By Sarah Macklin 
When it comes to creating the living room of your dreams, it can be easy to get lost between the folds of sofa cushions and curtains.
Do you find your home decor items aren’t working together any more? Perhaps you think the room flow just doesn’t feel right. Or maybe the space feels smaller than it every used to.
If you feel like your ceilings are closing in on you, then there is some work to be done to open up the space. Some genius hacks can help you take your living room from cluttered and crowded to big, bright, and beautiful.
Making your living room come to life
Dominic Walsh, CEO at Off the Grain, has some ideas on how to improve your existing living space: “Your living room should be the haven of comfort in your home. It is a space to gather friends and family as well as relax after a long day. But feeling like you’re being cramped into a small and cluttered room can quickly become overwhelming.” Off the Grain are experts in premium home furniture.
Bringing your living room to life can take much more than just a new lick of paint. In fact, your furniture choices, lighting, and more could be making your room much smaller than it needs to be. But don’t worry, it isn’t difficult to change – with a few simple hacks and some optical illusions, you can make any size living room feel that bit bigger.
1. Improve your storage
The main issue most homeowners encounter is storage. Whether you have children’s toys scattered across your floors or not enough room to put your valuables, storage solutions are key to creating a better flowing room, no matter its location in the home.
Dominic says: “It might seem obvious to most, but finding places to hide your clutter is the way forward when you want to open up any room. And with the living room being the central hub for the family, it can quickly become a mess.
“Instead of letting it become a problem, evaluate what you need in each room. Then spend some time considering where it would be functional to put these items, how often you will need them, and what furniture is best to hide them away for safekeeping.”
The living room requires more storage than you can imagine. We all have a coffee table of sorts collecting books and letters, but other storage solution furniture could also come to the rescue. Consider using a coat rack as a makeshift blanket holder – perfectly within reach for those chilly nights.
Or radiator covers could be a great additional surface space for you to put your favourite pictures, reed diffusers, and more. Balance your living room with varying heights of furniture helps your eyes flow around the room better and ensures each part of your room feels used without it being too much.
2. Use neutral colours
White is the clear choice when you want to brighten up your walls; however, it can create a harsh contrast against your other furniture and make your room appear incoherent. Instead, finding a happy medium colour, such as a neutral brown or light grey, can help balance the room better.
Painting your ceilings in a bright white to contrast the neutral tones can then make your ceilings appear taller. This will lengthen your room and make it feel as though you have more headspace – stopping that cramped feeling.
“Single-tone rooms, where the walls and ceiling are all the same colour, don’t add dimension to your room. This makes balancing the space more difficult. Whereas having a contrasting ceiling colour can help change the shape of your room – lighter for taller and darker for that cosy, shorter feeling,” says Dominic.
3. Have a feature mirror
Lighting is your best friend when it comes to improving any room. Dark corners in a room can make it seem much smaller than it actually is.
“Adding something as simple as a feature mirror can help improve the lighting in your room. The mirror will help share more light, as well as attract the eyes away from the corners of the room towards the centre of the wall,” Dominic says.
This can also distract away from the television being the focal point, making your room more multifunctional and better for socialising.
Another way to distract from the dark television screen is by framing it and making it a piece of art, as many have started incorporating their own television into the decor rather than a standout piece. This will make it feel like it is taking up less space as it will fit effortlessly into your interior design.
4. Shift the focus
Dominic continues, “You should also consider moving art and mirrors higher up the wall than you normally would to give the illusion that your walls are taller than they are.”
Shifting focus is about making sure your walls appear tall to give you more space to play. While decor on the walls can help elevate this, your lighting fixture could be causing you issues.
Large overhead lights, such as a chandelier, could make your ceiling appear lower. You want as much distance between yourself and anything overhead as possible. So consider swapping your low-hanging ceiling light for a more modern, flushed design.
Swapping out your tall sofas for ones that sit lower to the ground can also give your room a larger illusion without sacrificing comfort.
Sizing up your living room doesn’t have to involve raising the ceilings or extending the space. Instead, you can use lighting, furniture sizes, and storage solutions to give your room a sleeker, modern, and fully finished feel.
