Welcome to this three part series of ‘A step inside YOUR PERFECT living room’ Where I break down the important elements of the living room space and explain WHY… maybe you are having certain difficulties making it your own beautiful abode!
These are EASY steps and you DO NOT need to be an interior designer to design and LOVE your living room.
In Part 1 I would like to start With WHY the living room is such an important space in our homes, and steps we can take to improve our spaces.
For most of us the living room is the centre of our home, our daily interactions are based around entertaining, dining, relaxing and residing which all takes place in this particular area.
MY SECRET to a great living room…..Is there a secret? OR perhaps the placement of furniture, the home-wares and the accessories all affect the overall feeling of the room…
1. I tend to gravitate towards living and kitchen spaces – for me, a sun filled area is imperative in creating a comfortable environment to look at AND to be within – I can never get enough sunlight in a living room. If you don’t have a lot of natural light YOU NEED TO INVEST IN LOTS OF MIRRORS! Mirrors will reflect and increase the light in the room, giving the illusion as though the room is light-filled!
2. I definitely believe each individual has his or her own style and aesthetic, so in my opinion ‘personality’ has a big role in a ‘great living room’.
ITS IN ALL OF US!
Accessorise and use specific colours that suits your own taste!
4. an open plan design allows the ‘overall feel’ of the space to be more inviting and less cluttered.
An open plan living room, (for me) means an integration of the kitchen with the family living…and so, this would mean no separation between the two spaces. As the kitchen is the core of all ‘coming together’ it is really such a beautiful concept to combine the two areas into one.
When designing the layout for an open plan space I always like to play with placement of ‘dining’ and ‘lounging’ spaces. Because so much entertaining takes place around an Island bench AND so often around a coffee table, I like to look at working against the conventional placement of the ‘grand’ dining table adjacent to the kitchen area. In some cases, when presented with more space I will let the open kitchen run into the living, offsetting the dining area. In other cases I like to combine joinery of the living room into the dining space – e.g A floating shelf becomes a bench seat for the table.
3Heartsoflife – Keep it bright light
MY CLIENTS BIGGEST ISSUES
they do not know how to appropriately utilize the size of their space through the furniture chosen
We can successfully create illusions of how large or small our homes are by the furniture we choose to style with. Using items that are too small for larger areas Or alternatively furniture that is too big for compact spaces leading to a cramped area.
My rule is to make sure you can comfortably move between furniture, there isn’t too much space but you are not trying to squeeze in between either.
SO SMALL…..SO WHAT!!
In smaller areas we need to remember we are ‘not disadvantaged’ we just need to get a bit more creative and wise with our designs! 🙂
An integration of joinery with dining works wonders. This can be as simple as creating a ‘bar seat in your kitchen island to allow for a more casual dining rea’
Don’t clutter and choose your furniture wisely. Buy pieces that can be space saving and multifunctional! (please see http://www.caja.com.au – multifunctional side tables which allow an integration of vases into lids – vase can become a wine/champagne cooler – mix and match lids to suit your needs and aesthetics at the given time – put your books into the side table, or perhaps entertain with mini saucers and cheese platters that fit into the suitable lid option – the solutions are endless)
In addition be careful with colour, dark, bold or strong colour schemes will make spaces appear smaller, My advice is keep things bright and clean and integrate those eclectic items you like in small doses, that way they can be seen and shown off!
3Heartsoflife – Accessorise with plants
I often find that clients don’t know their style and love EVERYTHING and so they tend to OVER clutter, which ultimately leads to a cramped vision and takes away from each piece. I call it ‘CTC – Culling the C*P’ If you over accessorise the interior you do a disservice to your space and to the pieces you treasure most! CTC!!!! REFER Blog post HERE
Next week we will go on to PART 2 Where I give you clues on to trends and feature items that are a must have this year !! Stay Tuned!
Tales of Ezra 