Smaller rooms have more design and interior requirements. The choice of wallpaper plays an important role, they make the main interior of the room. It sounds rather unexpected, but the wallpaper in the room makes 80% of the interior. That is why, when the renovation in the room has come to the stage of wallpapering, you need to choose what suits your general style of the apartment. Wallpaper should decorate the room, serve as a space expander and be durable. Small rooms have special requirements for wallpaper, by completing which you can get a beautiful stylish room... What to look for when choosing wallpaper for small living rooms?
The walls of a small living room and the rules for their design
Small living rooms need special approach to the choice of wallpaper. In mini-living rooms, wallpaper should be of excellent quality and serve its owners for a long time. In a house with a small living room, wallpaper may not be resistant to moisture, but they should not be afraid of light. Walls covered with wallpaper can be subject to various minor damages, therefore it is very important that the strength of the wallpaper is maximized. Even a small area will take some time to glue the wallpaper, so you need to choose the material taking into account its service life. It is good if the wallpaper is resistant to scratches and other mechanical damage.
If you are not sure that mechanical damage can be avoided, you should pay attention to embossed wallpaper or wallpaper with a small pattern.
Still very important point when choosing wallpaper: they must be resistant to sunlight... A small living room exposes the walls to more light because the windows are a short distance from the opposite walls. Wallpaper must be selected such that their color does not fade over time from daylight. In addition, the wallpaper should not impede the movement of air in the room and be dust-repellent.
Wallpaper in the living room, where many people gather, must be resistant to dirt. Ideally they should be washable so they can be easily cleaned of any stains.
So, summing up the characteristics for wallpaper, we can say that wallpaper for a small living room should be:
- Resistant to dirt;
- Resistant to fading;
- Washable;
- Eco-friendly;
- Dust repellent.
Based on this list, we can conclude that vinyl, textile and non-woven wallpapers are suitable for a small living room. Please note that wallpaper made of textiles needs careful care, but the pleasing design will make the room pleasant and cozy place in the apartment.
The pattern and color of the wallpaper is of key importance in the interior. A small living room will be very "happy" with wallpaper of light colors with a small pattern. Light colors visually expand the space, and small patterns will not "eat up" the space. To make the living room interior original, light shades of wallpaper can be combined with dark blotches.
Mini-living rooms: design and furnishings in the style of minimalism
A small room requires a careful approach to choosing a style for it. Furnishing a room in a minimalist style is a great idea because minimalism requires little furniture in the room. To compensate for the small amount of furniture, you can add accents to the walls with wallpaper.
You can use bright juicy shades for an accent, such as:
- Citric;
- Blue;
- Lilac;
- Sand;
- Orange.
Don't want bright walls in your living room? Then you can focus on the wall using a niche or wallpaper with vertical stripes on one part of the wall. In addition, you can add accents with geometric patterns. In minimalism, a certain severity is permissible, which will help to create circles, rhombuses, triangles, squares. Fans of everything unusual should choose wallpaper with abstractions.
When choosing abstract wallpaper, you need to make sure that the color of the picture is in harmony with the color of the wallpaper. Compact furniture will look great against wallpaper with abstractions or geometric shapes.
You can also choose wallpaper for a stone or brick. All walls of a room or one can be decorated with imitation wallpaper. This option is suitable if you want to add natural coziness to the room. Fans of photowall-paper can arrange a room in nautical style, desert style, etc. For those who work at home in the living room, you can decorate the walls with striped wallpaper. They will give the room dynamism and energy, which will contribute to productive work.
If you are unhappy with the size of your room, you can use a trick. For example, wallpaper with vertical lines can make a room taller, but narrower. A horizontal strip will help expand the room, but will not affect its height. It should be noted that lighting also affects the interior. The brighter the light in the room, the cooler the wallpaper can be in color. In a brightly lit room, you can use gray, blue and white wallpapers. Such a solution will make the atmosphere in the living room relaxed and soothing.
To give the room a solemnity, you can take a wallpaper with a glossy surface. It will not only add a solemn atmosphere to the living room, but also visually expand the space.
Furniture for a small living room: what it should be
The design of a small apartment and its living room involves a small amount of furniture. The hall, where the renovation has been completed and the wallpaper has been pasted, always looks very empty and you want to fill it up with furniture as soon as possible. But that would be a mistake. A small living room always looks very attractive in the Ikea catalogs, but their task is to sell as much furniture as possible, so the rooms look very busy. Our task is to turn the room into a candy bar with a minimum amount of furniture.
