The living room is the heart of most homes. It’s the place where you entertain guests, curl up on the sofa after a hard day at work, and play with your children. However, if your living room is particularly small, spending any length of time in there can seem unbearable, not to mention incredibly claustrophobic. Unfortunately, there’s nothing that you can do about this, so you’re just going to have to deal with it. Right? Well, actually, there are lots of things that you can do to make your living room seem bigger. Here are some clever things for you to try.

01. Clear the Clutter

A cluttered room is never going to feel spacious and comfortable, so the first thing that you need to do is get rid of some of your clutter. Go through everything in your living room and put everything that is broken or you no longer need or use to one side. Then you can decide whether to throw this stuff away, donate it, or sell it on. This should open up a lot of space and give you some room to breathe. With whatever is left, see if there is anything that can be put in another room or stored away.

02. Purchase Multipurpose Furniture

If you want a room with storage, a table, a chair, and a footstool then it’s going to feel pretty cramped. Well, that’s unless you buy furniture that can be used for all of these purposes. An ottoman, for instance, is a perfect example. Adding some extra storage to the room this way also means that you can put away things like books and DVDs so that they’re not taking up space elsewhere.

03. Mount on Walls

To make a room feel larger, you have to increase floor space wherever you can. A television, for example, can take up a lot of space on a stand but doesn’t if it’s mounted on a wall, making your room feel a lot larger. You should also consider mounting lamps to the wall, rather than having floor and table lamps taking up space, and could add shelves to the walls, rather than bookcases to the floor.

04. Leave Shelf Space

If you have a lot of books and ornaments to be stored, then mounted shelves might not be the best idea. However, having bookcases doesn’t mean that you can’t make your room look larger. All you need to do is leave some space on the shelves and not fill them up completely. These gaps will help to make the room feel more spacious. In this case, opting for a wall to ceiling bookcase is better, as you’ll still be taking up the same amount of space on the wall, but will be able to leave more space on the shelf itself.

05. Choose Cool Colours

White rooms almost always look larger than rooms of any other colour so it’s always sensible to incorporate as much white into a small room as you can. Of course, you might not want a room that’s entirely white, in which case you should incorporate cool colours like blues and light greens, as these will help your room feel a lot larger than bright colours.

06. Match Windows and Walls

A great way to make your living room feel more spacious is to match the colour of your curtains to the colour of your walls. If they were different colours, it would be obvious that your room stops at the window, but matching the colours gives the illusion that the room continues, thus making the room feel larger. This illusion works even better in a white room with white curtains.

07. Keep Windows Clean 

Of course, this illusion won’t work at all if your windows are constantly dirty, as it’s clear where the room ends. Dirty windows will also decrease the amount of natural light in your living room, which is also important if you want the room to feel more spacious. To make cleaning easier, UPVC windows and doors are a great choice. They require much less maintenance than wood and are incredibly easy to wipe clean, just like the glass.

08. Add Magic Mirrors

When it comes to making a room look larger, one of the best things that you can do is add a big mirror somewhere pivotal in the room. This works even better if the frame matches the colour of the walls. However, large mirrors can get pretty pricey, so you might want to consider buying one second hand, or group smaller mirrors together on a wall and simply paint their frames the same colour.

09. Choose Lighting Carefully

It may sound a tad dramatic, but lighting really can make or break a room. If you get it right, your room will look bright and spacious, but, if you get it wrong, it will look small and dingy. If you want your room to look bigger, the last thing that you want to do is rely on one overhead light, as this only lights up a small area in the room, making it appear smaller. Instead, add lamps, candles, and fairy lights to different places around the room, as this lights up the whole space.

10. Ditch the Door

If you want your living room to feel more spacious, and nothing above has worked, then it’s time to think bigger, and by bigger, I mean removing your door. This may seem like a drastic move, but it really will help to open the room up and will add some extra space, where you can now add photographs or storage.

Not a fan of the idea of ditching your door? No need to worry! Another way you can make your living room feel more spacious is by adding internal doors with glass panels so you can see more of the space on the opposite side. This is the option we went for in our home and it really has made a difference. Plus, we can see what the kids are up to when they’re on the other side. It’s a win-win situation!

No one wants to have a small living room, and, luckily for you, you don’t have to. While these tips aren’t going to physically make your living room any bigger, they will maximise space and give the illusion of space, so that you can feel a lot more comfortable in the heart of your home.

