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The living room is normally the one place that all the family will be together, and so to some, it is truly the heart of the home. So you, of course, want it to look the best it can at all times. While sometimes this can simply mean tidying away all the clutter and toys, there may be periods of time where it requires much more than that. If you have found that in recent times, no matter what you do, you hate spending time in that room, then it is time to start making preparations for updating your living room.
- Assess the storage and declutter
If you are getting to the point where the living room is overflowing with various household objects, the first thing you will need to do is declutter. By going through and throwing out stuff that you no longer need, you will instantly change the feel of the living room. This is fine for the short term, but over time, you could find yourself replacing the old clutter with new clutter. So the best thing to do is assess the storage situation that you have in the living room. These storage units should make the most of any unused space you have, such as in corners or higher up towards the ceiling in the form of floating shelves.
- Make big changes
One of the quickest ways to transform your living room is to make big changes within it. If you have always had the same colour scheme or sofa, then it can start to feel tiresome all on its own. Therefore, it might benefit you to make some big changes within the room such as:
- Installing a fireplace
Installing a fireplace will instantly add a feeling of warmth and cosiness, especially during winter. You can add one of the balanced flue gas fires from Marble Hill anywhere in the living room because of the flexibility of the flue runs, such as underneath the stairs or beneath the TV.
The best thing about installing a fireplace such as this is that they are more efficient. The majority of the heat comes into the room rather than out through the chimney.
- Bringing in new furniture
If your furniture has seen better days, then it would be in your best interest to bring in new pieces. For example, a sofa that has been there for 15 years might not be as comfy as it was when you bought it all those years ago, so why not treat yourself to a big-time purchase and enjoy the comfort of a sofa again? Alternatively, if you want to save money, you could always choose to upcycle your current furniture. It will still create the same effect of something new within the room but without the hefty price tag.
Top Tip: Don’t push the furniture up against the wall. Leaving a slight gap between your sofa and the wall will actually make it look like there is more space.
- Keep it simple
Sometimes the best option is to keep everything as simple as possible. Having too much on the walls or surrounding the TV unit could cause the living room to feel very cluttered and crowded, even if there is lots of space. Therefore, you should try to keep the look of the room very simple. Choose a focal point of the living room, for example, the TV or fireplace and work around that. Stick to simple colours and remove anything that you don’t feel is adding any value to the room.