A living room project with a small amount of furniture suggests a list of the following pieces of furniture:
- Sofa or couch;
- Two small armchairs;
- Rack with a TV stand;
- Coffee table;
- Floor lamp;
- Textile interior items.
Cozy living rooms have a fireplace. V small apartment you can arrange a fireplace in a special niche; an electric fireplace decorated with wallpaper imitating real stones or bricks will do.
Living room in a small house: fireplace as a cozy accessory
The fireplace is a great solution for any interior, in any living room size. Modern opportunities allow you to equip a fireplace in a city apartment and in a private house.
If we are talking about a city apartment, the fireplace can be located in two places:
- In a furnished niche;
- In the space between two windows.
Please note that the fireplace should not be installed next to the TV. It is better to install the fireplace in front of the TV or diagonally. For facing the fireplace, you can choose natural decorative stone or wallpaper imitating stone or brickwork. Wallpaper color or decorative stone should be half a tone darker than the color of the walls and furniture. For a real fireplace, you should not choose light-colored wallpapers, because they can get stained with resin. The fireplace itself can be decorated element by element.
Comfort and coziness: small living rooms (video)
A stylish living room will certainly include a fireplace, on which various pictures are placed. This can be your family photo gallery, various landscapes, funny pictures.
16 February 2016
The living room is the central room in the apartment, setting the tone and mood for all other rooms. We usually spend most of our time in the living room, meeting guests, relaxing after work, or doing creative work.
Even a very small living room with limited space should not be an obstacle to creating a comfortable and cozy area. There are a huge number of techniques that allow you to visually expand the boundaries of a room, make it spacious and open. It is better to plan the future design of the living room in advance, having thought through all the key nuances: the rest of the space will prompt and direct you in the right direction.
Small living room design ideas
In order to give the living room a modern, bright and unique style, there are several methods of organizing the space. The first thing to pay attention to is the proportions of the room. The living room can be in the form of a pencil case or be of the correct square shape. It is from this that one should build on when choosing a future interior.
The elongated shape of the room is fraught with several dangers. The main task of interior solutions is to make it visually more correct, to expand narrow walls and keep the dimensions of longer ones. The ideal solution is mirrors. Built into furniture or being independent elements, they discreetly allow you to adjust the space and set the desired proportion. Furniture should not be placed strictly along the walls - this will only emphasize the shape of the living room and deprive it of its coziness and charm.
For perfect square room good decision will become symmetry in design. If the door is located strictly in the center, you can mirror furniture at an equal distance from it. The table in the middle of the living room will be the final touch and functional completion of the image. To keep the room from looking boring, you need to diversify it by decorating the walls, applying different textures and using color accents.
Furniture for a small living room should be chosen carefully. It is worth abandoning the overall classic models in favor of more modern specimens with narrow shelves. A compromise to create classic interior in a small room, the Provence style remains - thanks to thin and light lines, the predominance of light and pastel colors, it will look harmonious in any space.
Living room-transformer
Such a solution for organizing space is usually used in studio apartments, where one room performs several functions at once. The most common variations are:
Small living room-kitchen;
Small living room-bedroom.
Combining the living room with the kitchen will increase the space of two rooms at once: even the smallest kitchen will visually appear more spacious, the living room will also benefit somewhat square meters from the union. There are several techniques that allow you to make the joint space organic, to correctly distribute the zones and to solve several functional problems.
1. Despite the shared space, the kitchen remains the cooking area. First of all, in a combined kitchen, a powerful hood is needed - so that smells from the kitchen do not spread throughout the apartment and do not eat into the upholstered furniture.
2. Kitchen furniture should be organic, not cluttered with intricate details, and should blend in with the rest of the design. The kitchen in such a room becomes part of the living room, which means that the design of a small kitchen-living room should continue the overall style.
3. The bar counter is an excellent solution that allows you to delimit space, solve the storage problem and provide the kitchen with a comfortable table that takes up a minimum amount of space.
The living room-bedroom can be of two types: if the size of the room allows, in such a studio, a small space can be allocated with the help of partitions, where the bed will be located. For a small living room, as a rule, a sofa equipped with everything necessary for a comfortable stay is more typical: bedside tables, shelves, a night lamp, etc.
We design a living room: color solutions
The choice of colors in which the interior of a small living room will be made is especially important. The size of the room dictates the use of light colors as the basis for walls, floors and ceilings. The absence of dark, heavy colors will help, firstly, to visually expand the space, and, secondly, to design it in the future, embodying different design ideas. There are several techniques for playing with colors that will help set the mood of the room, change its proportions and organically fit the furniture.
