by Ellen Brand

Created on: November 07, 2007

The Living Room is the heart of the home and should be decorated with great consideration and careful planning. The fun part about decorating your home and especially your living room is that you get to decide what the look will be. So, let's get started and decorate this room.

Style
You can choose to go country casual, eclectic, classical, contemporary, it is entirely up to you. Whatever works for you is what you should go for. Do try to keep in mind that your decorum throughout the house should be consistent. In other words, if you are doing neo-classical in one room and the very next room is country casual then this dissonance will be more apparent and the flow between the rooms will not be harmonious.

Color
Once your style is selected the color comes quite naturally. Many times the neo-classical styles tend to be more earthy beige and brown earth tones whereas the contemporary styles are more prone to the primary red-green-blue-yellow colors mixed in with black and white. Whatever color you want is entirely up to you. Keep in mind though what your goal for the living room is. If you want this room to be a high energy, very active room you may wish to go with bright colors such as red or yellow or orange. If your goal is to create a quiet, relaxing haven where you can wind down at the end of the day, you may wish to go with more soothing calming colors like purple, green, or soft blues.

Lighting
Of all the decorations in the living room, the lighting is one of the most important considerations. Keep in mind what you wish to do in your living room. If this room will be used strictly for watching TV or entertaining guests then there is no need to worry about adequate reading light. If you are creating more of a personal space and plan to read or work (on the computer) in your living room be sure to invest in some attractive floor lamps. Floor lamps are ideal for living rooms because they are bright at just the right heights without glaring lights interfering with other activities. In my home we invested in some recessed lights in the ceiling with a dimmer switch so we can set the mood' based on what we are doing at any given moment. Although I suggested floor lamps for reading, a mix of floor lamps and table lamps, coordinated and matching of course, give the room a nice look because the lights are at various heights and fill the room with a warmth at all levels and breaks free from that row of lights' look when the light are all exactly the same size, shape, and

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>