Living Room Furniture - Yes, It's Where We Live

By Michael Russell

In the last article we went over office furniture. In this articles we're going to cover furniture that's a little more near and dear to our hearts. The furniture in our homes. More specifically we're going to cover the living room in this article since it is usually the main room in everyone's home.

For every room in our home there is furniture to go in it, maybe too much furniture. Then it comes time to move, and unless you hire a professional moving company, you are in for a world of hurt. But moving is not the point of this article.

Probably more marketing is spent on furniture for your living room or recreation room, as some people call it, than for any other room in your house. Why? Probably because we spend more time there than in any other room in our home. For starters, the living room is where the majority of TVs and entertainment centers are located.

Living rooms are also usually the largest rooms in our home. So there's lots of furniture made to go in it. Just about every living room in the world has a coffee table in it. Why they call it a coffee table is actually rather strange because ultimately what ends up on the table is everything but coffee. This is where most people throw their mail, magazines, and an assortment of little knickknacks. Coffee tables for the most part are rectangular and made of a variety of materials such as metal, marble, wood and even glass.

Usually to compliment the coffee table are a couple of end tables. For the most part these are used to place lamps so that you're able to see what's on the coffee table. End tables are also made of the same materials as your coffee table and are generally bought in sets.

Then of course there's the places in your living room where you sit. A typical living room will have a couch or sofa, maybe even a hide-a-bed like a Castro Convertible which is a couch that turns into a bed. In addition to the couch you'll have two or more chairs. Depending on how large your living room is you may have enough chairs to seat the starting line up for the New York Yankees baseball team.

To compliment all of the above the finishing touches are usually in the form of some kind of entertainment center. These can be bought ready made but many you need to put together yourself. These centers are used to put your TV, stereo, DVD player and whatever else you may have for entertainment purposes. With the creation of some very large TV screens some of these centers can take up half your living room.

Some other things you might find around the living room are floor lamps, bookcases and various kinds of cabinets and storage furniture.

In the last article of this series we're going to cover the bedroom, kitchen and dining room. The rooms are smaller so there's not as much to throw in them.
Thank goodness.

Modern Living Room Furniture

By Eddie Tobey

It is the needs of a family that decide the kind of furniture that would be right for a living room. Homes with children and pets need sturdy and functional furniture that is easy to maintain. The often chosen furniture items to enhance living room décor include couches, loveseats, recliners, coffee tables, entertainment centers, pianos, and other useful or decorative pieces. The living room also features the best pictures and art work in the house as well as other accessories like lamps, decorative lighting and area rugs.

Many modern furniture pieces are done up in leather or designer fabrics. The use of wood or metal frames ensures durability. Contemporary or modern furniture has a streamlined appearance and features varied color tones with soft textures. Bold geometric shapes in vivid colors are often the hallmark of modern living room furniture. This style is often chosen by the younger generation who like to use décor as a style statement.

A lot of emphasis is placed on lines and shapes in modern living room furniture. Those who appreciate innovative designs and are not very keen on highly ornamental pieces enjoy the look of contemporary furniture.

An entertainment center is the latest fad in modern living room furniture. It often turns out to be the focal point for the living room. Entertainment centers can be purchased for a few hundred dollars and up to thousands of dollars depending on several features. Domestic as well as international manufacturers provide furniture that can house such entertainment centers. These are available in several variants like specialty woods, carved decorations and stained glass inlays.

Other furniture items like sofas, couches, recliners and the like are planned around the entertainment center. End tables within easy reach of the seating are essential, as entertainment goes hand in hand with refreshments.

Mix and match is a distinctive feature of modern living room furniture. Instead of buying a streamlined set, people go in for odd pieces from different places that will go together. Bean bags are a popular seating option that gels easily with a living room furnished with modern furniture. These bags add a trendy look to the living room.

Traditional Living Room Design - Of Grace And Formality

By Albert Lee

When we think of traditional living room design we often associate it with large houses, manors, hotels and palaces. Traditional living room design has existed for a long time because of the formal and graceful effect it brings to the home.

1. Lighting is essential in creating the mood of your traditionally designed living room. Make sure to use the right lighting fixtures to help you set the desired ambiance. Traditional living room design calls for soft lighting to give the room a dramatic feel.

2. The use of correct color pallet and fabrics to help accentuate and illuminate the room is also essential. Use sheen fabrics for your sofa and chair upholstery. Emphasize your living room's color scheme by using repeated colors and patterns on drapes and upholsteries. However, do not overdo by just sticking on one pattern all over the room. Make sure your design is elegant and not redundant.

