5 Decorating Tips for your Living Room

A little bit of furniture rearranging and a couple additions can take your living room to the next level. Below are my 5 decorating tips for your living room that can help breathe new life into your home. Small changes can make a big impact!

1. This is, by far, the piece of decorating advice I give most often: Move your furniture away from the walls and to the center of the room. People think if they move their furniture to the room's outer rim, they will have more space. The fact is, you room's size will not change, and the amount of space your furniture takes up will not change. They are fixed dimensions. On the other hand, when you move your furniture to the room's center, you create a cozy, intimate area, making better use out of the room's available space.

2. Rugs add warmth and texture to a room, and they are probably the most important piece for grounding a space. A rug is the glue that binds all other furniture pieces in a room together. Your rug should be large enough to fit your entire sofa and chairs on top or at least the front legs of each piece. You want a central island not individual pieces floating away from each other in space.

3. In larger rooms or long and narrow rooms, you can create multi-purpose areas within the space by placing a console table, desk, or bookcase behind the sofa. This can separate living and dining areas, living and office spaces, or two sitting areas. The piece you choose can also add color, texture, and storage.

4. Hang your curtains all the way to the ceiling (or just below the crown molding) to make your room feel bigger and more open. This trick is particularly effective if you have low ceilings, but it is a designer-must for any space. Your curtain rod should extend about 4 inches outside of the window casing on each side to ensure a proper framing of the window and allow the maximum amount of natural light to enter the room when the curtains are open. As for the length of the curtains, it should match your ceiling height or distance from the floor to the bottom of the crown molding. (If your ceilings are 9 feet with no crown molding, your curtains should be 108 inches in length.) This measurement will allow the curtains to hit the floor with a classic pant break.

5. You can never have enough plants. Put one in every room of your house (including the bathroom, but you can skip the closet). They will filter the air and make you smile from sun up to sun down (and into the night, but they do, typically, really like the sun!). Don't get fake ones. It is not only tacky but also pointless. Even if you don't have a green thumb, there is a plant out there for you. Visit your local nursery, and they will help you out!

Happy nesting, folks! I hope these 5 decorating tips for your living room help you out! Rachel

Photos: Acoustic Garden // Lonny Magazine // Home of Susanna Rutzou // Heather Garrett Interior Design // The Brick House