Nobody likes spending time in a cramped and cluttered living room – and for good reason too. The living room should be a place of rest and relaxation for both homeowners and guests when they are visiting.
However, for smaller homes such as 3 room HDB flats or even 2 room condominiums, there’s just not much space to work with. Fortunately, we have you covered – here are some small living room design ideas for those who are curious about how to best furnish your living room even with limited space.
How Do You Make a Small Living Room Look Bigger?
If you have limited space in your living room, knowing how to save space while simultaneously visually enhancing it is key. Here are some tips on how to arrange your furniture in a small living room!
1. Incorporate wallpapers into the design
When deciding on a layout for your living room, it is ideal to have around two focal points to build your furniture layout around. It can be an eye-catching patterned rug, a handsome leather sofa or a feature wall.
When it comes to a small living room, one focal point is all you need. However, it is important that the focal point complements your small living room space. For instance, a bright and luxurious sofa will only overcrowd the room if it’s too big and disproportionate to the size of the living room.
As such, a safer space-saving option would be to wallpaper one of your walls to create a feature wall. This can help to interweave another layer of texture into your small living room without taking up too much space. It also helps to add depth and boost light – all by papering a part of your wall.
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2. Use mirrors
It’s been said over and over – but mirrors are a true godsend when it comes to decorating small spaces. Firstly, they help to reflect light, which immediately brightens up the space and makes your small living room look bigger.
Secondly, mirrors help to visually extend your small living room, giving it the illusion of a bigger space.
3. Add in more storage
Furniture with built-in storage will do wonders in giving your home a clutter-free and spacious appearance. For instance, a storage ottoman can act as both a storage unit as well as a seat.
Similarly, getting a small chest of drawers instead of a coffee table or a side table can help you increase the storage capacity of your small living room. This will help to create a neat and tidy living room that appears less cramped and cluttered.
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4. Scale down your furniture
If you have limited space in your living room, your furniture should be proportionate to that space. In a small living room, instead of choosing a bulky L-shaped sofa, lean towards a 2-seater sofa instead.
You can always add in additional seats in the form of comfortable bean bags or simple chairs when guests are coming over.
Similarly, instead of a sleek and classy coffee table, opt for a lighter and smaller side table instead. It can still serve a similar function without occupying too much space in the living room.
Scaling down your furniture sizes so that they’re proportionate to your small living room is a great way to create a cosy and neat space that looks well-furnished but not excessively crowded.
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What colours make a small room look bigger?
When it comes to visually enhancing the space of your small living room, light colours are your best friend. Colours like white, khaki, grey and other similar shades reflect light better and will help to brighten up your small living room.
If you are worried that using the same few colours in painting your living room will cause your house to look monotonous and boring, a good tip when choosing interior paint colours would be to select one colour and use slightly lighter or slightly darker shades to mix things up.
This way, the colour scheme stays consistent and coherent, but there is enough variation to keep your small living room surprising at every turn! On the other hand, to avoid going overboard with the selection of colours and causing your small living room to look messy and inconsistent, a smart guide would be to pick three or fewer colours.
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Creative and stylish small living room ideas
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Buangkok Crescent
Designed by Neu Konceptz, this 2-room HDB project shows how small spaces don’t necessarily mean you have to scrimp on the design.
The living room follows a clean white, black and grey colour scheme to create a stylish and sophisticated minimalistic home. The size of the furniture pieces are kept proportionate to the amount of space available so that the living room and dining area do not look cluttered.
Nevertheless, despite the simplistic and clean design, this small living room does not look plain or empty. The black stripes on the TV feature wall as well as the tall potted plant act as space-saving decorative elements. They help to add some colour and texture to the small living room design without cluttering the living room visually.
A simplistic and clean small living room design. For more information, click here.
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Blk 46 Jalan Bukit Ho Swee
Designed by Butler Interior, this resale apartment has an area size of only 47 metres square, which is almost half of the average apartment size in Singapore (95 metres square).
