Living Room Decor Ideas & Inspiration

Every home needs a comfortable, welcoming gathering space not just for hosting guests but also for relaxing and spending time with family. If you're wondering how to style a living room that's cozy yet tasteful with a pleasant ambiance, you've come to the right place.

This guide will go over the most popular home design styles before diving into an extensive roundup of living room decorating ideas to inspire your project.

Trendy Living Room Decor Styles

Before looking into specific living room ideas, consider what decor style speaks to your personality and lifestyle. Some of the most popular and trendy aesthetics are outlined below.

Minimalist interior design prioritizes essential pieces and forgoes excess. With living rooms, creating a pleasing design is all about selecting furniture, rugs, curtains and other critical elements that serve a specific purpose. Aesthetically, the style often features clean lines and a pared-down color scheme.

Read our blog to learn How to Design a Minimalist Bedroom.

Contemporary living room decor is characterized by modern pieces with a fresh, innovative appeal — so no vintage furniture or rustic decor. It often features a partially symmetrical layout with a mix of clean lines and rounded shapes, as well as sleek finishes and sophisticated colors.

Mid-century (or mid-century modern) living room design embraces the style popularized in the mid-20th century, from the mid-40s through the 60s. It's defined by furniture with simple silhouettes, textured upholstery, wooden frames and peg legs. Olive green, marigold, brown, burnt orange and other warm, earthy tones are a big part of the aesthetic as well.

Boho (short for bohemian) living room decor is an unconventional, somewhat eclectic interior design style. With inspiration from around the world, the free-spirited, whimsy aesthetic features a medley of materials, textures, colors and patterns.

See our guide to creating a Boho Bedroom for specific tips and ideas.

Industrial interior design exudes a bare-bones, no-nonsense vibe. The urban style was first popularized with converted spaces, like lofts turned into apartments and warehouses transformed into offices. It's slightly moody, often with metal fixtures, bricks and concrete finishes.

Learn How to Create a Modern Industrial Style Look for Your Home in our article.

Art deco is short for arts décoratifs, a French visual arts and architectural style originating in the early 20th century. The sleek, modish living room decor design scheme often features rounded furniture, geometric decor, abstract patterns, bold pops of color and luxurious materials like velvet and marble.

Japandi decor combines the straightforward functionality of Japanese design with the simplicity of Scandinavian style. The sharp aesthetic often incorporates minimalist fixtures, slatted wood and light, natural finishes with subtly contrasting hues.

Our Mt. Washington for Parachute ceramics collection was also inspired by Scandinavian and Japanese design.

Inspired by the sets of Nancy Meyers films like Something's Gotta Give and It's Complicated, the coastal grandmother design trend is all about cozy yet open spaces with natural lighting and traditional accents, such as furniture slipcovers, fresh flowers, exposed wood beams and linen curtains.

Learn how to Create Your Cottagecore Dream Home in our blog.

Living Room Furniture to Consider

Living room furniture is primarily functional, but it also sets the tone for the rest of your decor.

Here are some sofa ideas to think about for your gathering space.

Want to add textural interest to your living room without making it look too busy? Tweed is an excellent choice. This home features a textile-upholstered couch with a matching throw blanket and pillow in a tweed-inspired fabric.

What Are Euro Shams and Euro Pillows? Learn about these accent pieces in our blog.

Neutrals are a safe bet for furniture, but they're definitely not your only option. To make a statement with your living room decor, consider an eye-catching sofa hue, like sapphire, emerald, royal blue, marigold or rust.

Another option is to choose a minimalist sofa style in a maximalist size. For instance, this family room features a pared-down, off-white sectional. The large silhouette is a statement in and of itself, but the simple design doesn't overwhelm the space.

Our comprehensive guide covers How to Create an Interior Design Mood Board.

You can't go wrong with leather, especially if you want your sofa to last several years under heavy daily use. This dapper decor scheme stands out for its bold juxtaposition of smooth leather, cloud-like cushioning and knitted accents.

Warm hues are a go-to for autumn home design. Check out these Fall Home Decor Ideas for inspiration.

While the mid-century furniture trend started nearly 80 years ago, the style is here to stay. In addition to clean lines and low-profile silhouettes, wooden peg legs (whether straight or slightly splayed) are a defining characteristic of mid-century couches and chairs.

