Project: 1870 Victorian
Photograph: Rebecca McAlpin

Here are the most common mistakes I see in living rooms. Luckily, there are pretty easy fixes for each of them, which will make your space feel so much more put together!

1. No Man’s Land

Most homeowners feel the need to push as much furniture up against the walls as possible. This layout can lead to an awkwardly large open space in the middle of the room. It feels like you need to raise your voice to talk to a guest across the room, and often people need to constantly cut through the middle of the room to get to another space.

If you live in a smaller home, pushing all the furniture up against the wall is the only option, but oftentimes, I find that homeowners have the space to float at least some of the furniture in the the room—allowing for easier conversation and interaction with guests and forcing circulation around the furniture instead of through the middle of it.

Explore keeping your larger pieces like a sofa against the wall, but floating your accent chairs. It can change the entire functionality of the room!

Project: Craftsman Contemporary
Photograph: Kate Raines

2. Incorrectly Sized Rugs

I have yet to go to a home where a homeowner has too large of a rug. Usually rugs are way too small. In the design studio, we don’t bother sourcing rugs until we know the sizing of all the furniture that will sit on top of it.

You want a large enough rug so that the room is visually grounded. Otherwise, it feels like a bath mat situation. If you have an accent chair in its own little alcove, that doesn’t need to touch the rug. But in any grouping of furniture, at least the front legs of all the pieces should be on top of the rug.

Ideally, you also want the edges of the rug to be at least 12” from the walls.

Project: Newlyweds in Kensington
Photograph: Kate Raines

3. Inadequate Lighting

A living room should have 2-4 levels of lighting. The first type is natural lighting. Daylight just makes you feel good. The more light and views to the outside the better. If you have too much intense natural lighting, that’s where functional window treatments come into play.

Next is ambient lighting. That’s your general lighting which is most commonly achieved with recessed lighting. Multi-family and builder-grade homes typically depend heavily on recessed lighting to illuminate spaces, while older homes tend to not have much ambient lighting at all.

Decorative lighting is the third type of lighting. These are your kitchen pendants, dining room chandeliers and art lights. They give off light, but they also make the space look more finished and highlight specific design elements. You could compare these to jewelry and accessories for an outfit.

The last type of lighting that honestly gets forgotten the most is task lighting. The lighting that makes using the space more enjoyable through functionality. These fixtures include under-cabinet lighting, reading lamps and sconces at a vanity mirror.

3 Common Living Room Mistakes (and Fixes)

Here are the most common mistakes I see in living rooms. Luckily, there are pretty easy fixes for each of them, which will make your space feel so much more put together!