Your living room is easily one of the most important rooms in your rental home. Think about it. The living room is the place in your home where family and friends gather. Don’t you want to create a space that everyone will feel comfortable in?
A leading design website, MyDomaine, has come to the rescue. The editors asked a leading stylist, an interior designer, and a residential architect to share their opinions. Here’s what they had to say about the most common living room mistakes with advice on how to avoid them.
Mistake #1: A Great Living Room Starts With a Great Sofa
“So often I come into a house and the owners have good taste, but they already have a sofa that they want to work with,” explains stylist and TV host Emily Henderson. “I’ve had to break the news over and over that with a sofa like that, they would never get the room they want.”
The easy way to avoid choosing the wrong sofa is to keep it simple. Don’t fall for the trend of the day. Stay away from overly ornate details and instead, look for quality and timelessness.
Mistake #2: Don’t Go All Showroom
“It’s important to us to mix new and vintage elements in order to create an interesting, eclectic, and individualized room.” That advice from New York-based architect Elizabeth Roberts. She adds that accessorizing can steer renters away from a living room that that looks like they bought everything from the same store.
After your large items have been purchased, change things up a bit through lighting, textiles, and accessories.
Mistake #3: Small Rug Syndrome
“America has been suffering for too long from ‘small rug’ syndrome,” she says. “I see it virtually every day, and it pains me—especially when it can be so easily avoided.”
Figure out the right size rug before you buy. For most living rooms, that size is 8-by-10 feet. Even if you have a small space, stay away from anything under 6-by-9-feet.
Mistake #4: Making the Most of Your Layout
A lot of planning goes into creating a tasteful living room. Roberts has some excellent ideas on how to accomplish the right layout the first time.
“It’s important to consider and create conversation groupings, especially if the room is long and narrow like many townhouses and lofts,” she says.
Mistake #5: Installing Your Art Correctly
“Art hung the wrong way on a wall is like a character in a movie wearing a really bad wig,” Henderson says, “it’s just kinda hard not to see it, and you wish so bad you could just rip it off, knowing that everything would be so much better without it. It doesn’t ruin your experience, but it’s just terribly distracting.”
While typically, art should be hung at eye level, that is not always the case. To determine the right level, look your walls as if they were cut up vertically into four sections and hang your art in the third quadrant.
Mistake #6: Too Precious to Touch
Long gone are the days of formal living rooms. Today’s living rooms are meant for living. Roberts suggests renters create a space that can handle everything you, your family and friends throw at it. A great idea is to use outdoor fabrics because they are sturdier, especially if you have dogs and/or kids.
“Select textiles and rugs that can take the wear and tear of everyday living,” Henderson recommends.
Mistake #7: Combining Periods
Dick says, “Often times people feel boxed in and limited by the architecture of their home and select furniture based on the home’s architecture and time period. Our solution is to mix furniture styles with the style of architecture. We love to recover and rework vintage pieces and mix them with custom sofas, so the living room feels timeless and approachable.”
When combining periods and styles, pay special attention to furniture heights. Traditional furniture is typically taller than modern pieces.
As the County’s premier full-service Property Management, ReMax Gold Coast is here to help renters find the perfect property where they can create the perfect living and avoid these design mistakes. Or just rent one of our property’s that are already furnished. We represent premier long-term rentals in Hollywood Beach, Silverstrand, Mandalay Shores, Port Hueneme, Oxnard Shores, Seabridge, Westport, Mandalay Bay, Oxnard homes and condos, Ventura Keys, Pier Pont, Faria, Solimar & Rincon BeachPark beaches and Ventura and Camarillo. Please call us at +1 (805) 832-4075.