Do you have any other tips for making your small living room look bigger?
Why not let me know in the comments below.
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In my opinion, the most important room in the house has just got to be the living room. It’s the one place where we spend most of our time as a family – either watching television together, playing card games, entertaining guests or just relaxing with a cup of tea and some biscuits. I think it would be safe to say that the living room is most definitely the hub of our home!

With the living room being such a key area for both unwinding and spending quality time with loved ones in, it’s really important to ensure you make it a space in which you take great pride in. And it’s a good idea to decorate or make minor changes to this room on a fairly regular basis to keep things feeling fresh and exciting. With this in mind, I thought I’d share a few current trends to bring into your living room in 2019. Read on to find out more …

Colours

I’m sure it will come as no surprise when I say that colours go in and out of fashion faster than you can say ‘Jack Robinson’ when it comes to home decor. And this year is no exception. It most definitely comes down to personal taste and the style of the room when you’re choosing the colour palette for your living room, but a few of the current most popular colours to incorporate at the moment include warm and creamy hazelnuts, muted pastels and new blues. It’s a vast contrast to the bright and bold colours that were popular this time last year!

Photo Walls

This year it’s all about personalising your living room with an arrangement of favourite family photographs. A bare expanse of wall above the sofa or sideboard makes the ideal spot. Choose frames that are identical in size and colour, and arrange in a grid formation to make a visual impact that visitors are sure to coo over.

Fabrics

Believe it or not, there are also some fabrics which are proving to be hugely popular in 2019. Velvet, in particular, is still on the rise as it has a feeling of luxury and comfort – this makes it a good option for sofas, curtains and cushions.

Wooden Furniture

It’s safe to say that wooden furniture is well and truly making a comeback this year. Everyone I know is buying it for their homes! Wooden furniture works well in the living room as it’s durable, easy to clean and looks fab in most spaces. One of my favourite wooden collections at the moment just has to be The Trade Furniture Company’s ‘Sheesham’ range, which includes stunning coffee tables, sideboards, bookcases and more. I think they’d look beautiful in my own home.

Flooring

Flooring is a key area to address when updating your living room this year. And it seems that patterned carpets are here to stay! Although it isn’t necessarily for me, I do think it could be an interesting way to add some visual appeal to the room. Marble-look flooring is also becoming very popular but tends to be a little on the expensive side. This is why we usually stick with laminate flooring, but maybe we should think outside the box and try something else for a change!

Corner Sofas

Corner sofas are another current trend which can look great in any living room. They can help give it a lovely, relaxed vibe as well as providing plenty of seating for the whole family to sit on. The next time we buy a sofa I want to go for a corner one as I think they’re just fab!

These are the main living room trends for 2019 that can really revitalise any living area. Like I said before, this should be a space that you take great pride in. So make it somewhere that looks fantastic but is also comfortable and welcoming for the whole family at the same time. I promise you won’t regret it.

What living room trends are you guys loving this year?
Be sure to let me know in the comments below.
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For me, there’s no room in the house more important than the living room. Why? Because it’s the room where we all sit down together and enjoy time as a family. Whether we’re watching television, playing board games, entertaining guests or just relaxing with a cup of tea, the living room is most definitely the hub of our home.

And as it’s such a key area for both unwinding and spending quality time with loved ones in, it’s vital that you make it a space in which you take great pride in. It’s a good idea to decorate or make minor changes to this room on a fairly regular basis to keep things fresh and exciting. With this in mind, here are a few current trends to bring into your living room.

Colours 

I’m sure it will come as no surprise when I say that colours go in and out of fashion faster than you can say ‘Jack Robinson’ when it comes to home decor. And this year is no exception. I think it comes down to your own personal taste and the style of the room when you’re choosing the colour palette for your living room. But a few of the current most popular colours to incorporate include bright pinks, punchy pastels and bold violets. If, like me, you’re not brave enough to decorate in bright colours I highly recommend going for a grey and white colour-scheme – always a modern classic. Additionally, 2018 is a good year for using multiple shades of the same colour in the same room, with the ability to bring them together with furnishings.

Fabrics 

Believe it or not, there are also some fabrics which are proving to be hugely popular in 2018. Velvet, in particular, is on the rise as it has a feeling of luxury and comfort – this makes it a good option for sofas, curtains and cushions.

Mirrors

Mirrors are a great way to decorate your walls or make rooms appear larger. Place a victorian mirror on a wall if you want a focal point in your living room. Or place mirrors opposite windows and doors if you want to make the room look more spacious, as it will reflect other areas of the house and what’s outside.

