Designing a Living Room | Wayfair (2024)

A well-designed living room should feel cohesive but not contrived, thoughtful yet comfortable. Before you simply start buying all-new furniture that catches your eye, you need to establish your vision for the space. Below are some neutral living room ideas to help inspire you.

Start With a Classic Background

Painting a living room white gives you a clean, fresh start – a blank canvas so to speak – on which you can layer more interesting elements. Combined with natural oak hardwood floors, white walls instantly make the space look and feel lighter.

To add depth and balance, choose a couple elements in the living room that can be emphasized with black paint. In this homeowner’s case, it’s the staircase and exterior doors. A black-and-white color palette is classic and timeless. But more than that, black paint is a low-cost, high-impact way to balance out the stark white. To make the color palette feel intentional, incorporate it throughout the rest of the house in small doses.

Designing a living room with contrasting neutrals helps create visual intrigue and gives the space that effortless collected feeling. In this example, the neutral color palette consists of black, white, gray, blue-gray, blush, ivory, and off-white.

Don’t be afraid to mix warm and cool tones. Combining contrasting elements keeps the space from feeling monotonous and uninteresting. For example, when the cool-toned gray sofa is juxtaposed against the warm wood floors, the entire vignette feels dynamic and full of energy.

The design principle of juxtaposition also applies to metals. In this case, the brass of the chandelier contrasts against the chrome in the accent chairs and bench. Layered neutrals and mixed metals create a visually interesting space that captures attention without creating stimulatory overload.

Maximize Texture

Texture is a very important design element in any room design but especially one with a neutral color palette. Neutral colors carry little visual weight. As a result, they aren’t very interesting to look at. However, texture makes up for that.

Texture also elevates the physical experience of the living room by making it feel comfortable, intimate, and grounded. Keep in mind however, the objective of maximizing texture isn’t to mindlessly fill a room with visual weight, but to create a sense of connection, order, and comfort.

Here are a few things to consider in order to effectively layer texture in a living room:

Architectural elements: In this example you see crown molding, a fireplace trim, tile , layered baseboards, and a window trim. Other architectural elements that add texture include chair rails, ceiling beams, and various wall paneling treatments.

Furniture: The tufts in the sofa and leather bench, the velvet fabric on the barrel chairs, and the geometric credenza are all great examples of neutral furniture with loads of texture.

Textiles: The linen of the curtains, the patterned floor rug, and the canvas lamp shades – all these textiles add lots of depth to the room.

Decor and accessories: Vases, decorative sculptures, and faux greenery are great ways to introduce texture in small doses. You can create a statement by arranging a vignette with contrasting textures, like a sleek, oversize vase against woven wall art. This example, however, shows similar textures grouped together, which is equally interesting. You see the same geometric texture in the decanters, artwork, and the credenza.

Lighting: Lighting is one of the biggest contributors of texture in the living room – both physically and visually. When layered correctly, lighting can transform a stark living room into an intimate and soothing space.

Cost Breakdown

The estimated total cost of this living room remodel is $5,845. Below is the breakdown:

• Hardwood flooring + installation: $675
• Paint + labor: $820
• Furniture: $3,075
• Textiles: $250
• Decor and accessories: $500
• Lighting: $525

Oksana Strelkova is a passionate blogger who writes about intentional living and design. She has been featured on Domino.com, House Beautiful, Good Housekeeping, and many others. A wife and mother of two darling girls, when not designing or blogging, she’s usually redecorating their home or daydreaming of their next trip abroad (she and her husband have visited nearly 30 countries together). Follow Oksana's latest house flip on FOXYOXIE.com and Instagram.