The choice of furniture for the living room depends not only on your preferences, but also on the functions you want the parlor to perform. You can leave it be a single space for leisure and home entertainment, or you can divide it into several separate areas. In 2020 interiors, the common room have often included working and dining zones in addition to the sitting area. All the living room furniture can be subdivided into four categories:
- soft (seating) furniture, where belong sofas, arm-chairs, pouffes, etc.;
- cabinet-type furniture: cases-of-drawers, cabinets, storage walls;
- entertainment furniture, which is meant to host entertainment appliances, like the TV;
- dining furniture, including tables of all sorts and breakfast bars.
Matching, consistent interior elements of one style are the cornerstone of a harmonious parlor. If each piece of furniture boasts a different style and a color scheme of its own, the whole design is likely to lack harmony and balance.
Seating Furniture Ideas
Soft furniture forms the sitting area and is the invariable backbone of any living room, independent from the style. The commonplace choice consists of a sofa and several comfortable arm-chairs. The pieces can be arranged in many ways, but there are two essential variants defined by USA and UK designers:
- The open layout requires the sofa and arm-chairs to be placed so that the occupants could see anyone enter or leave the room. The furniture is usually arranged along a wall or in the center of the room;
- The closed layout consists of a coffee table surrounded by seating furniture. Such an arrangement allows your guests and housemates to communicate with each other with greater convenience at evening tea-parties.
The selected layout should provide for your needs and wishes. If you want to include a home theater into the interior, choose the open one. If you prefer to spend evenings in the bosom of your dear family, then the closed arrangement is perfect. In small parlors, the seating furniture will take less room when placed along a wall. Modular or sectional pieces fit well into compact designs.
Arrangement of seating furniture is up to your preferences, but a few factors should influence your decision:
- The central placement of pieces requires both the front and back of your furniture to look presentable and visually appealing;
- Ergonomics are your first consideration. The laid out furniture should neither encumber the room nor create obstacles for guests.
Dining Area Furniture.
Kitchen with living room design ideas areas in one room has become a 2020 design trend in the USA, helping save space in small apartments. The dining area is separated with proper organization of decorative elements, furniture and lighting. For higher convenience, arrange it near a window and rather far off the door.
Dining furniture choice is dictated by the room itself. If the footage is tiny, pick up a fold-able table. Nowadays many manufacturers offer interesting variants of transformer tables that fold up into the wall or a closet. Fold it out when you’re hungry and hide the cumbersome piece when the dinner is over. If you can afford a large dining area, try a big table where all the family and guests can gather for a meal.
Young people tend to avoid bulky furniture, including large tables. They prefer stylish, compact and convenient breakfast bars. Such a piece fits perfectly into contemporary interiors, making them more interesting, bright and eye-catching. The bar is actually an example of multi-functional furniture, as it can:
- separate the living and dining areas;
- serve as a dining table;
- make a rather good place for working on the laptop.
Furniture for storage and entertainment furniture.
Entertainment appliances are often allocated a separate area in modern interiors. The common room associates with a place where one can relax with family and friends, and a TV or a home theater make a valuable investment into its entertainment capabilities. All these appliances require a certain type of furniture.
Start with choosing a stand for the television, unless you have it hung on the wall. If the list of players, receivers and adapters is long, you might find useful a complete entertainment center, which represents a wall unit with all the necessary shelves and cases. Some place will even be left for books and decorations.
Unit furniture is a great idea, if you want to furnish your living room quickly, without spending hours on selecting separate, but still matching pieces. Unit furniture is a whole set of several elements. You can easily find a configuration that suits your needs. The basic one will include a stand, a closet and a couple shelves.
The advantage of unit furniture is that the whole set is made of the same material, has the same style and color grade. A living room furnished with such a pack can’t but look gorgeous. Earlier, a wall unit was chiefly a bunch of heavy, massive and cumbersome cabinets, but now, thanks to efforts of prominent UK and USA designers, it associates with lightweight and elegant furniture. Such a solution beautifies the living room and adds a whole lot of shelves for decorations and drawers for storage.