Clever design tricks to help open up your little living room

There’s nothing like a few clever design tricks, smart storage solutions, and savvy purchases to bring a new sense of scale to your little lounge.

Having a small space to work with doesn’t mean you can’t get it looking amazing – it just takes a bit more careful thought and creativity to get the effect you want. That means, for example, being careful with how you use colour (including choosing the shade of your fitted sofa covers) and ensuring that no bit of floor space goes to waste.

But, you might be asking, how do I get started? No worries there – here at Cover My Furniture, we’ve got a couple of ideas that will really help you make the most of the space in your living room. Here are our top suggestions!

Make the most of your floor space

A good place to begin with is by incorporating alternative furnishing and storage methods around your living room.The first step is to pick furniture that’s proportional to your living room space. A large, 3-piece sofa is always an attractive option, but you might find it doesn’t quite work in your lounge. If that’s the case, you can ditch it in favour of smaller alternatives like a cosy double seater, or a stylish couple of armchairs. Alternatively, you could opt for furniture that features built-in storage to hide away clutter. That might end up leaving you with more floor space than you might have thought, which in turn leaves you with more room for creative design choices.

Make the most of your wall space and ceiling height

Opening up your floor space can massively improve the amount of room you’ll have available in your lounge. It’s easily done, too – opting for taller furniture like ladder shelves, over bulky display cabinets, is a great way to be more economical with your floor space. As a general reference point, the taller the furniture, the less space it’ll take up on your floor.

Your walls are also a great source of storage (and often an underestimated one, too). As well as traditional shelving – or even floating shelves, if you’re feeling particularly fancy – mounting your TV on a wall is another thing we’d recommend if you’ve got a smaller lounge. This will eliminate the need for a large TV unit, which can sometimes seem cumbersome when space is at a premium. You could also consider fixing an MDF panel beneath the mounted television to provide you with some floating shelf space. Practical and stylish!

Plus, a striking picture or piece of wall art will draw people’s eyes toward it, and in turn, your living room space will appear more expansive than it actually is.

Cohesive colour palettes

We’d always advise keeping your colours cohesive when it comes to furniture, accessories, and wall colour – in other words, settle on a colour scheme in advance, and stick to it! It’s worth taking a bit of time to research them in advance so you can find out what colours work with what, so that you won’t end up with any clashing shades – which might create a jarring final effect.

For a bright and breezy feel – consider colours like mint, blue and green, as they do great job of reflecting the light in your room which helps give it that fresh feeling. Alternatively you could opt for a rich, bold colour like purple, maroon and brown for a more luxurious style.

So, the first step really is to decide on exactly what sort of atmosphere you want to create for your living room, and choose your colours accordingly. Generally, brighter colours are more vibrant and energetic, neutrals are more calming and relaxed, and darker colours are richer and more luxurious. If you need a bit of help getting started, we recommend taking a quick look at our post on how to colour match your interiors!

Be selective with your seating choice

A sofa and chair combo can quite often be the centrepiece of any living room, so it’s important to keep a few things in mind when picking them out. Mainly, try to make sure it complements your lounge instead of overpowering it. Following on from above, there are a few factors to consider when selecting your seating arrangement, and colour is definitely one of them.

Now, a neutrally coloured sofa is a great way to help lighten up your lounge space. However, it’s worth remembering that the words neutral and plain don’t necessarily mean the same thing! Neutral generally refers strictly to colour, whereas ‘plain’ is often used to refer to the actual physical construction of the sofa. Beautiful details, like curves, buttons, or fluting can be a great way to add a bit of character to your living space, without undermining the rest of your lounge.

If you’re trying to brighten up a darker space, an accent chair is a great way to inject a pop of colour into a darker setting. Also, you can reveal more light in the room by selecting furniture with legs that display the floor. This will help to brighten up the room even further.

These are just a few ideas that will help you bring a bit of scale to your small lounge. Sometimes, a little freshen up can make a big difference – and that’s exactly where we can help here at Cover My Furniture.

We love a clever design trick here at Cover My Furniture. Anything that helps to refresh your living space, as well as reduce furniture waste, is something that we feel very passionately about. So if you decide that your living room could do with a new lease of life, why not revive your furniture with some replacement sofa covers? With 60 years of experience behind us, our hand crafted pieces will create an amazing new look to refresh your furniture.

Ready to get started? You can get in touch with us by using the contact form on our website, or through our Facebook or Instagram pages. We’re always happy to hear from you!