Living room furniture comes in a wide range of shapes, styles, colors, and patterns. You can find pieces to suit practically every taste, but despite all the choices, many living rooms wind up looking rather generic. If a basic, functional space is all you’re after, then the tried and true should be fine. However, if you want to create a stand-out living room, you’ll need to dig a little deeper.
There are countless ways to add personality to a living room; you just have to look in some less conventional places. Shopping at the big box furniture stores will result in a cookie cutter space, so you have to expand your horizons. Once you get used to re-imagining pieces, you’ll start to see opportunities everywhere. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Thrift Store Treasures
When you break out of the furniture store mentality the first place you should look for unique pieces is at a local thrift shop. It may be tempting to see pieces only for their original purpose, but it’s when you rethink them that you really get something unique. For instance, a stack of old suitcases may become a coffee table, a shutter may become a magazine rack, or a ladder may transform into a display shelf.
Antique with a Twist
Whether you have some older furniture pieces that have been handed down to you or you’ve come across some amazing pieces at a neighborhood garage sale, using some funky older furniture is a great way to add interest to a living room space. Don’t go overboard, though. Typically, filling a room with antique furniture will make it look like it belongs in your great aunt Alice’s house. It’s best to incorporate one or two pieces you really love. You may even want to re-envision them, such as using and old school desk as an accent table or painting a china cabinet in a bold, modern shade. If you’re great at re-imagining things you can come up with spectacular new pieces like this card catalogue turned bar.
Dazzling DIY
One of the best ways to get living room pieces that are truly one of a kind is to create them yourself. If you’re really handy you can build them from scratch, but for those who have limited building skills, there are plenty of helpful tutorials online that teach you how to take an existing piece and turn it into something truly exceptional.
Take pallets for example. They’re cheap (often free) and can be reconfigured to make countless furniture pieces.
Wood pallets are favorites among beginner DIYers, as they can easily be disassembled into wood planks that can be used for any number of projects.
Unexpectedly Quirky
If you want to make a big statement, then you’ll need to bring in the truly unconventional pieces. Think about elements that are not typically seen in a living room. Why not install a tire or wooden swing or turn an old bathtub into a couch? This type of design requires an offbeat way of thinking, but it can turn out some noteworthy pieces.
There are so many ways to transform a bland living room into a rare space. Choose pieces that speak to you and reflect your personality and before long you’ll have a space that makes you happy whenever you enter it.
