4 Tips To Modernize Your Living Area

You can only look around at the same old living room so many times before you realize it’s time to make a change. Getting with the times and modernizing your living room might not be as challenging or even as expensive as you might initially have thought. Use these four tips to give your living room the makeover it deserves on a budget that doesn’t break the bank.

Take a Look At What You’ve Got

Sometimes, what you need is waiting right in front of your nose. Your house might already have all the necessary elements to craft a modern living room. Take a detailed look and prepare an inventory of all the furniture you’ve got sitting around.

Once you know what you’re working with, it’s time to get creative. Break away from the usual layouts that you’re used to. Make the TV the centerpiece of your room by placing it away from the wall. Or, draw the focus to a piece of art by framing it with smaller pieces of furniture like a table or even tall plants. You’ll be surprised by the potential that your living room already holds, and it’s easy on the wallet too.

Modernism isn’t the same thing as minimalism, but it does mean doing less with more. Being smart about the way you organize your living room can have a much bigger impact than any new wallpaper or fancy interior lighting. Integrate your favorite bookshelf into a cozy alcove and it’ll feel like you’re looking at a whole new room.

Small Changes, Big Impacts

Modern doesn’t have to mean bombastic. Instead of jumping for top-of-the-line LED lighting and integrated projectors, start small with subtle changes. For example, you could easily work a bit of greenery into your living room with small house plants to accent your wooden furniture. If larger house plants are out of your budget, you can always splurge out on multiple small plants and space them throughout your living room for a stunning look.

This philosophy also applies to the other elements of your living room. Throw it back with vintage throw pillows for your couch or a retro clock on the mantle. The secret to achieving a modern look isn’t to jump for futuristic decor, but to blend the new and the old to create a timeless space.

Revamp Your Lighting

Great lighting can make even cheap and crumbling furniture look avant-garde. It’s the ultimate determinant of how modern your living room will ultimately look. You should have at least a general idea of the kind of lighting setup that your living room will use before you start splurging out on any other expensive aesthetic choices.

Lighting is, of course, entirely subjective. That said, there are still a few things you can keep in mind to nail that modern look. You should prioritize simple lighting over complex multi-colored schemes. Cooler tones add lithe, modern energy to any room that just can’t be beaten by your average warm yellow light. Seek to accent your living room with creative light placements, like using LED strips to outline your TV or any other central showpiece.

Re-Thinking Color Schemes

A coherent color scheme ties all the different elements of your living room together to create that distinct modern look we’re going for. There’s no shortage of creative color schemes that you can design around; however, many trending modern designs do tend to follow a certain monochromatic pattern.

It might be tempting to follow suit, but pulling a monochrome scheme is much harder than it looks. A successful monochrome scheme demands conformity from most, if not all, of your furniture and wall colors. For most people, this would involve replacing and recoloring a massive chunk of their living room–an expensive endeavor.

You can’t go wrong with earth tones if you’re having trouble deciding on a color scheme for your living room. That iconic blend of brown, black, and understated green opens up the room and makes for a calm vibe in the busiest of living spaces—welcome to nirvana in the concrete jungle.

Step Into a New Way Of Living

Your living room is the crown jewel of your place. It’s always worth going through a redesign to live in a space you can call your own. Follow these tips for a living room that never goes out of style.