Textures

This year is all about using different textures on a feature wall. And believe me, this is a trend I can really get behind! Glittery wallpaper, staggered wooden blocks and even stone cladding can all add an interesting look to a living room. But my favourite way to add some texture to a feature wall is to use brick tiles. The tiles are based on old bricks which gives them a very traditional look and feel, but at the same time, they don’t look out of place in a more modern setting. When we finally get round to decorating our living room I want to use these on our chimney breast. I think they’ll look fab!

Flooring 

Flooring is a key area to address when updating your living room this year. And it seems that patterned carpets are making a comeback along with tartan and stripes. Although it isn’t necessarily for me, I do think it could be an interesting way to add some visual appeal to the room. We usually stick with laminate flooring, but maybe we should be thinking outside the box and trying something else for a change!

Corner Sofas

Corner sofas are another current trend which can look great in any living room. They can help give it a lovely, relaxed vibe as well as providing plenty of seating for the whole family to sit on. The next time we buy a sofa I want to go for a corner one. They’re just fab! 

These are the main living room trends for 2018 that can really revitalise any lounge area. Like I said before, this should be a space that you take great pride in. So make it somewhere that looks fantastic but is also comfortable and welcoming at the same time.

What living room trends are you guys loving this year?
Make sure you let me know in the comments below.
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When it comes to winter time, our days always begin to get shorter and because of this we have a lot less light entering the house throughout the day. The main issues this can cause for us is that our home can become dark, dingy and it can look smaller than it is, which can effect our mood and comfort through the colder months. Here are some of the ways you can improve the home and add more light to make it feel bigger.

Add Space 

The first thing you will want to think about doing in the home is adding more space to each room by getting rid of some of your bigger items of furniture or even rearranging the room to accommodate and make more space for you and your family. Even just swapping out a large book shelf for a smaller one can add a huge amount of space to the home and it will make the house feel more comfortable and bright.

Change the Windows 

One of the most obvious ways to bring light into the house is to have big windows or even add extra windows to the home. If you are thinking of changing your windows to bring in more light, you can think about reading our guide to the best types of wood for windows and finding the right shape and style to fit your home. Bigger windows can always be made for more space and you can even bring in skylights to certain parts of the house which will add a touch of luxury to the space.

Use Light Colours

It can be tempting during the winter to change up the home and make it cosy by adding bold and warm colours such as red and orange into every part of the house. Although this is a great way to make the house feel warmer, if you don’t have a lot of space and light it can make the home feel dark and cramped. Try to stick to lighter festive colours during this part of the year such as light blues and white, green and metallic silver and gold. You can bring in these colours through soft furnishings, decorations and artwork. Ideally, your walls will be white or a light pastel colour to reflect as much light into the home as you can.

Don’t Overcrowd 

When it gets to the festive season it can be all too tempting to cram your house full of Christmas and thanksgiving in trinkets and to hang garlands and lights in every possible space of the house. However, if you do this you will be losing more light, space, and creating shadows in your home which will make the house feel much darker and messier. Keep it simply with your decor and leave spaces between things to let the light in.

Hang Mirrors 

The best way to bring light into the home is to hang a huge mirror in your living space. Mirrors are amazing sources of extra light and space because they replace a blank wall with the illusion of your room, and they also reflect the light into the house and make your house feel larger and brighter overall.

Do you have any other tips for making your home look brighter?
If so, let me know in the comments below.
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Every year, when Spring rolls around, I find myself wanting to update my living room with the latest colours, textures, and accessories. And this year I’ve been well and truly drawn towards all the gorgeous rose gold and marble bits and pieces I’ve found when shopping on the high street.

For today’s post I thought I’d share a little bit of living room inspiration featuring the two, and talk you through how I’d update my own living room to incorporate them. I hope you’re sitting comfortably, as I feel this may end up being a long one. So, without further ado, let’s jump right in. You guys are going to love it!!

Grey 3 Seater Sofa 

First up, I’ve picked out this gorgeous ash grey 3 seater sofa from DFS. I absolutely love the colour of it and think it would look fab surrounded by rose gold and marble accessories. At just £399, this particular sofa isn’t going to break the bank. And from the reviews I’ve read online, people who have recently purchased the sofa say it’s super comfy and adds style and panache to their living rooms. It’s clearly a winning piece!