Emphasis on a bright wall.
To "break" the boring elongated shape of the room, to make it cozier and brighter, you can use this technique: the wall and part of the other wall (depending on the characteristics of the room, both walls can be used) are painted in a bright, saturated color that contrasts with the main tone of the room. The color should be reflected in accessories and additional elements - for example, in pots or cushions.
The main thing is to maintain a balance and not overload the room. Can also be used for a single wall instead of paint unusual wallpaper Any of these ideas will work for a small living room.
Furniture of the same color with walls
This technique helps to "dissolve" furniture in the wall, while maintaining its functionality. The choice of furniture is an extremely responsible process - it is better to abandon bulky models in favor of options with narrow shelves (20-25 cm). They will merge with the wall and will not significantly affect the size of the room. This will also avoid an abundance of colors and shades in the same space.
Applying asymmetry
When making repairs, one wants to avoid the classic "Soviet" style, which in the Soviet years was repeated from an apartment to an apartment and was a classic set of furniture: a wall, a table, a sofa. This can be done by breaking the classic arrangement of the furniture and endowing it with irregular geometric shapes.
ChrDAUER Architects
This design technique is also called "air storage" - it allows you to focus on original shelves not loaded with books or other items. Such furniture deliberately emphasizes its decorativeness and originality, making you forget that its main purpose is to solve functional problems and, first of all, storage.
The interior of a small living room will greatly benefit from non-standard solutions. Place the sofa not against the wall, but a couple of meters from it - and you will get a new space inside the room where you can equip a work area or a relaxation area.
Using various textures
To make the interior of even a small room bright and independent, you should fearlessly, but thoughtfully, resort to using different textures. A sofa, pillows and curtains of the same color and fabric solution, furniture of the same type is boring and out of date.
The ability to combine various textures and achieve an ideal, balanced result will create a unique and stylish interior, in which a small living room will become luxurious and refined.
Each color has a lot of shades, including adjacent ones, and it is important to use them in unpredictable and even unexpected variations. For example, pillows in different shades and shapes, combined with the sofa, echoing with other design details, will emphasize the peculiarity of the interior. The main thing is to maintain a balance, the colors should be well combined with each other.
Choosing furniture for a small living room
There are special requirements for furniture for a miniature living room: firstly, it must be spacious enough and suitable for storage. The sofa should be such that it is convenient and comfortable to rest, sit and receive guests on it. Do not forget about chairs and armchairs - it does not matter whether they are "pear armchairs" or classic chairs with backs, you should take care of their reliability and comfort.
Another requirement is that you shouldn't try to save space with tiny furniture. Small cabinets, arranged in a chaotic manner, will visually make the room perceive less than it actually is, the same goes for the sofa. Cabinets, slides or shelves may not be too wide, blend in with the walls, but they should not be too small.
The one-third rule
A living room in a small apartment will look more spacious and freer if you install a storage complex with a height of no more than one third of the ceiling height near one of the walls. This will solve a number of problems:
Visually increase the height of the ceiling and the space as a whole;
Will help solve the problem of storing things once and for all;
Will create an additional decorative element in the room.
Such cabinets should be shallow so as not to clutter up the space. As a rule, they remain below the level at which the person's gaze first falls, therefore, they remain unnoticed. Thanks to their solid construction, there is as much space in them as in large cabinets.
Another plus - numerous shelves and the absence of pronounced furniture will help to avoid oversaturation of the room with furniture. Clutter is the biggest mistake of small living rooms, a huge amount of unnecessary things and objects makes an already small space tiny and uncomfortable.
Lighting for a small living room
Light is extremely important for the design of a space, it is just as important an aspect as furniture or the colors of the walls, however, it is often not paid enough attention to it. Living room in small house should be sufficiently lit. The main mistake is one light source located in the center of the room. The chandelier concentrates the light strictly in the center, while the corners remain in the shadow, which makes the room visually even smaller.
The light in a small living room should be diffused throughout the space. It is extremely important that there are no poorly lit areas, therefore, additional lighting should be present to help with the chandelier. Light bulbs can be embedded in a sofa or in panels, walls can be decorated with decorative sconces. Various floor lamps and night lamps look spectacular - they are not just light sources, but full-fledged participants in the interior.
Wall decor: paintings, fireplace and other accessories
Contrary to popular belief that a fireplace is a luxury available only in a large spacious hall or living room, it can be placed in a room of any size. With the help of a fireplace, you can gracefully mask protrusions in the wall or its irregularities. Like furniture, a fireplace doesn't have to be miniature. The presence of a fireplace will complete the image of a cozy and comfortable interior.