Many loveseats and sofas feature two or three seat cushions, but long bench cushions have a more seamless, modern appeal. In this living room decor idea, the style complements the curvature of the fabric-upholstered couch.

Parachute has everything you need to style Your Perfect Living Room. Get details in our blog.

Bouclé (pronounced boo-klay) is a fabric upholstery style that combines woven and looped yarns to create a curly, slightly nubbly texture. You can find bouclé in various hues, but off-white is the most popular and arguably the most versatile.

Explore 35 Stylish and Functional Living Room Sofa Ideas in our blog.

Consider these accent chair ideas for your living room decor scheme.

Though leather upholstery is usually pricier than its fabric counterpart, you can count on it to last much longer. Instead of investing in a leather couch, consider getting a chair like this mid-century beauty. The wood frame, simple square cushions and compact design are perfect for a reading corner or accenting your main furniture arrangement.

With smooth upholstery, rounded seat cushions, floating backrests and skinny metal frames, these white accent chairs offer a modish flair in this stylish living room. Though they don't contribute any additional color, the chairs highlight the black-and-white theme while playing up the glamorous vibe.

Sling chairs are an excellent choice for small living rooms. Featuring a single piece of fabric for the seat and backrest and a contrasting metal frame, this one is simple yet sophisticated.

An accent chair can make a big difference in the look of your space. Here are 25 more easy Tips to Upgrade Your Apartment.

Another living room decor idea is to place two identical chairs next to each other in your living room. This side-by-side pair squares off the matching sofas and hearth, making the furniture layout appear more orderly.

Accent chairs are great for bedrooms too. Explore more Bedroom Furniture Essentials in our blog.

A chair-and-a-half is essentially an oversized seat that's bigger than a standard armchair but not as wide as a loveseat — although two people can still cozy up in it. This furniture style is ideal for living rooms, bonus rooms, family rooms and TV rooms.

Check out these Movie Watching Essentials next time you catch a flick from home.

Swivel chairs are the perfect balance of function and elegance. In this home, the modish 1960s-esque seats cap the living room's furniture arrangement while offering an outdoor view when swiveled to face the opposite direction.

Don't forget greenery! These are the Top 16 Indoor Plants For Clean Air in Your Home.

A chair-and-footrest set is a great option for a reading nook or placing diagonally within your central furniture arrangement. And since the two pieces match, the accent definitely won't look out of place, even if it contrasts with the others.

Want more inspiration? We rounded up 31 stylish and thoughtful Living Room Accent Chair Ideas.

Check out these coffee table living room decor ideas.

When decorating your coffee table, select varied objects of various sizes. For instance, this design features a large plant in a bulbous pot, two stacks of two books supporting sculptural pieces of different heights, a smaller tray-style sculpture and a long, narrow catch-all to square off the assortment.

By placing long branches inside a vase, you’ll draw the eyes upward and create the illusion of taller ceilings and an overall larger living room. Just keep in mind extra-long branches might obstruct people's view when gathering around the coffee table.

If you're drawn to round shapes but aren't ready to commit to curved furniture, think about getting a drum-style coffee table. The circular design lends to a minimalist-modern living room aesthetic while breaking up the monotony of the square and rectangular pieces throughout the living room.

This coffee table really nailed its contrasting curation of objects. The tallest item is a simple floral arrangement with a matte black vase, which calls back the hue with a smaller vase and a coffee table book. To contrast the dark color, there's another stack of white and beige books and an ivory catch-all tray.

Catch-all containers make it easy to decorate a coffee table. Available in various sizes, you can put nearly anything in them, from small planters and bowls to magazines and remote controls. Consider placing a slightly taller object next to the tray for some visual variation.

Larger coffee tables can be tricky to decorate. Instead of one centerpiece, interior designers often place multiple stacks of books and other objects to fill the surface. This rectangular table looks sharp with contrasting colors, clean lines and even spacing.

If you're short on space or just want to think outside the box with your living room decor, you can use a tray and ottoman in place of a traditional coffee table. This wooden tray slides over the round ottoman with a nearly perfect fit, but either piece can stand on its own.

Here are 27 more Ideas for Decorating a Coffee Table in Your Living Room.

Here are some attractive side table ideas you can incorporate into your living room design.

Nesting trays are kind of like catch-all trays, except they can be stacked into each other. Alternatively, you can place the individual p