Giving your living room a reboot is one of the best things you can do as a gift to yourself. Not only is this therapeutic, but this is also the best way to keep up with today’s trends in home decorating. Aside from that, the room makeover will surely allow you to declutter making your home feel refreshed and loved again. Such an atmosphere boosts creativity and productivity – two things you surely want in your home. So, to begin, here are some living room makeover tips you can do like a pro.
When it comes to giving your living room a facelift, Chris and Julia Marcum who specialize on all things DIY in home design gives these pretty nifty ideas. The only thing you need is a few supplies from any hardware store and you’re good to do.
If in case you aren’t familiar with the term, “floating floor” refers to how floors are installed. In other words, a floating floor is a kind of floor that does not need to be glued or nailed to the subfloor. You have individual planks, boards or tiles that are installed by snapping them together. This method saves a lot of money and gets the work done at a faster pace. There are different types of floating floors to choose from depending on your taste like laminate flooring, luxury vinyl flooring (LVF), or engineered flooring. For your living room, one of the best kinds of flooring is that which comes with a dark stain and a certain type of finish that mimics real hardwood. With just a few tools, the flooring can be installed within the day. Seeing the floating floor instead of the carpet gives your living room an instant sophisticated facelift.
You can actually make beautiful art pieces in no time! Chris and Julia did one that was super simple by making colorful swirly lines using an oversized drywall masher. This piece took less than an hour. It looks absolutely classically stylish because of the white-charcoal-gray-tan color scheme. After painting those lines onto the canvas, they then painted some wooden trim pieces as a frame. This wood trim was then nailed around the perimeter of the canvas. Just like that, they were able to make a beautiful piece of stamped canvas art. If you want to make one for your living room, do a dry run of the stamping pattern or technique first on a piece of cardboard or fabric. This way, you will be able to master the technique and have a good estimate as to how many stamps you need to fill the area of your canvas.
The Marcums make it extremely easy to build a side table. They used some stock lumber to build two-tone end tables. They used 2×2 poplar pieces to build the modern box base and then painted it crisp white. The top was made by cutting 2x4s and stained them light gray. These wooden pieces were all assembled using some wood screws and just dabs of glue. Because it is easy to do, you can make them within a few hours. These side tables make your living room feel put together since they will go really well with your sofa.
Not all living rooms are created equal. There are apartments where the living room is either too big or too cramped up. At other times, space feels empty and so very tired. With these living room makeover tips, you would know a number of practical and creative ways to fix common living room issues. The first issue, which is one of the most common ones, is how to fix a living room that is just too big.
If you have too much space, what you need to do first is to provide the space with a focal point or a visual anchor so you prevent the eyes from wandering upward and beyond. You can add a ventless fireplace installed at the middle of that vast space and have some built-in bookshelves shelves just at the lower half. Aside from the focal point, you can replace traditional furniture with sectional and heavy leather chairs. This makes space feel smaller, cozier, and more substantial. Define the space with a really nice carpet and embellish the place with details that are brightly colored.
On the other hand, if your living room space is too cramped, you may need to do a bit more work. If for example, you have a wall that separates the living room from the kitchen, it may be a good idea to take this down. Once that wall is taken down, then you can start thinking of redecorating. If there is no way for you to take down a wall to make more space, then consider paring down on your furniture and decorations. Be picky with the pieces you want to see in your living room. It helps to apply Marie Kondo’s “Spark Joy” Technique where you basically ask yourself, “Does this spark joy?” when it comes to pieces of furniture or pretty much anything in your home. If your answer is “no,” well, then, let that item go. Pretty simple, really. We may have a lack of space just because we have too much stuff.