Bare walls are another enemy of small rooms. The main decoration of the living room can be beautiful photo frames, effectively placed on the wall. There are many ways: in the form of geometric shapes, hearts, etc. Pictures look spectacular - they are matched to the style of the interior, they will reflect his mood and complete the image.
Summing up: what should be the style of a small living room
You can create a unique style within the smallest and most limited space. Bright, catchy, stylish and cozy - this is exactly what a modern small living room is. Photos, design ideas can be borrowed from professional designers, or you can rely on your own taste. In any case, the style of this room should reflect your mood, lifestyle and worldview.
There are no restrictions on choosing the style of a small living room: you can stop at anything, from Provence to high-tech, the main thing is to follow the basic rules, regardless of style or direction:
Do not clutter up the space with massive objects;
Do not use dark colors as the main ones;
Apply contrasts of colors and textures;
Use the 1/3 rule;
Correctly distribute light throughout the room.
These and other rules will help create a unique miniature space in which it will be unusually easy and spacious to be.
It is rather difficult to choose furniture for a small living room. Firstly, due to the lack of square meters, ordinary classic pieces of furniture will not fit in such a living room. And secondly, even if it is possible to find compact furniture, it often does not fit the existing interior composition of the room for receiving guests.
Quite often, the problem can be aggravated by the fact that small living rooms have a specific shape, in particular, a rectangular elongated one. In this case, it is difficult to cram a classic, small-sized furniture product. After all, it is also necessary to preserve space for the free movement of people. In our article, we will consider issues related to the selection and implementation of furniture for a small living room in an interior composition. We will try to resolve at least some of these issues.
What to look for when choosing furniture for a small living room?
It is necessary to solve the problem of choosing furniture in a small living room by considering general points. Experienced designers who have faced similar difficulties more than once have formulated many tips general... They will help the layman not to “step on the same rake” in an attempt to fit the pieces of furniture into the interior composition of a small living room. Let's take a look at these tips.
Wardrobe or wall, which is better for a small living room
As already mentioned, a wardrobe or a wall is by no means alien to the interior of a small living room. Even such at first glance, large pieces of furniture can be accommodated in a room for receiving guests. The main thing is to choose them wisely.
To do right choice you need to know what to look for. And for this you need to at least superficially understand the classifications of cabinets and walls and find out which of them are suitable for a small room and which are not. We will not consider all the variety of cabinets and walls. This is not our goal. Let us dwell only on the varieties that can theoretically fit into a small living room.
- Built-in wardrobes. This type of furniture is good in that it, as a rule, takes up useless space in niches that for some reason were left by builders. If there is such a niche in your room for receiving guests, then by all means occupy it. Order a built-in wardrobe according to the size "and you will be happy"!
- Modular walls and wardrobes. Fine furniture that is created from individual elements. You can arrange them as you like. In addition, modular furniture can be purchased in parts. For example, if you do not need the entire wall, buy only the necessary elements. And the rest can be purchased later or not purchased at all.
- Corner cabinets and walls. They are also able to save useful space, but not in all cases. In the furniture market, there are often corner cabinets and walls, which in the living room are 30 sq. m. can hardly be placed. Naturally, this is not our option. But if you look at something more compact, it is quite possible to find a functional small corner cabinet or wall. The good thing about corner furniture is that it takes up a lot of useless space in the corner of the room, making this space much more functional.
It is rather difficult to say which is best for a small living room, closet or wall. Probably, everything will depend on the style of the interior, the individual characteristics of the room and your taste preferences. Both from the cabinets and from the walls, you can choose a pretty decent option. There would be a desire and a means!
Upholstered furniture in a small living room
If you can do without a cabinet or wall in a small living room, then without upholstered furniture the living room is not a living room. At least the sofa in the reception room should be. After all, it is on it that your guests or household members can comfortably accommodate. But the question is, how to choose such a sofa, because there is not enough useful space in the living room, but you want a piece of upholstered furniture more spacious. There are two main solutions to this problem.
- The first decision is to choose a modular sofa that consists of several elements. These elements can be freely moved, as it is convenient for you, if necessary, they can be removed altogether and free up useful space.
- The second decision, as it seems to us the most correct, is to choose a compact transformable sofa, since there are plenty of models of such furniture on the market. When assembled, such a sofa may not be at all large, but if you disassemble it, you get a full-fledged double bed, plus there will be a spacious box under the seat in which you can store things - an ideal option.
