Ideas for the Living Room: Here Are Examples of Furnishings

Cozy, personal, and relaxing: that’s how we imagine our living room. This room is the heart of the apartment, and we want to feel comfortable there. And that’s exactly why we present you with many ideas for furnishing the living room – with a guarantee of well-being.

There’s no question about it; the living room’s furnishings reflect one’s personality. It is a cozy oasis, a place of well-being and relaxation – and, more than almost any other place, gives us the feeling of coming home. At the same time, it is also the room where we sit with friends and visitors. Therefore, the furnishing of the living room needs to be well chosen.

Room size and architecture determine how to distribute the furniture, fix the shelves and possibly use a room divider. Should the multimedia technology be openly visible, or do you want to hide the TV set? Once the practicalities are settled, concrete ideas come into play: there are countless ways to customize your living room. What color should the wall of the living room be? Which furniture pieces and decorations do you like and go well together? Let yourself be inspired by the following.

These Furnishing Styles for the Living Room Are Available

The uncluttered yet cozy Scandinavian style with its “hygge” feel has dominated European living room culture for years. No wonder the focus is on light, clear shapes, natural materials, and cozy fabrics – and who doesn’t like that? With its play forms Lagom, Lykkelig, and Japandi, the style is now evolving and incorporating new contrasts into its pastel, cozy flair. So recently, dark colors, rich earth tones, and Asian minimalism can also be found in the portfolio of Skandi designers.

The new luxury of the Art Deco style is also in vogue. In contrast to the Nordic coolness and restraint, the modern version of the style from the 1920s surrounds itself with glitz and glamor. Extravagance is the order of the day! So if you want a little more avant-garde pomp, go for gold accessories, a velvety armchair in bold red, and emerald green or sapphire blue wall paint as a bright eye-catcher.

For those shaking their heads, perhaps country style would be an idea for the living room. It, too, has been a faithful companion in the interior design industry for many years and offers a rural-rustic feel-good flair. Light materials from nature, such as wood, linen, or cotton, determine the look, romantic patterns, and nostalgic memorabilia as decoration. Brocante and Shabby Chic are further evolutions of the beloved style that celebrates the imperfect.

If you are a globetrotter and love to bring home souvenirs, you could furnish your living room in colonial style. Solid furniture, with rattan furniture and exotic decorative pieces, form this interior style’s basis. Its further development was in the trendy Urban Jungle, where even the city dweller finds his way back to peace and nature. He uses houseplants like no other to decorate and regulate the indoor climate.

Those who like it much more feminine and colorful furnish oriental. A variation would be, for example, the Moroccan style of living with its variety of colors, cozy silk pillows, and hand-knotted carpets. However, because the variety of colors and shapes can quickly become too much for the eye, it is advisable to start with accents or in one room and try out whether it is the right style for you.

The New Atmosphere in the Living Room, Through Small Changes

Would you like to breathe fresh air into your living room? Small changes, such as seasonal pillowcases or a completely new decor, work wonders. If it should be a little more change, fresh wall colors or new wallpaper come into play – because colorful and patterned walls are back in full trend. However, you will have to repaint colored walls in light colors again when you move out of the rental apartment.

If you like it flexible and always individual, modular furniture comes into question for you. You can always expand, change, reduce, or enlarge furniture to your liking – depending on how you want to redesign your living room.

Small can also be your own living space. We give you a few tips on how to furnish a small living room.

The Right Lighting in the Living Room

The be-all and end-all in the living room is good lighting – it largely subconsciously affects our sense of well-being. Especially when the living room, dining area, and kitchen merge into an open space, it pays to use several different light sources. Floor, floor, or table lamps perfectly complement the large ceiling light. Dimmable lights that provide indirect lighting behind furniture are particularly atmospheric. A smart lighting control system adapts to your needs in the best and most convenient way.

Good to know
It is now scientifically proven that the color temperature of light impacts our health and should be chosen differently for each room. Why not give it a try?

