5 Basically Free Ways to Refresh a Living Room, According to Designers
Maybe you’re a social butterfly who uses your living room as a hub for hosting guests, or maybe you’re a homebody that prefers it to be a meditative space. Or maybe you’re like me, an enthusiastic pet parent, who decorates with her furry friend in mind. Regardless, living rooms, at their best, are meant to be go-to spaces that reflect our individual needs, hobbies, and interests.
When you use a room all the time, it can start to feel a little mundane. But if you sense your living room layout is losing a bit of its luster, I chatted with a few design pros about high-impact — and basically free — ways to refresh this area of the home. With these ideas, transforming your living room can be easier on your wallet than you think.
Declutter Your Surfaces
To set yourself up for redecorating success, designers say the first (and arguably best) thing to do is declutter the living room. “Less is more,” says designer Sarah Brady, founder and creative director of Salt Design Company. “Removing excess items from surfaces — especially decor that feels outdated, visually heavy, or out of sync with the season — instantly refreshes a space.”
Now’s a good time to toss those old magazines on the coffee table that are past their prime, for example, as well as stowing away those heavy winter throws. Sometimes, clutter also appears in another form: electric wires. Whether they’re running along walls or bunched on the floor, wires can be quite an eyesore. So controlling or hiding loose cords is another way to make a difference in the overall look of your space.
More Designer-Approved Ways to Refresh a Living Room
Create Intentional Groupings
If you have shelves or a coffee table in your living room, designer Rebecca Ward suggests looking for ways to form intentional groupings on these surfaces with your existing decor. “Gather smaller items on top of a beautiful book or tray,” she notes, as doing so adds visual weight to a vignette and makes your space feel more thoughtfully styled.
You can do this without creating clutter. Try grabbing a tiny dish (that you might already have in your kitchen) and place it right on top of that coffee-table book or decorative tray, and use it to display your smaller items like seashells or matchbooks in a more curated, less scattered manner. This makes it feel like one bigger decor moment instead of a bunch of bitsy items haphazardly thrown together.
Shop Your Home
Your home is probably filled with more treasures like that pre-owned dish I mentioned above. These items would make for great living room additions — you just have to go “shopping” for them. “Borrow pieces from other rooms: Swap lamps, books, art, or even side tables,” Brady encourages. Not only are you refreshing your living room with this approach, but you’re also giving another room in your home a little revamp in the process.
Your collections and personal memento storage are other places to “shop” in your home. Do you have a favorite record cover in your vinyl collection or physical tickets from your first-ever concert currently tucked away? Think about showcasing the record cover on a shelf or taking on a mini DIY to replace an existing framed photo or print with a collage of your tickets.
Restyle Your Shelves
If your shelf displays feel a little off, it’s possible you’re either putting too much — or too little — on them. Think about working the full surface area of the shelf, from the left to the right and the front to the back. Don’t pack the entire surface, though; a little white space between items goes a long way in creating visual balance. And get a little creative with how you place things in relation to one another, too.
“Instead of lining items up in a row, group them in small vignettes,” Ward shares, along with the advice to layer objects together by placing taller pieces in front of the shorter ones. Remember the eye likes odd numbers, too, and use groups of three and five to create dynamic compositions on your shelves.
Rearrange Your Existing Furniture
One of the most effective solutions for a refreshed living room is rearranging the furniture you already own. Doing this may depend on how much space you physically have, but there’s always a way to make it work that’s right for you and your pieces. Brady proposes simple shifts that can improve function and aesthetic appeal, like pulling furniture off the walls, angling a chair differently, or re-centering your seating around a natural focal point like a fireplace or a large window.
Designer Susannah Holmberg shares another idea: breaking up your pieces to form a couple different seating areas. “This can completely transform the flow and feel of a room,” she says. For example, instead of positioning your pouf, recliner, or armchair next to your sofa, try carving out a cozy corner nook that’s anchored by a chair. Think of this strategy of furniture arranging like zoning your space for specific activities — watching TV, reading, and so on.
Further Reading
We Tested (and Rated!) Every Sofa at West Elm — Here Are the Best for Every Type of Need
We Asked 8 Pro Travelers What They Never Pack in Their Carry-On, and Here’s What They Said