Gorgeous Cushions

I’ve recently found myself shopping for a lot of my homewares at Wilko’s. And as they have loads of beautiful rose gold coloured accessories in store at the moment I just knew I had to include some of them in this post! I’m currently in love with their selection of cushions and think all 3 of the ones in the image above would work well in a living room with this particular colour scheme. My favourite just has to be the neutral coloured cushion with metallic hearts. I think next time I’m in town I’m going to pick a couple up to put on my own sofa. And how cute is the cushion with the bunny?!

Hex Side Table with Marble Top 

I’m a big fan of having a side table next to the chairs or sofa’s in my living room. I think it’s because I drink a lot of tea and need somewhere to put my mug! The one I have my eye on at the moment is from Graham and Green, and it has an aluminium three-legged base inspired by honeycombs and a stunning marble tabletop. I can just imagine this sitting in my living room, and think it would be admired by friends and family whenever they came to visit.

3 Tiered Trolley/Bar Cart 

Anyone who knows me well will tell you that I like to try and do things a little differently to everyone else when it comes to home decor. So instead of having shelves in my living room at the moment, I’m looking at getting a 3 tiered trolley/bar cart similar to this one from Harrods to use instead. I think it would be the perfect place to keep things like my current reading book, throws for when I’m a little chilly in the evening, or even a vase of flowers. What do you guys think?

Sunburst Wall Mirror 

When I was a teenager, I had a sunburst wall mirror that I absolutely loved. I have no idea what happened to it when I moved out of my parent’s house, but I was gutted that it had gone missing. The sunburst mirror has really made a comeback recently, and I’m desperate to get hold of one for my living room. I think this particular one from Not on the High Street would look stunning with the other rose gold and marble accessories I’ve mentioned in my post, and it would be sure to be a major talking point whenever anyone came to visit.

Marble and Copper Effect Clock 

Another piece from Wilko that I have my eye on is this stunning marble and copper effect clock. Isn’t it beautiful? It’s just perfect for adding a soft, classic touch to your living space. The marble effect face is beautifully offset by a copper effect outer rim and hands, and despite not being a rose gold shade I still think it would work well with this particular colour scheme. I’m actually considering picking up two of these as I currently have a copper kitchen and think it would look great in both rooms!

Table Lamp with Marble Base 

I think I’ve mentioned before that I hate sitting under harsh ceiling lights at night time, so I like to make sure that I have a lamp or two scattered around my living room to turn on instead. At the moment, I have my eye on this beautiful table lamp with a marble base from – yes, you guessed it – Wilko! The lamp is crafted from concrete, with a beautiful marble-effect finish that really accentuates the on-trend urban look. It comes complete with a neutral coloured faux-linen shade and would look amazing in a rose gold and marble living room. What’s not to love about it?!

Home Word Block

I picked up this gorgeous copper ‘Home’ word block when I was shopping in Wilko a couple of weeks ago, and I absolutely love it! It definitely looks more rose gold than copper, and it’s great for brightening up sideboards, windowsills, bar carts or mantelpieces. I love how they’ve changed the letter ‘O’ from the word ‘Home’ to a heart shape, and the handwritten scroll is right up my street. Can you believe it’s just £4?! It definitely looks a lot more expensive.

Meadow Flowers Canvas

I love bringing a bit of the outdoors in at this time of year, and what better way to do it than with this gorgeous meadow flower canvas from Wilko? Featuring a field of daisies blowing in the breeze, this wall art is sure to freshen up your living space wherever it’s hung. I can certainly imagine this piece hanging in my own living room. It’s a beaut!

Ombre Vase

Another way to bring the outdoors in this spring is to fill a vase with fresh or artificial flowers. And I’m sure there’s no nicer vase out there at the moment than this rose gold ombre one from Wilko! I think it would look stunning on the hex side table with the marble top that I mentioned earlier. There’s also a pink and grey version of this vase available that I think is equally as beautiful. I’d love to know if you guys agree.

Window Shutters 

And last but certainly not least, no room is complete without some sort of window covering. And at the moment I’m crazy about Thomas Sanderson Window Shutters! I just love how stylish they are, and I think some classic white wooden shutters would love amazing alongside rose gold and marble accessories. I always choose Thomas Sanderson when I’m shopping for window shutters because their products are handmade in Britain, and have 5-star unrivalled products. What’s not to love?!

And there you have it, my rose gold and marble living room inspiration for 2018! I hope you enjoyed having a read, and that it provided you with some new ideas for updating your living room this Spring.

