Thingz Contemporary Interior Design Blog

At Thingz, we know that planning your living room space is always an exercise of creativity, aesthetics and practicality. There are hard and fast rules to guide you, but at the same time, you have to make yourself aware of the changing trends in home furnishing if you want a home that is stylishly up-to-date.  We feel fortunate that many our our client use our complimentary interior design services to help space plan and select fabric because we absolutely love it!

So what are some things to think about?  Well of course, the rule of thumb in space planning your living room is to pay attention to function. Are elements including the table, chairs, and sofas the right distance from each other to serve their purpose well? Is there enough room for comfortable movement and easy foot traffic? Do light sources give illumination on things they should? Does the seating arrangement make sense? These are just some of the guiding questions you have to consider when planning your living room space in order for it to be of the utmost practicality.

Living room seating is particularly essential as it is, in fact, the section of the house where you do a lot of sitting. It is also usually where you receive guests and sit them down for a spot of entertaining. Seating should be planned well. It should allow people to chat comfortably, see each other easily, and place drinks down without having to get up and look for an available surface.

Your living room space may involve several seating elements. Couches are an assumed staple, of course. Living room seating is usually composed of a sofa and a couple of armchairs. You can add individual chairs and ottomans, but these elements are more flexible in terms of placement.

When it comes to choosing a couch for a contemporary living room, style and comfort are equally important. A modern sofa is preferably durable in material and construction, withstanding the onslaught of active kids and the strains of entertainment. It is also neutrally attractive, capable of surviving the shifting decorating trends and easily modified with accessories to complement the seasons.

A modern living room is usually represented by furnishings with sleek, clean lines. It also often reflects innovation and the desire to break free from the traditional setup. It has, for instance, been noted that contemporary living rooms tend to sport sectionals instead of the regular sofa.

Sectionals with a chaise end give you more seating options and the ability to put your feet up without potential damage to your coffee table or the need to place a footstool next to the couch. The thing about sectionals is that they are usually bigger than the traditional sofa. They definitely require more width and depth when it comes to space. On the other hand, if you were thinking of getting two sofas, then a sectional will actually do the job of maximizing your space.
Another trend in contemporary living room seating is the penchant for dual function sofas.

Daybeds and sleeper sofas are more fashionable than ever. The modern decorator, after all, knows how to think ahead. It is simply a matter of getting pieces to go with this kind of couch. The old-school two sofa combo/love seat set/couch with two arm chairs may be a classic, but an eclectic, mix-and-match style of seating is definitely a fresher way to do things. If your eclectic mix works, it will also speak well for your taste and eye for design.

Tags: interior design tips, Modern Living Room

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 at 10:00 am and is filed under Contemporary Living, Interior Design Tips & Advice, Sofas & Sectionals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.