However, this industrial and Scandinavian-themed home manages to utilise its living room space efficiently to create a cosy and comfortable small living room design. The use of wood flooring helps to add a sense of warmth and cosiness to the space of the living room, and is well complemented by the decorative green plants and the white walls.
The choice to paint one of the walls black helps to ground the space of the small living room so that it does not look overly stark and cold. It also adds depth to the space and breaks any potential monotony in the neutral colour scheme.
The furniture pieces were carefully picked to complement the size of the living area. The grey sofas are an ideal size for a small living room, as they sport a simplistic and sleek design without appearing overly bulky. As such, even with an L-shaped sofa arrangement, the small living room does not look excessively cramped or narrow.
The use of a mirror is also a smart addition to visually enhance the space, as whatever is reflected within the mirror becomes a visual extension of the space.
All the elements of the living come together to form a beautiful industrial Scandinavian design. For more information, click here.
The living room looks cosy and comfortable.
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Commonwealth
Arche Interior Design impresses with this contemporary-style 3-room HDB residential project. While the living area is shared with the dining area, the transition between each space is effortless. Yet, it remains clearly marked out so that each space has its own intentions.
The choice of a small and compact 2-seater sofa is a clever move as it is appropriately sized and helps to add a nice pop of colour to the simplistic small living room design. The cushions also add a nice decorative element to the small living room.
Additionally, instead of a bulky coffee table, a sleek and narrow side table is used instead so that the living room remains spacious and comfortable.
A simple yet charming small living room design. For more information, take a look here.
Similarly, the dining table also sports a sleek and elongated design to save space. The herringbone-patterned wood floor aids the effortless transition from one room to the other so that the entire living area does not seem restricted and confined.
The shelves next to the television are also a smart way to store items while saving space. The sleek lines of the shelve design help to guide one’s line of sight vertically instead of horizontally, making the shelves appear more compact and making the small living room seem spacious.
Shelves are a clever way to lean into the vertical spaces of your home.
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Scandi Haus
Couple Abode unites both Scandinavian interior design and Industrial interior design to create this hybrid-themed 3 room HDB design.
The white walls help to create a spacious look, while light teak wood textures were also incorporated into the carpentry work to maintain the light colour scheme and establish the foundation of a Scandinavian interior design.
The black track lightings attached to the ceiling add an industrial touch to the design of the home while ensuring that the small living room is well lit without contributing to any clutter.
The red brick wall is also an eye-catching focal point of the small living room, adding both colour and an Industrial-themed decorative element. This is well complemented by the striped patterned rag and the teal sofa, which all contributes to a vibrant and unique small living room design.
A vibrant and lively Scandinavian-Industrial living room design.
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3-rm HDB Flat @ St. George’s Lane
Dyel Pte Ltd delivers with this contemporary-style 2 bedroom apartment that has a below-average area size of 68 metres square.
The painted red wall acts as the focal point of the small living room and adds depth to the space by grounding it against the lighter wood furnishings. A white partnered rug laid on the floor helps to brighten up the small living room while interweaving some pattern and personal style into the design.
The white track lightings help ensure that the living is well lit without having to resort to standing lamps that may clatter the space. The furniture used in this small living room design largely follow a lighter colour scheme, such as the colour of wood, so as to create a brighter and more spacious living room interior.
A lively contemporary-style living room. For more information, click here.
The sofas, on the other hand, are darker in colour so as to ground the space further. The sofa also doubles as a divider that helps to differentiate the home office area from the relaxing living room area.
The sofa helps to draw a line between the work area and the living room.
Conclusion
A limited space shouldn’t limit you from achieving your dream home. Although a small living room has less space to work with, a feel smart decorative choices can do wonders to your space.
Additionally, a perk of having a small living room is that there’s simply less to clean up – making it easier to maintain. We hope that this article has inspired you to come up with small living room ideas for your own home!
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