How to Decorate Your Living Room: The 5 Essentials

The number one thing a comfortable living room needs is comfortable seating. Fortunately, the options are limitless, so you can find designs for small space living rooms, medium-sized living rooms, large living rooms and everything in between.

Once you determine how much space you have to work with, you’ll want to ask yourself whether you prefer a sofa + loveseat + chair seating arrangement or a two-piece configuration. Opting for separate seating allows everyone to spread out, while choosing sectional seating typically brings people closer together . . . unless you have the room for a truly expansive design.

The options continue to multiply from there. You can select stationary or reclining seating, fabric or leather seating and even add accent chairs and ottomans. This is your opportunity to get creative and make sure you have all the seating you need.

Occasional tables are all of the tables you would want and need in your living room, including coffee tables, sofa/console tables and side/end/accent tables.

Coffee tables are typically placed front and center of your seating arrangement, and they serve as a hub for books, trays, baskets, accessories and necessities - like TV remotes, magazines and throw blankets. Those of us who like to eat or work in front of the TV also tend to treat our coffee tables as dining tables and desks. If that’s the case for you, a lift-top coffee table is perfect, as the surface elevates to a comfortable height for eating and working.

Sofa tables or console tables often go behind a sofa or up against a wall. You can use them as a place to display decorative items and table lamps for extra lighting. Entryways, hallways and dining areas are also great places for sofa tables or console tables.

Side tables, end tables and accent tables go next to your seat, so you have easy access to things like your phone, drink, book, TV remote, lamp, etc.

All occasional tables are available with or without storage, so you decide just how much functionality you need.

After comfy living room seating, an entertainment center is arguably the most important element in your space. For many people, living room is synonymous with family room, TV room, media room aka the place where you watch all the Netflix. Because your television automatically becomes a focal point in these instances, you want the entertainment center, TV stand or TV console to offer appealing style and function. After all, everyone’s attention will be focused in this direction, so you may as well give them something nice to look at.

Depending on how much space you have, you can go grand with a full entertainment unit, featuring multiple shelves and cabinets for all of your media needs, or you can go more modest with a TV stand that’s smaller but still offers open and/or closed storage for entertainment equipment and decor.

If your living room is where you spend most of your time, it only makes sense to decorate it as a complete and utter representation of your taste. Having plenty of spots to store and showcase all of the items that reflect who you are and what you love will take your living room from okay to extraordinary.

Bookcases and room dividers are your chance to put your life and your interests on display. From family photos, to travel knicknacks, to books and plants, there are pieces you can bring into your space to make you and your guests feel a part of something personal and special.

The sky’s the limit when it comes to choosing accessories for your living room. Rugs, pillows, art, lamps and decorative accents add layers of color, texture and style that put the “living” in living room.

Rugs often end up dictating the color palette of a room, so they’re the perfect accessory to begin decorating with. They come in all shapes and sizes, patterns and materials. Same goes for pillows, which means your bound to find the right fit for your living room. Aside from adding softness to your space, these simple accents make big statements about your preferences.

Art, lamps and tabletop/shelf decor may seem like extra, but these are the items that make your living room feel complete and completely you.