Four Common Living Room Design Mistakes

The term “living room” originates in the late 19th or early 20th century England, signaling a shift away from Victorian design conventions. In a Victorian household, it was customary for a household to receive guests in a formal room designated for the purpose.

However, late 19th century home design literature suggests that “living rooms” arose a reaction to this formality. Instead of stringently following the conventions of the time (as Victorian greeting rooms did), living rooms were meant to reflect the personality of the household and provide space for communal activity.

Since the origination of the living room, though, there has been faulty living room design.

After all, how do you design a space that serves so many different functions and must also reflect a household’s personality?

Decorating a living room can be a tightrope to walk, so our home furniture store in Dallas wanted to mention the top four design mistakes we see when it comes to living rooms.

1. Buying Uncomfortable Furniture

Your living room might look like it lept from the pages of Better Homes and Gardens, but that doesn’t necessarily make it comfortable. When you’re buying living room furniture, you have to prioritize comfort as much as aesthetic.

An impeccable, white, un-upholstered couch might look fantastic, but will anyone ever want to sit back and relax on it? What about the risk of potential red wine stains? Those tiny accent chairs might be the perfect addition to a corner of the room, but could you sit on it for longer than a minute given that it’s made of glass?

For living room furniture that serves both form and function, we recommend leather. Not only is leather as comfortable as it gets, but it’s also much easier to clean than a fabric sofa.

Browse the leather gallery today at our home furniture store in Dallas!

2. Not Having Enough Light

If your living room just feels “off,” it might be because of your lighting or lack thereof. You could have a perfectly staged living room and follow every design protocol, but your room will feel dark and sterile if it doesn’t have the appropriate lighting.

Additionally, you want to make sure you have enough diversity of lighting fixtures. It’s not enough to have all of your light come from standing fixtures. Instead, mix it up and ensure that you have lighting from all angles. You want recessed, hanging fixtures, floor fixtures, and table lighting.

Lighting also makes your living room more functional, as you can turn a table lamp on if you want to read and turn it off if you want to watch a movie with your family.

3. Not Having Enough Seating

The only thing worse than having uncomfortable seating is not having enough of it. When you design your living room, you want to design it with all sorts of entertaining in mind. Do you host your book club once a month? Do you have a neighborhood July 4th party every year?

If you anticipate having any guests over, you want to make sure you have versatile seating arrangements. To solve this problem, we recommend featuring a sectional instead of a couch or loveseat. People assume that sectionals are too bulky, but they actually tend to use space more effectively because they are singular pieces.

You could also include an ottoman to double as both a coffee table and additional seating.

If you want advice on how to maximize seating in a smaller room, be sure to call Bailey’s Furniture today! Our home furniture store in Dallas has a team dedicated entirely to decor, so we can give advice on your living room design.

4. Including Too Much Memorabilia

There’s a place for family mementos, and it’s unfortunately not the living room. While of course you want to feature design elements that reflect your family, you don’t necessarily want to clutter the room with smaller trinkets related to family trips, sports teams, and school pictures.

Instead, keep decorative pieces on your mantle such as candles, picture frames (here’s a great chance to showcase your family), and vases.

Bailey’s Furniture in Dallas

If you want to redesign your living room to epitomize form and function, stop by our home furniture store in Dallas today.

Bailey’s has an array of living room furniture, lighting, and accents. Plus, our skilled design team can help you stage the furniture perfectly for your home.

Explore our collection online or stop by our store in Dallas today!