Calming Living Room: How To’s

Home is a refuge away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and the world. When you enter a room that is uncluttered and decorated in such a way that you want to sit and stay awhile, it can give you a feeling of calm. It just takes a few simple How To’s to make your living room inviting and cozy. In today’s world where it seems almost impossible to find peace, make your living room a serene and calm place to enjoy and relax in by following these steps:

• Clean your space with a pleasant cleaning solution. Dust off big items in your living room and vacuum to help get rid of unfriendly dust bunnies.
• Take a look at your room. Put your furniture in a cozy inviting arrangement. Do you have enough seating? Is there too much?
• Notice how you feel in the room. Does it feel peaceful? What is stoping you from feeling that in your living room?
• Color influences how you feel in a room so what can you do with that color to make your living room more peaceful with or without painting it a different color?
• Have a focal point with a painting or wall arrangement that uplifts and influences you for good.
• Have an inviting entrance into your living room.
• Make it family friendly yet still inviting to guests.
• Put your spin on it. Be different to be better not just to be different. Add home decor that brings you peace and personal satisfaction.
• Don’t go overboard with room decor.
• Add some plants to your room.
• Accentuate windows and lighting in your space by making it bright enough during the day and more cozy at night.
• Choose your curtains with care. The colors you choose can affect how you feel in a room.

There are many elements that make up the anatomy of room when putting it altogether. You have to be intentional about the colors, the decor, the curtains, furniture placement all of these things influence the feeling of a room. When I say ” the feeling” of a room, I mean when you walk in, how do you feel? This is a real thing. Let’s start with your living room. My job is to help guide you to create a living room that you will feel calm and enjoy being in. Let’s give this a try.

Smell Good, Clean, And Clutter

One of the first things I notice when I walk in a room, is the smell. Does it smell clean? Does it smell good? Consider these three ideas:

• Begin by cleaning the room with a pleasant cleaning solution.

One thing I hate when walking into a room in a home is being overwhelmed by strong cleaning detergents. It isn’t peaceful and it directs your attention to the smell rather than the room itself. Find a pleasant cleaning solution. I’ll give one example Mrs.Meyer’s products invoke a feeling of pleasant and calm when it comes to cleaning in a room. There are others but start cleaning your room

• Dust & Vacuum

A good dusting and vacuuming floors, cobwebs, curtains, baseboards etc…will give your room a fresh look to it.

• Clutter Free

This goes without saying that clutter ruins the calm and peacefulness of any room. Everything needs a place so that it looks like it belongs there. Get rid of the clutter.

Furniture Placement

Don’t over furnish your living room. You don’t want to overcrowd your space. If you have some mismatched furniture use some sheets to cover chairs by throwing a twin size white or color of your choice over the chair. Even it out on both sides of your chair. Tuck the sheet in and then take the leftover fabric on each side of your chair and tie the side pieces into a knot in the back of your chair. Add a pillow to enhance your chair cover. There are also chair covers for purchase depending on your budget.

Add an ottoman if you can for comfort. Put it in front of your chair. If you have a sectional, a big square fabric ottoman could be used to put your feet on or to use as a sofa table in front of your couch or use as both.

Place your couch and your chairs in a conversational arrangement. Does the way the chairs are arranged encourage interaction with guests or family sitting in there? Do you have too many pieces of furniture in your living space? Are there too few? How do you feel when you enter the room. Does it flow meaning does the traffic pattern get you in and get you out easily? These are all things to consider when arranging your furniture.

Evaluate Your Room

When you peek into this part of your home, do you feel like you want to go in? Does it feel peaceful and beckoning (no really I am serious) do you want to go and sit down in there. When designed right, a calm space such as your living room will make you feel like you want to stay awhile when you pass by. It will give off a calming feeling to you. When you are standing or entering your living room and you don’t feel a serene calm feeling, what is keeping you from feeling that way. Examine the colors, the curtains, the rug, the mis matched furniture, the decor, whatever it is, write down some ideas of what might be causing you to feel unwelcome in this room. Then spend some time thinking about how you could trade out furniture (with other pieces of furniture or other pieces of decor you already have). Perhaps you just need to remove some things you have in your living room to give you more open space to give an overall feeling of calm.

