The living room is one of the most beloved spaces of any home, which is why it’s equally baffling to think about how little thought we might be giving to it. Sure, it’s certainly used for a receiving area for guests and maybe the odd place to get some tea and biscuits, but it’s more likely that there’s not a lot “living” being done in the living room.
This is a shame since there are plenty of things that can be done with a living room that can make the lives of everyone in the house much more enjoyable. All it takes is a little hard work, some patience, and clever thinking to maximize the space provided.
What is it for?
While all living rooms may be created equal, they’re usually not used that way. Depending on the household, frequency of guests, and lifestyle of the occupants, it’s likely that the living room may be a little bit different from the rest of the house in design and use. Determining those two factors is the key to making a well-used living room.
Design — or in most cases, the kind of furniture you put in it — makes any living room pop. There’s a lot of ambiences that you can play around with depending on the furniture and fixtures you have in your living room and even more options that you can explore in giving it your personal touch. And lucky for you, they’re also extremely accessible: buying an ottoman in the UK has never been easier.
On the other hand, use refers to the activities done in the actual room itself. Will be a guest space to entertain visitors or a communal space where everyone in the house can use? These factors are often determined by how many occupants are in the house and the expected frequency of guests.
Going green
There are other things that you can also add to the living room that make it a more breathable space, like plants and humidifiers. Depending on where you are, these can serve anything from being a charming accent to helping deal with the ambience in the room. A little research on plants that are easy to maintain will yield some excellent results, but there’s also no harm in getting something more elaborate to take off if you have the time.
The change might seem small, but you’d be surprised at what a vase of fresh flowers can do for a living space. While it may certainly not be the flashiest of additions, it’s certainly a remarkable improvement from a lifeless space to adding something with a little vibrancy of its own.
Above all else, the living room is a shared space where people gather and spend their time with each other. Having the bare necessities of what makes it a living room (furniture, lighting, and so on) can undoubtedly be a good start, but the best way to maximize the space of the living room is to integrate it with your lifestyle, not the other way around. The beauty of this space is that it’s so undefined that you can mould it to virtually anything.
