mikejohnarizona

Make the living room in your house a space for others to aspire to – and all it takes is a few simple design hacks.

You spend a large part of your time at home in the living room, but you often don’t realise how central the space is to your peace of mind and ideas of beauty. If you’re less than happy with your living room at the moment, try these simple living room décor ideas:

* Ditch curtains for blinds.

Let the light flow in – natural light makes a space look much larger than it is. Plus, it’s so pleasing to be in a space with sunlight streaming in and illuminating the clean lines of the modern Indian living room. Here’s a handy tip to make this happen: do not have curtains on the windows at all. In fact, ditch them entirely for blinds. You could also do away with blinds, but you would need to install tinted windows for some privacy in the space. When getting blinds, try wood finish slats instead of plastic ones.

* Add an accent wall.

Accent walls are fun, and they add distinction to the living room décor. An accent wall can be just a blank wall in a different colour than the rest, or a patterned wall with a rough or textured finish. Or it can be a wall where you hang a cluster of photographs, or a themed wall with shelves to hold artefacts and knick-knacks from your travels. Basically, it adds a new design dimension to the living room.

* ‘Create’ more space by installing a mirror.

If you feel that your living room is too cramped at the moment, and there is no way to free up more space physically, then do the next best thing: get a framed mirror. Adding a mirror is a common and effective living room interior hack, and you will love it. Hang the mirror strategically to showcase a good part of the living room and to also face a window. The advantage of doing this is to create an illusion of more depth of space when none exists. Your living room automatically starts looking larger and brighter.

* Floating shelves add more storage – and elegance.

You are always short of storage space, and the living room is not the space where bulky overhead cabinets should be hung at all. So, hang floating shelves instead. They create extra storage space for smaller items, and they are out of your way. Plus, they look so great!

* Add a rug under the centre table.

Define the seating area with a well-chosen floor rug. Ensure that the rug either matches the colour scheme of the room perfectly, or at least belongs to the same colour family.