If your home is a bit on the older side and you want to modernize it, you don’t need to do a full renovation. If the idea of doing a complete renovation or remodel is intimidating to you, you don’t need to do it all at once. You can start by doing a few things and taking everything one space at a time. Starting with your living room might be a prudent idea, especially since the world is opening up again and you might be receiving guests again soon.
Here are some design and organizational ideas to instantly modernize your living room:
Brighten it up
Nothing modernizes a space more than a feeling of brightness and airiness. Here are some design tips to instantly brighten up your living room:
- Ditch the heavy drapes and opt for lighter, more sheer curtains. Let the natural light in during the day. Keep your windows unobstructed; remove any furniture that might be blocking them.
- Give your walls a fresh coat of paint. If your living room is on the smaller side, opt for lighter and brighter hues like warm whites or pastels. It will help light bounce and reflect better, evoking the illusion of a bigger space. Choose an eggshell finish to give your walls a more lustrous look.
- Give your furniture pieces a fresh coat of paint as well. When rethinking the colors of your living room follow the 60-30-10 design trend: 60 percent your main color, which means the colors of your walls and large pieces; 30 percent the secondary color which supports the main color, and can be used for accent chairs, painted walls, and others; and 10 percent the accent color, which can be used for smaller design elements like throws and artwork. Be careful with your color choices though; one misstep and your living room can be transported back to the ’70s.
- Clean the pieces that can’t be repainted. Have your couch reupholstered, hire a carpet cleaning service, and wash your throws and blankets as thoroughly as possible. You’d be surprised at how brand-spanking clean design pieces can instantly give your living room a modern upgrade.
Choose a new trend
You don’t need to incorporate every single 2021 interior design trend; you can choose just one and highlight it. Here are some examples of trends you can dabble in:
- Sculptural furniture
- Rustic vogue, or a more elegant take on cottagecore
- Pantone colors of the year, which are yellow and gray
- Contemporary country, which is a more trendy take on the farmhouse trend
- Earthy, warmer, and grounded shades
- Ocean hues
- Making the office a focal point of the living room
Rethink your layout
No matter how small your space is, you can move things around to make it look bigger or to achieve your goal of modernizing your living room. Here are some steps you can take with what you have:
- You don’t need to use less furniture to make the space walkable, or to make your living room space appear bigger. When your furniture pieces are to scale, they show off just how big the room is through their accurate dimensions. You also don’t need to get rid of your stools or benches; they are a great way to add more seating to your space, and you can move them around, too. Just make sure that the colors and styles you choose are cohesive and follow your room’s central theme.
- Break up your floor lamps and table lamps. To give your room a more up-to-the-minute look straight out of Architectural Digest, layer your lighting. Leverage accent lighting by mixing various kinds of lamps.
- Pay careful consideration to the types of shapes being formed in your living room. If your coach is L-shaped, opt for a round coffee table to mix it up since the last thing you want are too many angular lines. If you have plenty of round shapes happening in your room, go for a rectangular coffee table to bring some balance to space.
Add some stylish textures
Another way to modernize your living room is by incorporating more trendy textures. Incorporate some more throws, blankets, rugs, and coffee table books into your space. Use various textures and patterns to add dimension to your living room. Don’t be afraid to mix up different sizes and prints, and pay attention to contrasting design elements.
Modernizing your home’s interiors need not instantly break the bank. Take it one step at a time by starting with your living room, and let it influence the rest of the redesign or redecoration of your home.
