Without the right combination of storage, furniture and lighting even a large country villa can feel cramped and uncomfortable. Interior design plays a major role in your home’s comfort level, making it a vital element of any spacious living space.
Light colours increase perceived space and make your living room feel bigger. By selecting the right furniture, you can maximise both the perceived and practical living space that your home offers. The furniture experts at AHF have provided five practical tips to increasing your home’s living space – read on to discover them.
Use vertical shelving to your advantage
Vertical shelving is an essential element of space-saving design. Add wall shelves to your living room to eliminate wasted floor space and keep your multimedia, books, and other small possessions safe and secure.
Wall shelves can be used for more than just books and DVDs. Try installing a wall-mounted shoe rack near your front entranceway to stop shoes from crowding the entrance to your home and taking up valuable floor space.
Mount televisions and speakers on walls
With LCD televisions now the norm, there’s no need to invest in large, cumbersome entertainment unit. Purchase a wall bracket for your television and mount it out of the way on one of your living room’s walls.
You can also mount speakers, DVD players and home entertainment consoles on the walls of your living room. Mount speakers at head level for the optimum in surround sound quality, all without wasting any floor space on speaker stands or extra tables.
Upsize glass doors and living room windows
Natural light is an essential element of any comfortable living room, and maximising your own natural light should be a key interior design priority. Replace aging living room doors with glass doors for a massive increase in your lounge’s natural light.
Other great light-boosting additions include skylights, which are wonderful choices for living rooms with sloped ceilings. Increasing natural light has two main benefits for your property – it increases perceived space and lowers your energy bills.
Invest in multi-purpose living room furniture
Coffee tables can do more than support mugs and store magazines. Modern coffee tables often feature built-in storage drawers and shelving, making them the ideal place to store remote controls, notebooks and other living room accessories.
Likewise, end tables can double as storage spaces for books, remote controls and other common living room items. Choose furniture that serves multiple purposes and you’ll free up living room space for other useful items.
Choose light colours for your walls and ceiling
The colours that you choose for your walls and ceiling have a huge impact on the perceived size of your living room. Strong contrast between walls and the ceiling reduces perceives space, while limited contrast increases the perceived space.
To maximise the size of your living room, choose light colours for both your walls and your ceiling. White and light blue are popular colour choices that offer design versatility and ample perceived space in both modern and classic homes.