Making The Space My Own: 7 Dream Living Room Makeover Ideas

I was asked what my dream living room space would look like, and how I would remodel the space. This post covers the 7 main ideas I would infuse into the room, ranging from a reading nook to a better alternative for a flat screen TV. None of these ideas are far fetched. And a thank you to the good people over at Laurel & Wolf for the challenge.

1. Getting Rid Of The TV (For a Better Option)

The first thing I would do in a living room makeover is to find a way to get rid of the TV. And the best way to do this is to fit a shelf above the couch and use a projector. Not only does this save space in your living room (since you don’t need a media console anymore), it removes a big flat black box from your wall. Creating a cleaner more minimalist looking living room space.

And the best budget home projector out there right now is the Acer H5380BD. While the Sony VPLHW40ES is the best in class when it comes to the more expensive projectors.

2. Upgrading the Lighting

The living room can be used for movie nights, or it can be a nice reading space. Every now and again it can play host for a small get together. This means the living room needs to have the right lighting to set the mood for each occasion.

I would have my ceiling fitted with recessed lights as these create a clean and modern looking room. And these lights will be hooked up to a dimmer switch, giving me full control over the lighting.

The key to great lighting is to not rely on one type of light fixture. You want to mix it up to create different layers and lighting effects. A table lamp and a floor lamp would be a good addition. Having a floor lamp by the couch adds more light to the area when reading.

3. Bathing In Daytime Sunshine

During the day the living room should be bathed in natural light. There are some design tricks that help maximize the amount of sunlight that comes in, and helps make the space feel larger.

The curtain rod needs to be quite a bit wider than the window. When the curtains are open, they should not be blocking any of the window.

The curtain rod should also be hung up as high as possible. And the curtains should be long enough to come down to about an inch or two above the ground. It doesn’t matter if the windows are not as tall as the curtains. Having tall curtains makes a living room feel larger.

Playing with fabric is another way to make the space feel larger. Vertical stripes will make the living room feel taller, while horizontal stripes makes the space feel wider. Or getting curtains that blend closely with the wall color creates a uniformed look in the room (white curtains with white walls), again making it feel like a larger space.

And if you want to bring in as much daylight as possible, but need to cover the windows for privacy, then use a double curtain rod with sheers.

4. The Right Look: A Scandinavian Design Style

This living room is going to have a clean and minimalist Scandinavian style to it. This means having a white base (white walls), and decorating the space in neutral tones (off white, and different shades of greys).

That might sound a bit boring, but the beauty of this style lies in adding subtle textures and patterns – just like the grey couch and black and white area rug in the picture above. Fabrics for the couch, pillows, and area rugs will have a subtle texture or pattern to them (again in a neutral color).

Warmth is brought into the living room through the use of natural materials. Wooden bowls, wooden storage pieces, or wooden features on pieces of furniture (legs, arm rests) bring in shades of brown. While plants bring in green tones.

5. Adding a Touch of Vintage Design

Something that I always appreciate in a living room, and brings a lot of character into the space, is crown molding. Now this won’t be you standard crown molding. This is going to be the old school antique, decorative crown molding just like the molding seen in picture (3).

6. Creating a Gallery Wall

The decor in the room will be kept to a minimum. It will mostly be plants and wooden pieces. But there will be one gallery wall with a few decorative framed pieces (maybe even including some photographs of my own) (4) (5).

7. Where is the Reading Nook?

Tucked away in a corner, or by the window, will be a reading nook. Most likely in the form of Papasan chair, or if there is space a hammock or day bed (6). With a book shelf of books to close in and seclude the space.

Here are some other living room posts for more ideas:

image credits 1/2/3/4/5/6