We arrange furniture in a small living room - basic principles
In conclusion, I would like to note that the correct arrangement of furniture allows not only to create a beautiful and comfortable interior composition in all respects, but also to seriously save usable space, so it is definitely not worth neglecting this moment, especially if you have a small living room. Regarding the arrangement of furniture in small room experts give some valuable advice, let's look at them.
Finally, I would like to note that small furniture for a living room can be as functional as an ordinary one, the main thing is not to be lazy to search. If you think through most of the nuances of the interior of your small reception room, you will be surprised how beautiful and practical it will become in every way.
Photo of living room furniture
The modest size of the living room is not yet a reason to deny yourself the opportunity to realize your ideas of comfort, coziness and elegant appearance rooms for the rest of the whole family. Of course, the small area of the room limits the owners in the choice color palette, the number and models of furniture, the placement of decor, but there are many design techniques that can visually expand the available space, create the illusion of spaciousness in the room.
From the choice of color schemes to the placement of decorative elements, there are a number of unspoken rules for arranging small rooms, rooms with an asymmetric shape or inconvenient layout. We hope that the examples of living room design projects presented below, made in different styles interior design, will help you plan renovations in your own small lounge for the whole family.
Color palette is the key to success in small spaces
We all perfectly understand that the light color scheme of the room visually expands it, creates the illusion that the space is larger than it really is. Many stylistic directions for interior decoration of certain premises are based on snow-white wall decoration and furnishing of rooms using furniture in natural shades with the use of bright accessories as accents. And such design techniques are very popular, because they are the simplest and most understandable option for homeowners for arranging a small room. The white color of the living room finish allows you to feel a certain freedom when choosing other interior items - furniture, decor, lighting fixtures, textiles. Any color looks great on a white background, even neutral shades acquire a special charm and you do not need to worry about combinatorics.
If in your room the ceiling and walls are decorated with white, and flooring- in much darker colors, then such color solutions will visually expand the boundaries of a small family room.
Snow-white walls, against which furniture in neutral shades is located, can add up to a very boring image of a living room. You can create accents in the decoration by using interesting wallpaper with photo printing or textured finish of the same color to decorate one of the walls of the room. This approach will not violate the overall colors premises, but the design will bring an interesting and unique element to the interior of the living room.
It is a snap to create an accent wall among the crisp white finishes. Even the use of light, pastel shades allows you to highlight the surface, draw attention to the furniture (and what does it all turn out to be a sofa), which is located on its background. To create a more effective focus, you can use a contrasting or bright decor - a framed photo, a painting, a panel or collectibles displayed on open shelves.
The use of pastel colors to decorate and furnish a living room can be a successful alternative to using white to decorate the vertical planes of a room. The beige palette will create a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Bluish gray tones will provide a neutral backdrop for contrasting furnishings and give the room a fresh and cool feeling. Light greens, mint, pistachio and olive shades, generously diluted with a white tone, will create a relaxing environment conducive to the purification of thoughts and emotions, rest after a difficult day at work.
The use of warm natural tones contributes to the creation of a pleasant, cozy atmosphere in the living room. This is especially true of the decoration of the room in which they are used natural materials such as wood wall panels. This design allows you to create an atmosphere of closeness to nature, both in dwellings located outside the city limits, and within city apartments.
Contrasting combinations of light and dark tones - a universal option for creating interesting interior for rooms of all sizes. But it is important to consider that for small rooms it is necessary to use White color as predominant, intermediate (one of the shades of gray) as a color scheme for large items (sofa or armchairs), and black tones - for dosed use in decor, textiles.
If, for some reason, plain walls do not suit you and you decide to use wallpaper with a print to decorate the walls in a small room, then remember that using a large pattern will create the effect of a slammed box, narrowing an already small room. A small drawing will create the illusion of a larger space, the same applies to textiles used in the living room.
Use horizontal and vertical stripes in the finish for visual expansion spaces in height or width at your discretion. The same effect can be achieved with striped prints on upholstered furniture or carpets. But remember that the stripes should not be too variegated, this will affect the visual perception of a small room.
Visual zoning of space - ergonomic interior of the common room
It often happens that even in a small living room, you need to place another area, in addition to the recreation segment. It could be workplace, a corner for creativity or a dining area. Obviously, the use of partitions, screens and other enclosing elements in a room with a modest size is unacceptable, they all hide the space, clutter it up. In order to carry out conditional zoning, it is easiest to imagine the furnishing of a room inscribed in a geometric figure - a triangle, square or rectangle. By placing the main pieces of furniture of this or that segment in the imaginary vertices. It is possible to achieve an ergonomic and rational layout of even a small room.
