How to Style a Living Room

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Here's the honest truth: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Something that looks beautiful to me is going to look different from something that looks beautiful to you. We all have our own tastes. And early on, I realized that it's not enough for me to look at something and say "I like this." I want to learn why I like this. Whether it's on Instagram, in movies, in coffee table books, on Pinterest or in hotels, I save a lot of images. And I don't just save them because I like the image, but I'm studying them.

The lesson is: Write down or make a mental note of the things that you don't know how to style, because those things will start materializing in front of you as you're looking for them.

Research Your Problem Areas

I remember once I had a round coffee table. They're a bit tricky to style. I thought, "How am I supposed to do this?" Well, I studied a lot of images on Instagram and Pinterest. As soon as you start focusing on your trouble areas, like my round coffee table, almost every picture that you see from that day on will have a round coffee table. That phenomenon is actually a cognitive bias called the frequency illusion.

Seeing those styled round coffee tables helped me put together the elements that I wanted to include on my own round coffee table, such as something green (a faux succulent), something for height (candlesticks), something layered (coffee table books), and then something fun or meaningful (a little white elephant statue). Having an intentional assortment of things made that coffee table feel finished, not cluttered.

Think About Surface Area and Flow

Leather Sling Chairs | Blue Velvet Sofa | Linen Sofa | Coffee Table (similar) | Jules Lagoon/Brick Rug | Double Arm Floor Lamp (similar) | Table Lamp | Floor Lamp | Tree Art Prints | Leather Ottomans

Truth be told: The above was my favorite living room we’ve had! When it comes to styling living rooms, think of the surfaces available to you. That includes coffee tables, as I mentioned, but also bookcases, mantles, ottomans, couches, or chairs. And it also includes rearranging, which is a part of styling.

Is your furniture set up in the best way to encourage conversation? Sometimes you may have a living room with a couch facing a TV. What if you had just one chair in a corner facing the sofa? That can create an inviting circular flow to the room. Leave enough room for a path around an ottoman or a bench. And also make sure you're using the right size rug for your space.

Turn Private Storage Public

Arched Cabinet | Boucle Swivel Armchairs | Linen Sofa | Double Arm Floor Lamp (similar) | Polly Slate/Ivory Rug | Migration Art Print | White Vase | Wooden Pedestal | Candlesticks | Large Grey Vase

You can also consider showcasing items you may have previously been storing. My cabinet in my living room right now holds all my vases. I used to carry them all the way up to the attic for storage when I was done with them, but one day I realized, these are pretty! I'm storing them right here! I can take them out, use them, and put them back in.

That's one of those styling wins where something functional becomes something beautiful as well. Look around to see how you can try that in your own home.

Think Seasonally (Year-Round!)

I think we see a lot of styled living rooms in fall and winter. but for spring and summer you want it to feel light and airy. We have a dark velvet couch that can feel very "cooler months", but you're not going to buy a new couch just to match a season! So how do I style it? I'll usually put away throw blankets in the summer or switch to a thin lightweight tassel one, almost like a turkish towel. Even in other areas, I tend to pull up a lot of textiles in the summer months and simplify in that way. I'll also have fewer pillows or lighter pillows.

For the surfaces, I love doing floral stems for the summer with more focus on coffee table books instead of pillows and textiles. Mantles and fireplaces are great opportunities for styling around the seasons. I like to simplify my mantle — I have candlesticks on it that feel year-round. but then I'll put one singular green leafy stem in a vase instead of something with a more rich color.

Don't forget that a scent like a candle or diffuser can really help a space seasonally!

In terms of our outline for today using our STYLING formula, here are the elements I use to style a living room.

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Things I Use to Style Living Rooms:

• Shiny: candlesticks, mirror, gilded frame, objets d'art
• Texture: area rug, pillows, throws, lampshade, ottoman, curtains, coffee table books
• You: art, tabletop frames, collectibles (e.g. matchboxes, a vintage nutcracker)
• Lighting: lamp, lantern, sconces, candlesticks, picture lights
• Inviting: candles, record player or speakers, chairs
• Necessary (storage): coasters, baskets, ottoman, storage cabinet/drawer
• Greenery: a large vase of stems or tree (faux or real), garland

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