Home furnishing & interior design ideas

Furnishing an apartment - contemporary style living room

To create harmony and comfortable interior in an apartment, it is necessary that everything is planned on paper first. As experience shows, it is better that the sketching of the interior design is divided in separate levels in considering the fundamental rules in each of them.

Arranging the space is the most complex and in the same time the most interesting stage of the preparation. As smaller is an apartment as the imagination of the designer has to be bigger. For example, if you have very small rooms, you do not have to block their space with wardrobes, it would be better to move them in the corridor. Use additional lighting and mirrors to make the space more commodious. To form a clear idea of the type of furniture you could buy, take the dimensions of the floor, doors, windows, walls etc.

The next stage is choosing the colour. This question has to be examined really carefully. Competent using of colours in decorating could bring good psychological effect. Every colour has precise energy – it could make comfort, stimulate, inspire or even calm. Pay attention to the orientation of the rooms before you make your final decision about the colour – if they look north – use warm tones; if they look south – cold tones.

Style. Obviously classic styles such as Baroque and Victorian are suitable for spacious houses with high ceilings. Their characteristic features are heavy architectural elements which could be difficult realized in confined city apartments. These styles envisage also leaving big voids, which is too irrational for an apartment.

Contemporary Living room interior design

Suitable styles for an apartment are:

Modernistic: Its characteristics are cold colours of the water and air, floral patterns and geometrical figures, and neoplasticism also – the so called “alive” architecture. This style is inspired by the technological home equipment and is represented in different forms – for example, sofas with screwy or asymmetric long drawn - out design are so typical for this style as sofas with strict geometrical form and long backrest.

Art deco: The use of sweeping curves is typical of it – straight or with sharp returns, which look like realized graphics. Ornaments and decorations of the furniture have triangular, square, round or zigzag shapes. The most used materials in the furniture in this style are metals – stainless steel, iron, bronze.

Living room elegant table

Minimalism: It is characterized by use of most necessary elements only. The space would be not elaborate in reason to be made impression of “alive and breathing” home. Bright colours are used mostly, lightly contoured with black or grey. Materials are rude and natural. The shapes of the furniture are simple and extra conveniences like pillows on sofas are not characteristic.

High technology style: Interior like this is created by combination of space and light, propagandizing aesthetic form of materials and their structures. This design is typical for industrial buildings where metal constructions and technical devices are exposed. Synthetic materials combined with stone, glass and metal are used in this style. The absence of any decoration forms in the interior is compensated by the type of the furniture with unique design, made of plastic and other unusual materials. This style is hardly suitable for small city apartments because it makes economies in the space with its few elements in the interior.

Finally – the eclecticism: Few people today furnish their entire homes in only one style. Bold combination of some disparate styles separate in different places in the apartment – this is the new characterization of the conventional standards in contemporary design.

Charming furniture set for the living room

The living room is not only the place where all family get together but where guests are received. Therefore this room should be furnished in way to be not only functional and with pleasant, predisposing atmosphere but also to be representative.

The most important element in a living-room is making environment, conducive to communication. To do this, the upholstered furniture should be arranged in way to ensure visual contact between sat people. Most frequently this is achieved with U or L-shaped sofas or couches. Further more the upholstered furniture should be chosen so as to fit the measures in the room. It is not necessary small spaces to be crammed with furniture i.e. small rooms could be furnished only with sofas and armchairs, wide couches are not obligatory. Transforming furniture is in general currency – sofa-bed, extending table. They are very practical because they could have different function according to your needs.

In view of the fact that the living-room is place mostly for repose it is necessary that the furniture will be comfortable and ergonomic. Not only has the upholstered furniture to meet your preferences, but also the rest part of the furniture should not be neglected.

If you have TV in your living-room, you should consider carefully the level position to put it, because watching TV should not be burdening pursuit but relaxing. Besides, the sunlight from the window should not hinder its picture.

Living space with plasma pop up (photo by Signa One)

The type of flooring – marble, terracotta, parquet, moquette or carpet – should be chosen in way not only to be easy for maintenance but also to respond the house environment and to have good aesthetic look. It is very often that people chose combination of two types of flooring. Despite all, “old-fashioned” carpets in different shapes and colours, give the room more domesticity.

Wallpapers and renderings should be conformed to rest of rooms. If you want to lend a jolly atmosphere in the living-room, experiment with colours and contrasts.

Living room wall renderings

Aggressive or calming colours – this is personal choice, conformed to occupants’ character.

For the right finish state to the living-room, you should pay attention to the small details too. These could be bookcases, small tables, pictures, bowls of flowers, souvenirs. The small table is frequently main accent in the living-room design and its most widespread variants are made by glass or wood materials.

In accordance with Feng Shui decrees some fundamental rules should be taken into consideration in the living-room furniture:

• It should not have isolated places in the living-room, in each corner should be placed something as a work of art, plant or souvenir;
• Big walls shouldn’t be empty – decorate them with mirrors or pictures;
• Do not clutter the living-room with furniture and objects;
• Do not place the TV in central position;
• Arrange the furniture in semicircular shapes; do not put it against the wall, place it faced to the door;
• Arrange cushiony pillows and fresh-cut flowers;
• The living-room should be sufficiently spacious and light;