Styling Your Windows: The Living Room Edit
If you have come here straight from the blog article on our sister site Custom Curtains, you will have already received an education in why curtains are the ideal window dressing for living rooms.
Here on our Inspiration page, it’s time we broaden the interior design net and open it up to the entire living room. If you are looking for some room inspiration on sprucing up this most crucial of rooms, then look no further than this article. Just like in The Bedroom Edit, we have been gifted with some pearls of wisdom from more interior design experts, not to mention the usual sterling advice from our very own interior stylists, who are providing room decorating ideas on how to style several different motifs.
The living room is, perhaps, the most significant room in any home; this is where you spend leisure time, both alone and with friends – it is the room where you can best express your personality. For this reason, it is of the utmost importance that the living room is pleasing to the eye. Fortunately, because it is often the largest room in a house, it gives you plenty of scope for self-expression and abounds with room inspiration.
In this Style Edit, we are going to give you some room decorating ideas for expressing your more artistic side in a variety of ways, ranging from classic to contemporary, and with a whole heap of colour thrown in.
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As summer begins to take a firm hold and the sun starts to shine, floral prints are becoming a hot topic once again in the world of interior design. Adding some flower power is an easy and sure-fire way to inject a large and varied palette of colour into your decor, not to mention generating some serious spring vibes throughout a room.
There are some floral fabrics which are evergreens; Prestigious’ Poppy Tobacco is one such fabric, featuring subdued shades of yellow, purple and blue, this patterned curtain looks stylish and seasonal at any time of the year. The large print will make your room feel more spacious, and don’t forget that we can also create made to measure cushions for you in the exact same material.
That being said, don’t be afraid to go bold with your colours. Accessories such as table lamps and vases in deep shades of Sea Blue contrast delicately with the flowery yellows and reds to fashion a vibrant and artistic buzz. Wooden floorboards will create a cool atmosphere, as will a liberal application of white to style a beach house theme.
Painted white walls rather than wallpaper will enhance this look; our stylists recommend painting your window panes white, and if you can find a wooden-framed sofa, this will add to the beach ambience. You can complement these blues and whites with shades of purple and soft pinks to lend your living room a feminine air; these can be incorporated through artwork hanging on the wall or ornaments placed throughout the room.
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Classic is a timeless look that interior stylists have been reinventing for decades. Richard Bond, Managing Director of the multi-award winning interior design consultancy business, Jamie Hempsall Ltd, provided us with some expert tips for creating a functional living room of classic elegance: “Ensure that you have plenty of comfortable seating which is not too bulky. Thick arms on a sofa mean less seating space for the area that it will take up. Look for upholstery fabrics that are relatively stain & mark resistant (textured velvet hides a multitude of sins), so that you can cope with the little accidents that inevitably occur.
Wallpaper has a softer feel than a painted surface, so if the budget can stretch opt for this. Avoid painting ceilings white as this is very stark. Either tone to the wallpaper or, if your walls are painted, coat the ceiling in the same colour as the walls (with the potential of picking out coving in another accent colour – or white). This will provide a scheme that has natural coherence.
Use Oil Eggshell for woodwork as this has a nice natural sheen and lasts well – it looks a lot more modern than gloss.”
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Art Deco echoes the interior design trends of the 1920’s, and is one style that never seems to go out of vogue, probably because it is an incredibly easy look to achieve; it gives you scope for using a diverse range of colours, and the results are spectacular. With summer on the way, we’ve chosen to give you some room decorating ideas for fashioning a living room that is brimming with sunshine and positivity.
Sophisticated and luxurious, Art Deco integrates a lot of geometric shapes to fashion a sharp and hard-hitting edge. Even your window dressings should feature some kind of geometric style, which is why our interior stylists would draw your attention to Casadeco Moucharabier Jaune; these voiles feature an elegant and ultra-modern print, and will help to keep your living room cool while still letting natural light into the home.
We recommend complementing these white voiles with a pair of lemon yellow curtains to zest up your windows, which can also be matched beautifully with some cushions in the same shade.
This particular Art Deco theme requires a fearless use of white. Beginning with the walls, white is a neutral colour that lets you build a chic motif around it; by keeping your walls white, the other tones in your decor will stand out vibrantly, making the room appear to house twice the amount of colour it actually does – less is most definitely more.
White furniture will have the same effect, and although wooden floorboards would be the ideal choice for an Art Deco living room, a white fur rug placed in the centre of the room would beautifully juxtapose the natural brown colour of the wood. Sofas and chairs in brown and/or white leather also lend a classic charm and refinement to the room.
Modern touches like glass coffee tables will enhance the sophistication of your Art Deco living room, as will simply-designed table lamps and vases. Metal finishes such as borders along your coffee tables, lamp stands and mirrors will give the room a shine, making it appear larger.
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Open plan homes are becoming ever more popular. Combining rooms together creates a cohesive and modern interior that is both functional and stylish. The practical benefits of having one room flow straight into another also makes open plan living a user-friendly experience; the smell of home cooking wafting from the kitchen straight into the living room, or the sound of the television in the living room feeding into the kitchen as you prepare dinner, all add to the unique atmosphere.
Paul Matthews, Senior Designer at Auburn Hill, is an expert in this particular area of interior design. He had these suggestions: “Keep colour palettes tonal and in neutral shades if possible. This will help to create a sense of balance throughout the space and add continuity throughout the different aspects of your open plan design. You can then help to separate out the zones by adding accents of colour and furnishings to give them their own identity.
A rug or different style of flooring is a great way to add interest and break up an area without impacting on the size of the room, choose a solid base you have throughout the room and accent areas such as the living or dining space to make them stand out.
Creating a feature – in particular a gallery wall – can inject personality and add a focal point into the room. Keep it neutral by keeping the photos in one colour way, but use mismatching style frames to add interest.”
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A must-have trend this summer is the rich and juicy tang of Tropical. Only the warmest, most vivacious colours will do when decorating in a tropical style; fruity lime greens and lemony yellows will inject some zest into the room. Our interior stylists suggest adding these colours through a variety of different ways; as well as yellow and green cushions, introduce some plant life into your home – plants with long leaves will give the effect of palm trees, enhancing the tropical vibes.
A base colour of very light beige is reminiscent of the sand on a tropic island, giving way to a vast spectrum of colour. Brown furniture also keeps the room grounded amidst all the splashes of bold colour, bestowing an earthy and rustic charm. Wooden coffee tables and accessories like using wicker baskets as storage places will have a similar effect.
As for your curtains, a fantastic fabric that is brimming with colour is the only option. Our stylists picked out iLiv Paradiso Fuchsia as a brilliant option to complete this look. The summery floral pattern of Paradiso Fuchsia is an artistic and chic print that echoes the tropics in a delicate and tasteful fashion.
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