3. Expose your sofa's legs by using tailored or customized sofa skirts to give your living room a more traditional ambiance. Use upholstered wooden chairs to match and arrange them accordingly without breaking the symmetry of the design.

4. Wall coloring is also important. Choose colors that will help accentuate the design. Avoid bold or dark colors for your walls if you want to maintain the open feel of the room. Traditional living room design calls for classic elegance, so keep the colors in tune to keep the ambiance in tact.

5. Choose furniture pieces that will complement each other. Avoid clashing textures, colors and loud designs. The furniture itself is part of the traditional living room design style, so there's no need to exaggerate on the choice of material. Buy furniture that comes in twos or threes to meet the symmetrical style of the design. These could be the wall lighting, sofa set, armchairs and other smaller pieces.

When you opt for the traditional living room design, you should always remember the above mentioned aspects. Keeping the room open, cool and airy is important especially in daytime. Lighting sets the mood at night time and furniture enhances the design without overpowering the style.

Contemporary Living Room Design - Less Is More

By Albert Lee

Contemporary living room design is known to have clean lines in the design of its furniture pieces, as well as a minimalism approach to the hip and new look that is so representative of the new era of innovation and technological advancement. This is exactly why contemporary living room design so appealing to a number of age groups.

In designing any room in your home it is important to know how much change you want to see from the previous look. You must also consider your time and budget limitations, and it is a good idea to know which furniture and accessories to get rid of and which ones to keep.

To start, measure the room or bring out the floor plan of your living room and layout the furniture. This is an essential step that you cannot do without because you have to know the measurements of the furniture you'll be buying. Second guessing will just give you a headache not to mention unnecessary stress when the furniture is delivered on your doorstep. Take note that no matter how aesthetically pleasing your contemporary living room design is, if your furniture pieces don't fit then you did a terrible job.

Choosing a color for paint or wallpaper is a good start on the color scheme of your contemporary living room design. There are a number of rules to keep in mind when you pick out colors for your room, and the color wheel is a good reference for this. In addition, you must also remember that light colors tend to make the room bigger while dark colors make the room appear smaller. So choose both the right color and shade for your background color.

A safe way to bring color to your contemporary living room design is to pick out neutrals or pastels for your wall color and then use darker colors on your furniture. Also, make sure that not only should your furnishings go well with your color scheme, but your accessories must also be within the said range of color you've chosen for your new contemporary living room design.

How To Use A Living Room Sofa For Maximum Space Utilization

By Shrinivas Vaidya

Sofa in a living room is a very special way to occupy space for a special purpose. The main purpose of any sofa unit is to not just to provide seating, but create a secured environment where the home owner and his family can enjoy moments of togetherness.

That's why sofas come in a variety of shapes and sizes. In most cases sofa units come in a category of "number of seats".

3seats in a row, 2seats in a row (commonly called as a "love seat") and a single seat sofa are available today in the furniture market. Apart from these special designer sofas for placing in corner on the living room are also popular. These designer sofas are sometimes in the form of a letter "L" in plan, with the longer side of the "L" has a back rest with 3 seats in a row. To find out various dimensions of sofas in millimeters visit http://livingroomdatabase.com/living-room-sofa.htm

The most preferred arrangement of sofas in a living room furniture unit is making use of one 3seat sofa along the longer length of the sofa and two single seat sofas with an end table in between them. A living room set is also available for customers. This living room set contains a 3seat sofa, a love seat, a single seat sofa , end table(s) and a coffee table.

Depending upon the design/dimensions/shape and volume of the living room various combinations of the sofas can be done to utilize space. While deciding the arrangement of the sofas keep one thing in mind that as soon as you arrange a sofa layout, the volume of space occupied by the sofas and surroundings immediately becomes the focus of attention. For example if the sofas have been arranged around the TV unit, see that the rest of the space gets enough attention or it will look unoccupied. Also make use of small elements such as end tables and coffee table of various shapes to create some interest in the living room.

Before defining a living room furniture layout first finalize your main activity of interest in a living room. What does this mean? What I mean is for do you use the living room most. Is it reading? watching TV, sleeping, home office in a short corner with a computer etc. Answering this question first is very important because in a living room furniture layout sofas play a major role. Since sofas are the heaviest furniture elements you can not move or shift them every other day for a different layout. I'm not saying you can never change the layout once it's done, but if you arrange the sofas around a TV unit then naturally watching TV becomes your main activity.
On the other hand if you place them around the exit to patio then naturally you will have to spend a lot of time watching nature and birds in the outside garden.

I hope this article was a good start in thinking about more creative ways to use sofas in a living room decorating.