7 Ways to Make Your Living Room Cozy

Your living room can make or break your house. Grab anything you see at the furniture store and throw it in the living room thoughtlessly and you can end up with a room people instinctively avoid. Go with purpose to the furniture store and know what you’re looking for in sectionals, a side table, or fabric sofas, and you can make a place that the whole family will love to spend time in, that welcomes friends and makes them want to stay a few minutes longer, or that helps you relax at the end of the day. Here’s some tips on creating just the right look.

Go Neutral

Neutral colors are inherently cozy and warm. Avoid anything that’s too bright or too dark, as well. Soft greys and light browns are some of the best tones you can choose for helping everyone relax.

Intimate Seating

If you get enormous pieces from the furniture store and stick them all around the edges of the room, you’re creating a space that’s unfriendly and distant. Choose at least an area of the living room and make it a place with intimate seating so people will want to sit and talk: or even just sit near one another while working in front of the fire.

Huggable Walls

Dark walls in the living room–whether wood or pain–can make the space feel safe and cozy. You don’t want it to feel like a cave, so make sure you’re not also hanging dark curtains that keep out all the natural light and that there’s enough artificial light to brighten things up if you want to. As before, don’t make the walls matte black or anything; but a dark grey or brown will work well.

Casual Invitations

Fabrics that naturally rumple and have a soft, inviting feeling will automatically make your living room feel cozier. Your furniture store will have fabric sofas to choose from that just beg for throw pillows, a knit blanket, and someone to snuggle amongst it all.

Fill it Up

There’s definitely such a thing as overcrowding a room, but it’s also possible to make things feel cozy by having plenty of items that invite you to enjoy the room. Books are a great way to do this, as are lots of convenient places to put a cup of tea, or even artwork that invites you to sit and contemplate something beautiful. Fireplaces never hurt, either.

Go Rustic

Rustic looks almost feel cozy by default, so it’s hard to wrong with this one. It can be adapted to tradition or modern looks, so it’s easy to implement. Use plenty of reclaimed wood and untouched brick to pull off this one.

Watch Your Lighting

To get the right look in the living room, lighting is key. You want to it be soft and warm, never bright or with a bluish tint. Off-lighting in corners is great, and there should be lights at different levels around the room.

Your living room says a lot about who you are, and it can have a huge effect on how you and your whole family feel about spending time at home. A recent survey found that nearly 73% of people believe that their furniture design is reflective of their personality, and 67% said that you can tell a lot about someone by what they’re buying from the furniture store. Make sure that your furniture is saying what you want it to say. Even more important: make sure it’s doing good things for your living room.