For example, in a small living room, the vertices of the triangle are a sofa (soft area), a TV (video area) and dining group(dining area). A sufficient amount of free space will remain in the room, if you do not use excess furniture and try to limit yourself only to wall decor.
Our vision is arranged in such a way that smooth and monochromatic objects seem to us larger in size than colored and textured ones. You can use these illusions to visually "zoom in" or "move away" the planes you want. If you paint a smooth wall in one tone, and place a plane next to it, decorated, for example, in the form brickwork, then we will perceive them in different ways. Thus, it is possible not only to zone the room, but also to focus the attention of anyone entering the room on the objects we need - pieces of furniture, appliances or decor.
Use the asymmetry and irregular shapes of the room to your advantage as much as possible. If the living room is located in an attic room with ceilings that have a large bevel, then try to place seating and low storage systems from the places of the lowest ceiling height. If the room, due to the original layout, has niches and nooks, you can always build in storage systems or equip soft seating areas in them. In this case, it is enough to hang a wall lamp next to it and the place for reading is ready.
A fireplace in a small living room is a reality
Most European and American homeowners cannot imagine the comfort and coziness of a common lounge without a family hearth - a fireplace. The popularity of this piece of furniture, which can not only warm the room, bring an element of natural relaxation, but also decorate the design of the living room, is growing among our compatriots. If, within the framework of a private house, the construction of a fireplace does not cause any obstacles, except for your desire and the availability of a certain budget, then in a city apartment you will most likely have to limit yourself to an electric imitation of a hearth or a fake fireplace, the purpose of which is limited to lighting candles and aromatic lamps.
To equip a fireplace, it is necessary to allocate not so much space, in addition, the space above it can be used for organizing a TV zone or hang a large mirror in a beautiful frame, which, in addition to its main purpose, will visually increase the scale of your living room.
The right choice of furniture - comfort and rationality of arranging a small living room
To make the space of a small living room seem larger and retain some space, it is necessary to choose furniture of compact sizes. Currently, the range of models of modular sofas and armchairs that can be transformed for different situations is very wide. There are many small folding furniture options on sale that can provide ample seating in the living room for family members and small party guests.
The sofa is an integral part of the living room interior, no matter what style it is designed in. The choice of a central piece of furniture should be approached with all responsibility. Corner sofa models will help save living room space while creating a spacious seating area. Most of these models assume the ability to unfold under sleeping place at least two people. If one of your guests is staying overnight, you only need to disassemble your multifunctional piece of soft furnishings.
When choosing a sofa for the living room, try to remember not only about the combination of the color of its upholstery with the trim and other interior items, but also that it will be subjected to quite active use. There are many models with removable covers that are easy to wash in the washing machine. You can also order sewing a sofa cover from practical fabric, the model of which does not provide for the removal of textiles.
Per leather sofa the easiest to care for - its surface is easy to clean. In addition, many homeowners love leather upholstered furniture for the noble and wealthy effect it brings to the interior. natural material(or its successful artificial imitation). But it is important to remember that in hot weather the leather surface does not provide the necessary ventilation, and in cold weather it does not warm. In the presence of forced ventilation and space heating systems, these problems are removed.
An object appears larger than it actually is when surrounded by other much smaller elements. By installing a small sofa in the living room and surrounding it with even smaller pieces of furniture and decor, we manage to achieve an optical illusion and increase the scale of not only the central focal element, but also the space in which it is located.
Built-in furniture, namely storage systems, will help save useful space in a small living room. There is no need to talk about the location of large built-in wardrobes, but compact swing or drawers, racks and shelves can accommodate even a small living room. For example, a wall with a window cannot be used to install large furniture near it, but the space around the window (especially under it) can be given for built-in storage systems.
It has been proven that objects located horizontally are perceived by us to be shorter than similar elements occupying a vertical position. If you place open shelves on the walls, then our gaze perceives them as objects of smaller dimensions than they really are. This is due to the speed of perception of information by our eyes. Thus, you can place a lot of the items you need on the open shelves in the living room, even if its area is very small.
Using pieces of furniture that can be assembled into one another according to the principle of matryoshka dolls will help you save useful living room space. For example, small tables-stands, which can also serve as a seating place, compactly slide one under the other when you are relaxing with your family and are taken out during the reception of guests.
Small spaces use multifunctional furniture becomes especially relevant. For example, a pouf stand with soft upholstery, but with a rigid frame, is able to serve both as a seating place (for one or two people) and act as a coffee table.