11 Ideas for the Living Room: Interior Design Examples

In our picture gallery, you will find inspiration for your ideas for your living room design – be it a wall design with many picture frames as eye-catchers or colorful curtains or plants as accents.

International Ideas for Living Room Design

Idea 1: Colorful Design Mix From Paris

Wonderfully unconventional presents the living room below with a living gallery and partition wall in the shape of clouds by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec from Paris. By the way, the wall hides a library that runs along the staircase. A bit of Art Deco mixes with many colors, unusual shapes, and – yes, vases, ashtrays, and candles as accessories may not be missing. A mix of colors and patterns would have been unthinkable a few years ago, but today it’s especially desired by lovers of boho style or fans of Frida Kahlo.

Idea 2: Subtle Color Scheme Meets Red Accents

Design classics and modern art have created an opulent look in the living room. The residents live with furniture you normally only see at MoMA New York or the Design Museum in London. But there, you can copy one or the other for your home, for example, a lot of light, white, or wood combined with soft beige and gray tones. Black lamps and the table top in black create the necessary contrasts, not to forget the carpet with red-dominated graphics, and the gorgeous red chair legs perfectly fit an industrial style emphasized by the exposed floor.

Idea 3: Black Walls Decorated With Souvenirs

A globetrotter inhabits the following townhouse in Cologne. It shows, doesn’t it? The sight of various travel souvenirs in front of black walls, light sideboards, and wonderfully warm wooden floorboards as flooring in the living room is very nice. Surely you also hoard some souvenirs at home? Instead of storing them in boxes, you could artfully display them in the living room. In any case, in this example, someone with his interior design ideas shows how to give himself and his life space – with everything that goes with it: whether a globe, four-legged darling, or fur-covered fauteuil.

Idea 4: Contrasting Harmony in London

The next apartment belongs to twin sisters who live in the Chelsea district of London. They give their rooms a brilliant interior with patterned wallpaper, different fabrics, and bold color contrasts in turquoise and rosé. Modern art, Murano glass chandeliers, a complexly knitted carpet with a floral pattern in English country style on dark wood in the interior of the living room – a harmonious combination of objects and materials that at first glance do not even fit together – and yet this living room looks attractive and cozy.

Idea 5: Urban Jungle in the Living Room

Yellow, green, and red are the main colors in the following living room – they follow the Urban Jungle trend. Red is only finely nuanced in the picture and in the pattern of the sofa blanket. Green appears more vehemently on the curtain and in the form of plants—pillows and carpet round off the color ensemble. Only the light blue table legs seem to have lost their way, yet they fit wonderfully into the overall concept. The pattern mix is also interesting: graphic elements on the carpet and cushions and florals on the curtains. If you like it fresh and sunny, yellow as a wall color is an option.

Idea 6: Courage to Be Eye-Catching

“Of course,” you might say, “in a stately palace in the south of France, such a casual interior style is easy to achieve. But how about here?” Don’t worry; no one expects the one-to-one implementation. But how about such a huge banana plant in the center of the room? Fascinatingly, the modern sofa design particularly shines in Japanese grace on the rust-red rustic tiles. The modular shelf also gets a special stage in this room under old frescoes. Here lives unmistakably a designer. And yet she works with such simple means that one is happy to be inspired by them for one’s living room.

Our Top Tips for a Beautiful Living Room

• What atmosphere do you want to create in your living room? Do you want the room to be Scandinavian hyggelig or rather clear and structured? Think about which style appeals to you the most.
• Do you want one large coffee table in the living room, or would you rather have several side tables? Which furniture and decorative elements can stay, and which should go?
• Which colors create a cozy atmosphere for you? Should it be bright, airy, colorful, relaxed, cozy, and dignified?
• The best advisors and helpers are friends who know your preferences. Ask for help with room design, ideas, and tips on how to make it work.
• Furnish your living room only with things you like! True to the phrase: “Only what I like remains” – everything else may go!