Small room with multiple uses for each piece of furniture.

How to Creatively Furnish a Small Living Room

Nowadays, many of us are embracing chic city living and choosing to live in apartments. Although apartment living has many upsides, space is often not one of them. Small living spaces can easily become cluttered and untidy, and this can scupper your attempts to create a stylish and elegant room design. For many people, the most challenging type of room to furnish is a small living room. Fortunately, there are plenty of simple ways to furnish small living rooms to make the most of the space you have and keep that clutter to a minimum. 

Downsize furniture

It may sound obvious, but choosing smaller pieces is a sensible option when it comes to furnishing small living rooms. Although over-sized couches and armchairs may look chic, they can dominate a small room and swallow up all-important floor space. Luckily, many furniture manufacturers and designers are recognizing the need for furniture that’s suitable for small apartments. Keep an eye out for slimmed-down versions of key pieces so that no one item is taking up more room than it needs to. 

Make your pieces work double-time

One of the biggest problems you’ll face when furnishing a small living area is lack of storage. Unless you live a completely minimal lifestyle, chances are you’ll have at least some clutter in your home. If it’s not stored away, then it’s out on display, making your home look untidy and smaller than it actually is. A perfect solution to this problem is to find furniture with built-in storage. Coffee tables with shelves underneath or hidden compartments and couches and chairs with storage spaces inside are a great way to get your belongings out of sight. Plus, you get more bang for your buck as your furniture performs two jobs at once. 

Make wheels your friend

Credit: smalltowncraftfair

If you regularly entertain in your living room and need to make extra space for guests quickly, then having wheels on heavier items of furniture, like coffee tables, is a good option. This allows you to wheel your furniture to the side of the room or even into a different place in your home with minimum fuss and without risking damage to your floors. If you can’t find furniture you like with wheels already attached, it’s cheap and easy to buy and attach castors to your furniture yourself.

Embrace vertical space

When you’re furnishing a small room, the key is to maintain as much floor space as possible. If you can get items up off the floor, this will make your space look bigger and easier to move around. So, instead of opting for free-standing or built-in bookshelves and display cabinets, try to find shelves and storage that can be hung on your walls. Not only does this free up large areas of your floor, but it takes advantage of space that might otherwise go unused. 

Carla C
I love to cook and, in my free time, play in our half-finished tree house with my son and husband. I have three dogs, all of which like my cooking more than my entire family combined.