How to Decorate a Square Living Room
Small Box Living Rooms
Square living rooms are often in small homes, apartments and studio apartments. When working with a small room, every inch of space counts. Although a general rule of thumb for arranging furniture is to pull seating furniture away from walls and float it in the room, sometimes this is simply not an option.
Use Large-Scale Pieces
The best thing about design rules is that most of them can be broken. Though it sounds counterintuitive, using one large-scale piece of furniture in a small room can make the room feel larger.
How To Do It...
Use a large sectional sofa to fill a corner in a small square room that combines living space with a kitchen or dining room. Opt for a low-profile, modern style with sleek, clean lines.
To compensate for the large piece, use wall sconces or a hanging pendant lamp instead of end tables with lamps.
Twin ottomans serve as a coffee table or extra seating if needed.
Or, Downsize Furniture
Typically, furniture should be in scale with the size of the living room, which means small, light and airy pieces work best in small spaces.
How To Do It...
A loveseat, futon or daybed can fill the role of a sofa in a small square living room without taking up as much space, or it can double as a bed.
Light and leggy accent chairs, which have less visual weight, are easier to move and reposition than bulky arm chairs.
See-through furniture, such as glass coffee tables, recamiers -- a backless daybed or sofa -- and clear acrylic chairs make small living rooms feel more open.
Add Depth and Interest
Walls of equal size don’t have to look the same. Instead, create special interest:
> Create an
unexpected focal point with wallpaper behind the sofa and a mirror mounted to provide a feeling of depth.
> A dark or boldly colored accent wall behind the TV or fireplace breaks
up the monotony of four equally sized walls.
> Floor-to-ceiling
shelving on one wall makes use of vertical space while drawing
attention away from the walls’ symmetry.
> Accent a square living room with a variety of houseplants,
especially tall, lush, leafy plants. Use the foliage to soften and fill corners
and fool the eye with the impression of depth and extra space.Big Box Living Rooms
Big Box Living Rooms
Seating furniture backed up against walls in a large square living room imparts a cold and disconnected feeling. Instead, find a large area rug to anchor a conversational grouping and pull those pieces to the center of the room. Once you have the area rug, there are numerous ways to arrange furniture to detract from the squareness of the room.
Asymmetrical Arrangements
Arrange the furniture to focus on a TV or fireplace; a sofa facing either should be no more than 10 feet away. Downplay the room’s symmetrical dimensions by using asymmetrical furniture arrangements, which lend a casual, informal feel.
Diagonal Arrangements
Put a small twist on a classic U-shaped conversational grouping by moving an armchair to the corner of the area rug closest to the focal point. Place the chair on the diagonal so it faces back toward the grouping. By opening up one side, the grouping can accommodate a second focal point facing the seat on the other side of the sofa, which faces the first focal point.
A V-shaped grouping utilizes two diagonal lines, leaving plenty of room for a coffee table in front of the sofa on one side and an ottoman in front of an armchair on the other. Fill an empty corner with a desk placed diagonally or an intimate grouping of an end table between two chairs.
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