosphere and dimension tin exist added to small spaces with different levels of controlled lighting. The lowest level might be lamps on side tables; the next would be lamps on a desk-bound, panel or chest. Finally, add together fewer rather than more directional ceiling lights, positioned closer to the walls and angled away from the centre of the room to create a feature glow on, for example, a piece of wall art.'

How can I arrange my small-scale living room?

If you have or have ever had a narrow room at home, and then yous'll be more than than aware of the tricky task of making it look wider than it actually is, while desperately trying to make every corner look cozy. Yous've probably spent hours rearranging furniture in a frenzied attempt to make your rectangular space expect more than square, just in the back of your mind you know that unless you knock down the walls and rebuild the room from scratch, there's just nothing you tin can exercise.

When it comes to the layout, the general advice is not to place all of your piece of furniture as well close to the walls. 'To make the room experience more than spacious, move your sofa away from the wall, and put a console or a shelf behind it and bring the sofa in,' says interior designer, Kelly Hoppen.

Look for a table with simple or fragile lines. The table should seem to 'disappear,' and so it gives your room the illusion of more infinite in a minor living room. And steer clear of ornate effects that will overpower the infinite.

How do you lot decorate walls in a small living room?

Make the most of reflective surfaces in a small living room. 'Consider finishing the walls in polished plaster, a material that reflects light and increases visual perception of infinite. Whatsoever other reflective decorative surfaces, such as patinated mirrors, silver leaf or lacquer volition make the space seem bigger as well,' explains Irina Townsend, Keir Townsend.

How practise yous make a small living room look bigger?

Homes that are brusque on space can notwithstanding be big on way. A carefully designed living room that incorporates plenty of concealed storage and furniture that is tailored to the space as in the living room pictures above tin can achieve a sense of comfort and convenience that belies a modest square footage.

The key to perfectly executed modest living room ideas lies in a little forward planning.

Scale the furniture to fit the size of the room and don't block walking pathways – oversized sofas or too much furniture will make the living room wait smaller, while furniture and accessories blocking the view into a room will make the space expect cramped – if you can run into the floor, the room volition wait larger.

A great tip is to choose a burrow and chairs with open arms and exposed legs, and a glass coffee table, both will keep the appearance of a much more open and gratis space, allowing calorie-free to filter under and around the piece of furniture far easier.

Jennifer is the Digital Editor at Homes & Gardens. Having worked in the interiors industry for a number of years, spanning many publications, she now hones her digital prowess on the 'best interiors website' in the world. Multi-skilled, Jennifer has worked in PR and marketing, and the occasional dabble in the social media, commercial and e-commerce space. Over the years, she has written almost every area of the home, from compiling design houses from some of the best interior designers in the world to sourcing celebrity homes, reviewing appliances and fifty-fifty the odd news story or two.