What do you guys think of using rose gold and marble together in the home?
Let me know in the comments below.
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The living room is the heart of most homes. It’s the place where you entertain guests, curl up on the sofa after a hard day at work, and play with your children. However, if your living room is particularly small, spending any length of time in there can seem unbearable, not to mention incredibly claustrophobic. Unfortunately, there’s nothing that you can do about this, so you’re just going to have to deal with it. Right? Well, actually, there are lots of things that you can do to make your living room seem bigger. Here are some clever things for you to try.

Clear the Clutter

A cluttered room is never going to feel spacious and comfortable, so the first thing that you need to do is get rid of some of your clutter. Go through everything in your living room and put everything that is broken or you no longer need or use to one side. Then you can decide whether to throw this stuff away, donate it, or sell it on. This should open up a lot of space and give you some room to breathe. With whatever is left, see if there is anything that can be put in another room or stored away. Too busy to do it yourself? Get help from this maid service NYC and your home will be clean and de-cluttered in no time!

Purchase Multipurpose Furniture

If you want a room with storage, a table, a chair, and a footstool then it’s going to feel pretty cramped. Well, that’s unless you buy furniture that can be used for all of these purposes. An ottoman, for instance, is a perfect example. Adding some extra storage to the room this way also means that you can put away things like books and DVDs so that they’re not taking up space elsewhere.

Mount on Walls

To make a room feel larger, you have to increase floor space wherever you can. A television, for example, can take up a lot of space on a stand but doesn’t if it’s mounted on a wall, making your room feel a lot larger. You should also consider mounting lamps to the wall, rather than having floor and table lamps taking up space, and could add shelves to the walls, rather than bookcases to the floor.

Leave Shelf Space

If you have a lot of books and ornaments to be stored, then mounted shelves might not be the best idea. However, having bookcases doesn’t mean that you can’t make your room look larger. All you need to do is leave some space on the shelves and not fill them up completely. These gaps will help to make the room feel more spacious. In this case, opting for a wall to ceiling bookcase is better, as you’ll still be taking up the same amount of space on the wall, but will be able to leave more space on the shelf itself.

Choose Cool Colours

White rooms almost always look larger than rooms of any other colour so it’s always sensible to incorporate as much white into a small room as you can. Of course, you might not want a room that’s entirely white, in which case you should incorporate cool colours like blues and light greens, as these will help your room feel a lot larger than bright colours.

Match Windows and Walls

A great way to make your living room feel more spacious is to match the colour of your curtains to the colour of your walls. If they were different colours, it would be obvious that your room stops at the window, but matching the colours gives the illusion that the room continues, thus making the room feel larger. This illusion works even better in a white room with white curtains.

Keep Windows Clean 

Of course, this illusion won’t work at all if your windows are constantly dirty, as it’s clear where the room ends. Dirty windows will also decrease the amount of natural light in your living room, which is also important if you want the room to feel more spacious. To make cleaning easier, upvc windows and doors are a great choice. They require much less maintenance than wood and are incredibly easy to wipe clean, just like the glass.

Add Magic Mirrors

When it comes to making a room look larger, one of the best things that you can do is add a big mirror somewhere pivotal in the room. This works even better if the frame matches the colour of the walls. However, large mirrors can get pretty pricey, so you might want to consider buying one second hand, or group smaller mirrors together on a wall and simply paint their frames the same colour.

Choose Lighting Carefully

It may sound a tad dramatic, but lighting really can make or break a room. If you get it right, your room will look bright and spacious, but, if you get it wrong, it will look small and dingy. If you want your room to look bigger, the last thing that you want to do is rely on one overhead light, as this only lights up a small area in the room, making it appear smaller. Instead, add lamps, candles, and fairy lights to different places around the room, as this lights up the whole space.

Ditch the Door

If you want your living room to feel more spacious, and nothing above has worked, then it’s time to think bigger, and by bigger, I mean removing your door. This may seem like a drastic move, but it really will help to open the room up and will add some extra space, where you can now add photographs or storage. If you want to be able to get some privacy in your living room or simply preserve heat, then add a curtain rail above the door, so that you can pull a curtain across when necessary.

No one wants to have a small living room, and, luckily for you, you don’t have to. While these tips aren’t going to physically make your living room any bigger, they will maximise space and give the illusion of space, so that you can feel a lot more comfortable in the heart of your home.

Do you have any other tips for making your small living room look bigger?
Why not let me know in the comments below.
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