5 Tips for designing perfect sitting rooms
1. Plan. As with all my interior design work the only way to really know if things are going to fit is to start with a measured plan, you don’t have to be an expert to take the measurements of your room and create a fairly accurate plan, use a square lined paper for ease.
Measure and draw on your existing furniture or cut them up on a separate piece of paper so that you can lay them on and play about with the layout. Now you can start to see the room come together, it will allow you to go shopping for new pieces of furniture that are the right size for your room.
2. Furniture. When choosing the major pieces of furniture try to choose pieces that you will like for a long time, classic pieces modern or traditional that won’t date the moment you get them home.
It is all too tempting to choose pieces that are bold and fashionable at the moment but is far safer to buy bold and fashionable accessories such as cushions that you can change easier when you get tired of them.
3. Lighting. Lighting adds greatly to the ambience of a room and is so important. Table lamps are a must, most of the time we only ever use table lamps at home as they give a wonderful light quality if fitted with the right lamp, avoid bright white. The temperature of the light bulb will be on the packaging and should be 2700K. The right spotlighting directed onto pictures can add to the atmosphere. I am not keen on overhead pendants in a sitting room.
4. Audio Visual. Audio Visual should considered early on as it is so much easier to provide power and the necessary wiring before putting everything in place. There is so much choice that I am not going to cover the options in depth. However, the main thing to consider is what the room is going to be used for.
If the main use of the room is for entertaining and talking to friends then perhaps the TV becomes secondary and one that isn’t obvious should be considered, there are some great versions that look like mirrors or pictures on the wall
5. Decorating. Decorating, again this difficult as there are so many choices and it is up to your personal taste and the space. But again I would urge caution and go for colours or patterns that won’t go out of fashion or drive you mad after a short time. Reserve the colour and pattern for items that you can easily and inexpensively change.