Color Can Affect You

While visiting my son and his wife and family recently in Ohio, I noticed the colors they chose for their interiors. While the wall color was mostly neutral, they decorated in light pink, blues, and greens. It just so happens that pinks are calming and stand for kindness, love, playfulness, and compassion. Greens are also calming and blues have been know to lower blood pressure. Color influences mood. It is proven there is psychology to color. Choose wisely. You can find additional color information here How To Choose Paint Color With Confidence

If you have a room that is painted and you don’t have money to repaint or you just want to leave your room the way it is, try hanging a large quilt on your wall and pull colors out of the quilt that compliment the paint colors to use in your decor and furnishings. You can add decor in the colors you want to emphasize in your room. Consider adding a painting that has contrasting colors. Even a lighter rug or contrasting rug can help tone down colors on your walls that you don’t love.

Focal Point Inspiration

Find a painting or wall mural that inspires you. Choose something that you love to look at and that makes you feel happy. it might be a religious picture of Jesus, a saying about family, or a simple but beautiful landscape painting. This can help invoke a feeling of calm in your living room.

Entrance To Your Room

One thing to keep in mind when designing a calm living room is your entrance to this room. What is a first impression it gives off. Are there french doors or just an open doorway? Would hanging a beautiful wreath on the french doors or your big focal point with very little else on your walls give a feeling of serenity as people enter your living room. You could also hang candle holders on each side of the wall as you enter the living room. (This kind of announces you are about to enter a special room. If you have a formal entryway it should be designed as well with calm in mind so that your home flows as your guests enter and then proceed to the living room. Again let me emphasize no clutter to the entrance will help with a feeling of calm.

Family and Guest Friendly

You want your young children to enjoy your family room but you also want it to be accessible to guests at a moment’s notice. Store games and books in a drawer or behind cupboard doors in your front room. That way when you are entertaining guests, you can have items at the ready for. your children to access and entertain themselves with while still keeping this room neat and tidy. If buying new furniture, consider buying fabric that is stain resistant so little ones can enjoy sitting on couches and chairs without the worry.

Your Spin Please

Go ahead. You be you in your space. Decorate and design your living room to fit your taste. Stop and think before you pass go. Maybe your style is considered “different” from the norm. Don’t be different to be different but be different to bring something better to the room. Add home decor that brings you peace and personal satisfaction. If you do this tastefully and don’t add too much, others will notice it and enjoy being in this space too.

Don’t Add Too Much

I am sure you have heard the advice, “less is more”. It holds true here. I tend to add a lot to a room when it comes to decor. Sometimes I just can’t get enough of home decor in one room. However remember the clutter thing. You don’t want to have so much in the room that it appears cluttered. Even if it is a beautiful piece of decor. Carefully place each piece of decor that goes on the wall, sits on the floor or on a table so that it looks like it belongs there and not just like a bunch of stuff in your living room.

Add Plants

Plants add a natural vibe that is calming and refreshing. Lively and interesting too. Make sure you add plants that you like. Big bold plants might be overwhelming. Soft dainty plants that spill over the container they are in might be more suitable for your room. Most importantly, only use plants that you are willing to take care of and that don’t require a lot of work. If bold and beautiful is your thing, go for it. Soft and sensible go for it. You choose. Notice the overall look of your living room and add plants that belong in your space.

The Anatomy Of Lighting

If you have big windows in your living room you are very blessed. Capitalize on the natural lighting. Arrange your chairs so they can enjoy the full advantage of daylight streaming through your window. If you aren’t so blessed with natural light you will have to come up with a way to make it look like you have necessary lighting to make your room bright during the day and softer and cozier lighting at night.

There are three types of lighting you need in a room. Ambient which is natural lighting, task lighting helps with things you do like hand sewing, playing the piano, or reading, and accent lighting which highlights artwork and decor on your walls. Using these three types of lighting, called layering can affect the mood and ambience of your living room. You can orchestrate your lighting to provide a calming atmosphere. Decorative lighting is just that. To use as a focal point or decor.

Choosing Curtains

Put a sheer with a solid color behind the sheers. Choose curtains with simple design and lightweight fabrics. When the wind blows through them they will be light and blowy looking bringing a calm into your living room. Again consider the color you will choose for your curtains. Perhaps a neutral would be best to combine with the decor, carpet, rug, furnishings, and decor fr your room. If you find a patterned curtain or a dark colored curtain that speaks to you and it makes you feel calm, that might just be the right fit for your living room.

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