A nine-step guide to lush living room layouts

When you throw a bunch of things together in a room and don't consider their visual value or grandeur, you're making a terrible mistake. 

Look at all of the larger elements in your home and decide which item can really pack a lot of punch visually.  Is it a large-scale art work? An indoor tree? Or your wonderful sofa? If so, let these items speak for themselves and don't crowd too much around them – highlight them.

Clearly the focal point in this great living room is the warm and cosy fireplace!

It's safe to ensure at one point or another, whether you have children, or friends with children, that children will be in your home. It's best to prepare  special area that can keep kids comfortable, happy, safe and entertained. 

Children should never be a draining nuisance and keeping a close eye on them is always important.  Establish a corner or other area where children can safely play and allow for you and your guests to fully enjoy yourselves as well.

A good visual balance is acheived in one of two ways:

1. Working with symmetry

2. Choosing furnishing and accessories around similar scales – for example, you don't want a huge sofa with small pieces of art hanging over it and vice-versa.

Pictured here this medium-sized sofa is perfectly complimented by the smaller rug, Scandinavian coffee table and matching art works to make a grand, yet simple statement.

The living room is for conversing, relaxing and enjoying yourself. This will mean that you will have to strategically plan the set-up and organisation of the seating arrangements. 

L-shaped couches and accent chairs do a great job of making everyone feel intimate and comfortable to join the conversation, like the living room pictured here.

You should always leave an appropriate and comfortable amount of room between furnishings and decor for the average person to feel comfortable adjusting their seat and to get up and move around without bumping into anyone else. 

To test this theory, set up your seating arrangement the way you want and take a step back to analyse the situation.  If anything feels too crowded, make changes and try again!

Working with the space you have is really important when aligning your furniture. We suggest keeping the larger furnishings along the larger walls and tr using symmetry and centering everything properly. Your best bet is to use a measuring stick or tape to keep everything as exact as possible.

Getting creative with wall art and accessories is one of the most fun parts of creating and developing a home.  In general, there are certain rules that apply –  but your should have fun with it! 

As seen in this great example, you can use multiple smaller pieces, or opt for one large statement piece to get the same point across. If you're after a more clean and modern look, then large-format art that's properly matted and framed is best. 

Hardwood floors and tiles are great – however, for both aesthetic and functional reasons, rugs are often necessary, especially in colder winter months. 

This wonderfully chic living room used a large-scale rectangular rug to cover the vast amount of flooring – however, even a large-format circular rug would've been great too and would break up the rectangular nature of this room.

Whether it's using partitions, separations, dividers or using an open-concept living plan – when considering how to work with a smaller living room, homify is here to help. 

We have plenty of ideabooks that showcase ways in which you can work with smaller living rooms and even studio-style spaces! Just check out this luxurious Scandi style home for amazing living room inspiration…