10 golden rules for an immaculate living room

1. Give it a layout that makes sense

Don’t leave your living room furniture layout to chance. Aim to leave enough space between each piece and ensure that everything has its own place and function in the room.

2. Out with the superfluous

Any unused items that have been gathering dust and taking up unnecessary space for a long time won’t do the room any favours. Your living room will thank you for getting rid of them.

3. Well-organised home textiles

Avoid sloppiness by keeping blankets and throws neatly folded over the arms of the sofa or store them away in baskets or trunks. If you prefer to leave them on show and make them a design feature, at least keep them well ironed :-) Yes, you read that right! It’s the small details that make all the difference.

4. Tidy drawers

Drawers in any piece of furniture are great for storing things that we want to keep out of sight, but it can be a little too easy to stuff too much in and close the drawer on it all. The ideal solution are drawer dividers to keep everything nicely ordered and easy to find.

5. De-clutter your coffee table

If you’ve got a coffee table in your living room, make sure you can actually see the table! Careful you don’t accumulate too many magazines or fill it with a lot of clutter. If you’re still at the shopping stage, make sure it has a drawer or compartment to store all those little things you don’t know where to put (reading glasses, pens, notebooks, etc.). And for tips on keeping it well organised, check out our post on how to decorate your coffee table.

6. Free up space

It makes a lot of sense to get rid of things we don’t use – they just take up space we could be using for other things.

7. On the straight and narrow

Whether books, magazines, pictures on the wall or rugs, make sure they’re nice and straight and visually pleasing.

8. Give away old books

Once in a while, find the time to sift through your bookshelves and set aside all those redundant books you’ve already read. You’ll probably want to keep hold of those you still love, but give the rest away to charities, libraries, or your friends.

9. Shipshape shelves

We’ve found the winning formula to a perfectly balanced shelf, so take note! Allocate 60% of the shelf space to large items (baskets, books or pictures), 10% to decorative objects, and leave the rest empty.

10. Cushions in proportion

If your sofa is smothered in cushions it can look untidy and feel a bit chaotic. If you’re unsure whether you’ve gone a bit OTT, count one per seat plus one extra.

Voilà! Your living room wizardry is limitless! So what’s next? How to become a living room design guru.