Blinds, Interior Design, Roller Blinds, Venetian Blinds

Living Room Interior Design Ideas 2: Maximise Space

As the slump in the housing market has meant many of us can’t afford to move into a bigger house the next best thing is to maximise the living room space you have. Sometimes all you need to re-shuffle the furniture, change the colour scheme or window dressing to make the same space seem larger.

One of the first aspects to look at is the placement of your furniture and ask yourself whether you’re making the most of it. Maybe you have a corner of the room which is unused simply because if the way you have your sofa or chairs. Corner seating is a great way to use the dead corners of rooms and are seeing a huge revival this year.

Your colour scheme may also be making your living room appear small. Make it lighter by using paint or wallpaper which has a sheen to the surface as this will help to reflect light around the room. Keep to pale colour tones, such as white, cream or pale beige – dark colours can make rooms look and feel oppressive and enclosed.

Maximise the use of as much natural light as possible during the day. Venetian blinds are a great idea for those who have a problem with privacy or lack of it! By titling the slats slightly upwards you’ll be able to let the light bounce off from the ceiling (again use a paint with a sheen finish) and radiate down into the room.

Venetian blinds can also make windows appear larger as they can be fitted snugly inside the window casing or hung on the outside of the casing without having the bulkiness of curtains either side of the window.

For those of you who don’t have a privacy issue then roller blinds are an ideal window dressing option as you can expose virtually the whole expanse of glass during the day allowing natural light to flood into your living room even on the dullest of days.

If you have a small living room then you’ll need to further maximise the space by keeping it clutter free at all times. Look for coffee tables which have storage included within them for example and use wall space by including shelving – but not too much or the room will feel over-crowded – placing shelving high up is one suggestion to maximise space or opt for quirky shelving units, rather than just straight lines, as these can also be used as a form of wall art to store and display your favourite objects – just don’t cram the shelves full or the whole concept will be lost.