Create the right lighting and visually expand your small room
For small spaces, the lighting system plays a particularly important role. If you have the opportunity to increase the amount of natural light in your small living room by increasing the size or number of windows, this should not be neglected. But most often (especially in the framework of dwellings in apartment buildings) it is possible to solve the problem of a sufficient level of illumination only with the help of an artificial lighting system at different levels.
The fact that the living room has a fairly modest size does not mean that one central lighting fixture- chandeliers. If your room is conventionally divided into zones (workplace or dining room), then it is necessary to provide each functional segment of the living room with its own lighting system. For a mini-office, it can be a table lamp or a wall sconce, for a recreation area - a chandelier and a floor lamp.
A built-in lighting system can blur the boundaries of your small family lounge. And we are talking not only about the illumination familiar to many, hiding in the depths of the suspended ceilings, but also LED strips... Transforming the look of cabinet furniture, structural elements of a room or decor items.
Modern trends in the design of the living room are formed under the influence of changes in its functional role... Previously, people watched and dined in the hall, received large groups of guests, danced, and celebrated special dates. Nowadays it is considered more convenient to organize collective celebrations outside the home - in a cafe or restaurant. The living space becomes more closed to prying eyes and casual visitors. Today's living room is a place for individual or family pastime, so it becomes more comfortable and corresponding to the true needs and tastes of its inhabitants, and not an "exhibition" exhibit to confirm the status of the owners. In small spaces, with the right approach, the living room, dining room, and even a corner are perfectly combined. The artistic style does not play a big role in the sense that you can choose the one that you have dreamed of for a long time, and with which understanding is associated perfect interior... The main thing is to ultimately create a clean space that will give a sense of spaciousness.
A small living room is not a reason for sad thoughts that the available square meters are not enough to implement interesting solutions and design fantasies. Quite the opposite. There are techniques that can visually expand the room.
7 optical illusions that expand the space of a small living room
As if by magic, you can change the hall without changing its real area. If you have a small living room, try a few visual tricks to make the space seem more voluminous, more illuminated, taller, and you will succeed. It seems like magic, but in fact it is science.
1. Make the space seem larger than it really is
V late XIX v. German scientist Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850–1909) explained how to achieve a change in the perception of the size of an object using Titchener's circle theory. The essence of the observation is that in the same circle the figure appears larger if surrounded by smaller circles, and smaller when the circles are much larger. Why it happens? We perceive size depending on the elements that surround us (relative size). Therefore, to small space felt large, furnish it with small furniture.
Also, bear in mind that without optical focus, the living room, while equipped with comfortable seating, is poorly balanced. You can turn the sofa into the focal point of the living room by surrounding it with smaller seating. The living room will appear larger and much nicer to look at.
Color is one of the main tools for and providing light to all corners of the room. The problem of excesses extends to both color and textures, oversaturation of which will negatively affect the perception of a clean and organized space. Beige, sand and all shades of white should become dominant in small spaces. To break the monotony, you can resort to bright acidic accents (in small doses) in the form of accessories - sofa cushions, rugs, curtains, linen, cotton, silk or shiny or matte organza covers. A large drawing will visually reduce the room, a small one will increase it.
2. Create a sense of perspective
To create depth, use the illusion of distance. The brain in a peculiar way perceives objects that are further away. They look better (some details disappear or are blurred). Why not use this illusion to enhance the perspective of the living room? It is enough to decorate the wall or furniture that you want to "move away" (do further) in smooth and soft colors. And vice versa: include textures in whatever you want to zoom in.
To enhance perspective, do not leave any piece of furniture in such a way that it interferes with the overall perception of the space. For the brain, empty space, like a cloudless sky, is associated with distance. Therefore, it is also important to increase the visibility of going beyond the boundaries of the room. Leave free space in front of the windows and open the curtains so that the gaze is unobstructed and directed, almost unconsciously, into the external environment.
3. Change the space with horizontal and vertical beams
Peter Thompson, an expert in the psychology of perception, speaking in 2008 at the University of York (UK), argued that the difference in the perception of the size of an object can be created by horizontal and vertical rays that stylize spaces and bodies. In 1860, this effect was already discovered by the German physicist Hermann Helmholtz, who conducted experiments with the perception of squares. He took 2 squares of the same size, in which he drew parallel lines of the same width and dividing stripes inside. A square with horizontal lines was perceived as taller and more stylish. As for the second square, it seemed that the vertical lines took up a larger area.
Therefore, if you want the wall to appear taller, draw horizontal lines, if wider, draw vertical lines. If you read somewhere the opposite statement, then it is a delusion. This has been proven by numerous experiments.
