Living Room Design with Kaitlyn
I’ve got more design tips for you today! This time I’m sharing my process for living room design.
When designing any room, it can be difficult to know where to start. This is especially true of the living room, as it’s where you will host guests and spend a good amount of time as a family. So let’s get to it.
Choose a Vibe
Living rooms are most often the center of the home, and likely to be enjoyed by all. That’s why it's important for the space to set the tone for your home.
Do you want a quiet, calm, peaceful feeling? Do you want to bring in color, life and excitement? Once you know what tone you want to set you can dive into the other elements. Here’s how I do it.
Get Inspired
A blank slate is exciting, but also a bit intimidating! The best way to get started, once you know the feel you want to create, is to start collecting inspiration. Maybe it’s a Pinterest board, maybe it’s a wallpaper sample you love, maybe it’s an Instagram account you follow religiously.
Gather images, textures, colors that speak to you, and look for the unity or commonality between them. Find ways to pull from the different elements to create a cohesive style.
Sometimes people feel like using other’s images is “copying” their design. But there’s nothing wrong with getting inspired by another’s work. Just as long as you are making the design your own, and not copying someone’s room piece for piece. It’s your home, it should feel like you!
Pick Your Colors
What colors are popping up over and over again in your inspiration photos? Is it a bold emerald green? A calming, gentle gray? Maybe white rooms with pops of bright contrast colors?
Color is essential to setting the mood in any space. So whatever vibe you decided you want to convey in your living room, pick a color scheme that supports that.
Build a Mood Board
You’ve got your vibe, inspiration and colors, now let’s bring it all together.
At this stage I start putting together a mood board with the specific design elements I want to incorporate in the living room. It doesn’t have to be the exact chairs, pillows, lamps etc. that you want to purchase, but something that represents the style of those pieces.
This helps you visualize the design actually in your space. It will also be your roadmap when you start the search for furniture, paint and accent pieces.
A couple things to consider at this stage: how many people you want to be able to sit in your living room at a time, what pieces will be most functional, the size of your space, location of windows, doors, walkways, etc.
Whether you are giving furniture you already have a DIY facelift or shopping for new pieces, it's so helpful to build a room mood board so you can get a visual representation of the space and see how the pieces in your room laid out would correlate with each other.
You can make a pretty easy and free digital mood board using applications like Canva or Google slides.
Make it a Reality
The moment you’ve been waiting for: making your dream design a reality.
Obviously paint and architectural elements need to come first. Then move forward with the bigger elements, like furniture, rugs and statement pieces. Pillows, textiles and lighting come next, and lastly, all the little decorative bits and finishing touches.
If you feel stuck at any point, head back to your inspiration photos. Sometimes when styling a bookshelf or coffee table say, it’s hard to get it just right. Refer back to the photos you collected and see what kinds of pieces they used, how many, how they are grouped, etc.
To get inspired by our living room design style, check out our Living Room Pinterest Board. And feel free to reach out to our team if you have any questions about design!
Products in this space:
Kala Pillow Cover | Wren Pillow Cover | Ollie 12X20 Lumbar | Velvet Lumbar in Olive Green | Taft Rug in 8x10