Decorating a living room is a favourite task for many interior designers, because the living room is where personality really shines through. With the right colours, finishes and furniture, the living room is the perfect place for its owner to look their best.
Very often, living rooms are decorated with the TV in mind, with the TV on one wall, the sofa on the other and a coffee table in between. In reality, there are many other ways of decorating a living room, from the TV to another accentuating element around which to create the interior. These elements could be a striking rug, a large shelf, a chest of drawers, an effect wall or even your favourite wallpaper.
The possibilities in the living room are endless, with plenty of floor space, but you can also make use of the walls and ceiling. Feel free to try out the different options we'll go through in this article. You'll see how surprising solutions can look really good in your living room.
In this article, you will learn how to decorate your living room using wood. For the biggest interior design trends of the moment, check out our comprehensive interior design trends report.
Decorating a living room with wood
Wood has been the number one material in interior design for years. The strong demand for wood is mainly due to its beautiful appearance, but in recent years it has been boosted by its ecological and health benefits.
You may not have known that wood has been proven to support your well-being. Looking and touching a tree reduces stress hormones, lowers blood pressure, increases feelings of well-being and recharges your batteries. So wood has restorative effects, making it a totally unique material for interior design. It also lowers your heart rate when you have lots of wooden surfaces and materials in the room.
Wood also balances indoor humidity. In humid air, wood absorbs excess moisture and in dry air (for example, during winter frosts) it releases moisture, maintaining a better indoor moisture balance.
7 tips on how to decorate your living room successfully
1) Combine different colours boldly
The trendiest colours at the moment are beige, different shades of brown, red-brown and yellow. The most popular accent colours are shades of green and blue. Warm metallic shades such as copper, brass and rose gold are also very popular. In addition, the different shades of wood can be considered as a category of their own, as hundreds of thousands of Finnish homes are currently decorated with different shades of wood. Warm shades are therefore currently very popular.
Remember, it's best to mix and match colours boldly. Combine black and white to create a nicely balanced look, where the contrasting colours support each other. Too dark can create a gloomy atmosphere, while too light can create a characteristically over-clean look. Combining black and white gives a balanced look, while accent colours add a nice splash of colour to your living room.
If you are decorating your living room with several warm tones, use shades with the same contrasting tonal range. This way, the shades support and reinforce each other, making the end result inviting and approachable.
2) Create atmosphere with wooden surfaces
If you're in the mood to decorate your living room, wooden furniture in the same colour scheme, an accent wall and other details will add a finishing touch to your living room. Plus, you can sand and refinish the wooden surfaces, changing the whole atmosphere of your living room again!
Wood can easily be used for sofa and chair legs, coffee table, chest of drawers, bookcase, effect wall and bulkhead. Wood is a durable and timeless material that gives a warm and cosy atmosphere to your living room.
Wood also has the unique ability to reflect light and distribute it around the room.
3) Decorating the living room for natural light
Natural light is the most beautiful of all lights. That's why window sizes, especially in living rooms, are constantly increasing, and floor-to-ceiling windows are not uncommon. If you want to get the most out of natural light, consider the surfaces where it "hits".
Wood surfaces, for example, have a unique ability to reflect light naturally around the room. Therefore, we recommend that you always consider the direction of natural light when planning to create a wooden effect wall, for example.
Also take into account the direction of light at different times of the day. If the surface of the effect wall has a pattern, the light reflected on it will create beautiful shadows, changing the appearance of the wall according to the time of day.
4) Wooden accent wall in the living room
Wooden effect walls are stylish and easy to make. In fact, it's easier than wallpapering! That's why decorating your living room with a wooden effect wall is becoming increasingly popular.
In addition to its elegance, the effect wall makes the living room sound more pleasant. Wood has completely different acoustic properties to concrete, stone or plasterboard. For example, wood reduces echo in the room.
Pile up an accent wall in a herringbone or brickwork pattern with our PALA™ adhesive panel or use our hide-away panels with nails. In addition to PALA, our most popular panels include VIRE, STRUCTURE, USVA, AAVA and KOO interior panels.
5) Use different surface materials depending on the intended use
Decorating your living room with different surface materials creates a homely atmosphere. Wood, leather, metal, stone, fabric and glass are the most typical finishes used in living rooms.
The surface material should always be chosen according to your current needs. A white fabric sofa may not be the best choice if your family includes a dog that likes to climb on the sofa. So it's best to match your own preferences and life situation so that your furniture and goods last as long as possible.
6) Ceiling mats are now very popular
Ceiling tiles allow you to create a completely unique atmosphere in your living room. Too often, when designing an interior, the bulkhead is completely ignored, except for the lighting fixture. However, the colour and texture of the bulkhead can make a big difference to how spacious and cosy your living room feels. A light-coloured bulkhead creates space and spaciousness, while a dark bulkhead will give your living room a more intense feel.
In addition to standard ceiling stripes, you can also use our VALO panels. An LED strip is hidden in the open space between the panels. The intensity of the illumination can be completely determined by the number of light strips. With VALO panels, you don't need any other ceiling lighting in your room, and the lights create a beautiful reflection on the wall, adding a calming atmosphere to your living room interior.
7) Combine new and old
We Finns are increasingly buying goods second-hand. This is a very good direction for sustainable development, which is also fully supported by woodworking and wood construction. An old and sturdy chest of drawers, coffee table or TV table is a great way to add personality to your living room and remove the "catalogue feeling". So you don't have to try to decorate everything with products from the same family, but in the end, one unique thing in your living room can be the thing around which the whole living room decor is ultimately built.
Our Interior Trends report also shows that the popularity of second-hand and restored goods and furniture is now on the rise.
Living room interior design - summary
Decorating a living room is a very creative activity, where your own ideas can really shine through! The living room doesn't have to be as practical as most other rooms, so there are fewer "rules" when it comes to decorating it. The most important thing is that you enjoy your living room. One great way to do that is to make the most of wood in your living room.
The 7 most important things you should consider when decorating your living room:
1) Combine different colours boldly
2) Create atmosphere with wooden surfaces
3) Decorating your living room with natural light
4) The wooden effect wall is a unique detail
5) Use different surface materials depending on the intended use
6) Ceiling mats are now very popular
7) Combine new and old
Be sure to read our full interior trends report, which you can find here.
All our different interior panels can be found here. If you have any questions about bedroom decorating, please contact us. We are wood interior design professionals and work with dozens of interior designers and architects!