The visual increase in the area is due to the carpet with stripes, which, depending on the point of view, are interpreted as vertical or horizontal. Turquoise accessories blue are associated at the subconscious level with heavenly heights, sea space, freshness and purity
Accessories and decor items (lamps, paintings, mirror frames) with pronounced vertical and horizontal components change the perception of the surrounding space.
In the interior, windows, pieces of furniture, paintings, wall lamps, a coffee table are selected with a pronounced horizontal component, which visually increases the volume of a small room.
4. Choose furniture that takes up less space
Furniture should be started, of course, with general planning and understanding that if the size of the room is small, you should not overload it - "extra" furniture will take up space and reduce the sense of volume. Each furniture candidate for placement is carefully selected for appropriateness and necessity.
Today's furniture market offers a wide range of versatile and multifunctional furnishings in a small size and excellent design. Modern furniture designers offer a variety of transformable designs that can be used in various ways, easily removed or positioned as needed. For example, in a small room, it would be ideal to provide only two objects - a single table that would serve as both a writing and a dining room, and a sofa that turns into a bed that quickly opens and folds.
A sofa that, with the help of an original mechanical design, easily increases its useful area, due to which it can receive many more guests into its soft arms than it seems at first glance
Furniture is arranged in such a way that there is more free space. Several elegant folding chairs can be placed behind the closed front of the built-in wardrobes and removed as needed.
It is impossible to imagine a comfortable living room without comfortable armchairs set in front of a video system or next to a fireplace. To achieve more order, experiment with pairs of pieces of furniture on either side of an imaginary axis of symmetry.
An imaginary axis of symmetry runs along the vertical wall between the windows with a fireplace and a picture in a rectangular frame. Windows, bookcases, comfortable deep armchairs with sofa cushions, arranged symmetrically, create a sense of harmony, order and spaciousness
The vertical line appears to be one third longer than the horizontal line of the same size. What is this illusion based on? On the movement of the eye. According to the German psychologist Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt, visual passage horizontally is easier and faster, but vertically causes effort and therefore is slower. A horizontal rack appears shorter (and “takes up” less space) than a vertical rack.
5. Achieve increased light
With more light, the room is perceived to be more lively and energetic, and at the same time, larger.
If you play with contrast and shadow, you can increase the illumination without adding light. Light will be perceived as lighter and brighter, it is enough just to paint the surrounding areas. This was demonstrated by professor of optics Edward Adelson with his theory of contrast of clarity. The lesson is simple: a light source produces more light with some added shadow.
To apply this effect to a room, you can paint the wood windows white and the slopes dark. Thus, the light passing through the window will be amplified and intensified by the shadow framing.
The light becomes brighter when passing through dark-framed windows. The effect is enhanced by alternating black and white stripes on the curtain fabric. The transparent glass table reflects the natural and artificial light from the chandelier. Carefully selected details, mutually combined with each other, surprisingly do not clutter up the space, but, on the contrary, make it expressive and harmonious
One of the simplest and at the same time magical tricks to decorate small room and make it visually large and light -. To make a small room seem more spacious, you can place mirrors on opposite walls. They reflect natural and artificial light and visually enlarge the room. Mirrored walls suitable for a huge number of styles and are an element of decor. Ideal for decorating bare walls.
There is never too much light. In the interior, the illumination system includes natural light passing through wide windows, ceiling, wall and floor lamps, glazed doors that allow light to enter from the adjacent room, and a mirror in which light fluxes from different sources are reflected.
6. Separate the space without dividers
To make the space perceived as organized and spacious, you can use the illusion of the Canissa triangle. An Italian psychologist at the beginning of the twentieth century discovered that if, with the help of an imaginary triangle (or square, rectangle) in the room, you place furniture at each vertex of the corner, the brain unconsciously closes the geometric figure, and you can separate the living room area from the study area or dining room without establishing real separators (which always reduce space).
The Cannis triangle in the living room interior allows you to "divide" the limited space into 3 conventional zones - "home library", "music salon" and "study")
7. Show a sense of proportion in decorating
A jumble of wall decorations can create a messy atmosphere in a room. The collections on display should be revisited and the favorites displayed instead of completely covering the walls and filling the shelves with works of art. The eyes cannot concentrate on anything, and the impression of a mess and disorganization is created. In living room decoration, less is really more.
Finally, we got to the optimistic conclusion - the main thing for the room is not the size. Create your own unique style with tips from the best interior designers, and your living room will be transformed.