How to furnish a small living room?

The living room is a space that can serve many functions in daily life – from a relaxation zone and a TV nook to a place for entertaining guests or sharing meals. Very often, it's combined with another room – for example, the kitchen or dining room. This is a way to open up the space and ditch restrictive doors – a solution most commonly found in small studio flats or homes for two or three people. In a through living room, finding space for a sofa set or TV equipment can be a bit more challenging. However, there are effective ways to furnish such a living room in a functional and elegant way – and in this case, light colours, practical furniture, appropriate lighting and a reduction of unnecessary accessories play a key role.

A small living room must be arranged in a thoughtful way – it's crucial to make the most of every corner. Even the smallest room can be furnished to be both functional and stylish. Ordering custom-made furniture that is perfectly tailored to the size and shape of the room, allowing you to maximise the available space, can be helpful here. Furniture with a large number of closed cabinets or drawers is also a good choice for a small living room. These will allow you to store a significant amount of bits and bobs – for example, magazines, DVDs or console games – which, once hidden behind doors, won't “clutter” the room.

A small living room can be optically enlarged – so that it appears bigger than it actually is from the moment you step inside. To achieve this, all kinds of mirrors and mirrored elements – for example, table tops or chest of drawers – can be helpful. The windows themselves and their placement are also of immense importance – a large amount of natural light significantly helps to “enlarge” the interior at first glance. However, we often have no control over window placement, especially in a rented flat. If you want to optically enlarge a living room with poor sunlight, it's worth investing in well-thought-out lighting. Properly chosen lamps and lights can achieve truly surprising effects. The best choice for a smaller living room are pendant lamps and ceiling lamps that provide a lot of light from above. When choosing them, remember not to pick massive chandeliers or lamps with dark, heavy shades. If you decide to illuminate a small living room with standing lamps, place them in areas that receive almost no external light.

When choosing furniture for a small living room, make sure it doesn't overpower the space. Try to avoid large and bulky shelving units, tables or sofas that will take up most of the room. Instead, opt for extendable furniture – for example, a table that can expand from a four-seater to a twelve-seater, or a sofa that can be unfolded for sleeping and kept in a more compact version during the day. When looking for furniture, also pay attention to its colour scheme – heavy solutions in dark colours can optically shrink the living room even further. It's better to choose furniture in light wood tones, pastels or white.

Their height is also important – very tall furniture can restrict the inflow of natural light into the interior and further overwhelm the entire decor. When looking for furniture for a smaller living room, it's also worth paying attention to its lightness – this doesn't refer to mass, but to how it presents itself. Chairs with upholstered coverings immediately appear more massive than those made of rattan or wicker. To add delicacy to the interior and thus optically enlarge it, it's better to opt for the latter. The same rule applies to shelving units or chest of drawers – in a cramped, small living room, an openwork piece of furniture will work much better than a heavy model made of dark wood.

Do you want a functional living room where there isn't much free space? Opt for interesting wall shelves and brackets. Thanks to them, you'll save valuable floor space and won't fill every square inch with shelves or chest of drawers, and at the same time – you'll gain a way to display plants, books or decorative figurines. Such wall units will also serve as a decorative element of the room – truly original models are currently available on the market.

Candles, vases, rugs, cushions, wall posters, decorative figurines… let's face it – these are the accessories that give an interior the most cosy atmosphere. However, in a small living room, you need to exercise restraint in the quantity of decorations and accessories – otherwise, the interior will appear even smaller and more cramped. In small rooms, it's better to opt for minimalism – an excessive number of decorative accessories and textiles is a good choice for large spaces that are not so easily overwhelmed. This doesn't mean, of course, that you have to completely give up decorations when furnishing the living room and leave the interior stark and expressionless. It's more about paying attention to their quantity, sizes and colours when choosing decorative elements. Instead of several smaller posters on the wall, it's better to hang one larger piece, and replace ten photo frames on the chest of drawers with one frame with a photo collage. Space is the best decoration in smaller rooms.

In a small living room, the wall colour itself also plays a significant role. If the living room is not only small but also low, wallpaper with vertical stripes is a common choice. A small space also requires bright, non-overpowering colours – preferably ones that also reflect light. It doesn't necessarily have to be white – although interiors maintained in white colours offer a true canvas for decorations and go with almost everything. You can opt for delicate pastels, beiges or light greys. Powder pink, mint green or blue walls have recently been a real hit. Such shades not only help to optically enlarge the interior but also facilitate further arrangement – it's much easier to match decorative accessories and textiles to them. It's no coincidence that the boho style, primarily associated with lightness, simplicity, bright colours and delicate rattan accessories, often reigns in small living rooms.

Scandinavian design, full of delicate colours and simple furniture, also perfectly suits smaller rooms. An exotic-themed decor is also a good choice – bright colours combined with a large number of plants will work wonderfully in a smaller living room. In this case, however, it's worth making sure there isn't too much greenery – large, bulky specimens in huge pots could “steal” all the available space. Importantly, colours matter not only in relation to walls but also in the context of floors or accessories for a smaller living room. Light walls will be of little use if you hide them behind dark, heavy curtains, overwhelming rugs or pouffes in shades of navy blue or dark grey. It's important that these elements also stand out with lightness, airiness and delicate colours.

Arranging a small living room doesn't have to be complicated at all. You just need to know what colours, shapes and styles to consider, and even the smallest room can be furnished beautifully and functionally at the same time. So, if you're in the process of designing and furnishing your living room, take the above tips into account, and the entire process will become pure pleasure. And if you're lacking the right furniture, accessories, textiles or lighting, FormAdore is open to you. Check out what awaits you in our assortment and furnish the living room of your dreams – no matter how many square metres it has.

We also encourage you to read our magazine "How to furnish a small bedroom?" and "How to furnish a small bathroom?".