Living Room Designs

Living room designs should reflect homeowners' personal styles. The living room, more than any other room in the house, reveals both the personalities of the people who live in a home and how they live. No matter your lifestyle, there is a living room design to match.

Baby-friendly living room: There's no need to sacrifice style when you are starting a family. Just follow a few baby-proofing ideas and you will have a family-friendly, functional room. Any style works as long you avoid a few potential problems. Don’t use silks and solids on upholstery. Patterns hide stains whereas solids highlight them. Leather and textured brocades also hide dirt and stains whereas silk can be ruined by a spilled bottle or juice box.

Coffee tables and end tables are fine, as long as they are not glass. In fact a few well-placed tables will serve as training toys when a baby is learning to walk. They will use the table to pull themselves up and lean on them as they make their way around the room on wobbly legs. And despite what your friends and decorator might tell you, you can accessorize when your children are young. Just be sure to keep the candles, vases and picture frames up high and out of reach.

Home theatre living room: If, like many Americans, you spend most of your free time listening to music, watching TV, renting movies and playing video games, the home theatre living room will serve you well. There are two approaches to this design. The first is for people who grew up with a formal living room and a casual den. If the idea of a screen in the living room still seems taboo, look for a beautiful media cabinet with doors. When the electronics are off, you can close the cabinet doors and the large cabinet will serve as the room's focal point. Media cabinets come in many different styles so you can pull of this look whether you like Arts& Crafts, French Country or Tuscan style.

If you are comfortable embracing high tech, then go ahead and mount a flat screen on the wall, perhaps over the mantle. Display your stereo equipment and add a few well-placed club chairs close to your video console. Add some throw pillows, a soft rug and some plants to balance the sleek look of the electronics.

Country style living room: To create a casual, comfortable room that still has a pulled together look, go for a country style living room. Choose Mission style furniture, overstuffed upholstery and metal and wood accent pieces. Accessorize with Americana, roosters and black and white prints.

Choose a soft color on the walls such as yellow or pale coffee. Add color and warmth with a traditional woven area rug. Arrange the furniture in closely spaced seating areas, ideal for conversations. Place lamps in a triangle across the room. This will create suitable reading areas from almost every angle.

Traditional parlor: The traditional parlor look never goes out of style. To achieve this look choose a camelback sofa and wingback chairs. Mix these formal pieces with some overstuffed chairs in cotton chintz. Lay a Berber rug wall-to-wall and cover it with an antique Oriental rug. Paint the walls a dark rich hue like red, green, blue or chocolate and make the fireplace the focal point of the room.

Accessorize the room with gilded mirrors, watercolor paintings and crystal lamps A traditional parlor can be formal or lived-in. Add coasters, coffee table books and a cozy throw to make the room comfortable.

Before you design your living room, think about how often you will use the room and what activities you will do in the room. No matter what your style, there are living room designs that meet your needs.

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