The living room in any home has to be ready for a lot of action. It has to deal with the comings and goings of family members, family gatherings to watch the rugby, or it is simply a space for the family to congregate and relax.
With all this ongoing action, a living room can very quickly start looking a little frayed around the edges.
If your living room is looking a bit tired, there are some great decorating tricks to refresh the space - without spending too much money.
Let's be honest, not everyone has the time to do a yearly spring clean, or repaint the walls, or remove carpet stains and so on. But a living room can be given an instant refresh without using a paintbrush - it's simply a matter of making a few changes here and there:
1. Fresh new layout
One of the easiest and inexpensive ways to give any living space a much-needed refresh is to move around the furniture. Even moving around a couple of items will make a big change in how the room looks and feels. Giving your living room a new look will also let you get down to cleaning any dusty corners, find missing items under the sofa, or even getting rid of any excess clutter that has been hidden behind chairs or cupboards.
2. Add an eye-catching feature
Many people think that a bookcase is just that - a place to store books. But there are so many trendy ways to style a bookcase and make it an instant feature in the living room.
You can use paint to decorate the inside back of the shelves to add colour, or slap on some interesting patterned wallpaper for instant attraction, or simply restyle your bookcase to let you put a few of your favourite collectables out on display.
3. A colourful combination
Any room that lacks colour lacks interest and can come across as sterile and boring and yet it is so easy to add colour splashes without spending a fortune. A can or two of spray paint won't cost must and can be used to spray last year's décor accessories to give them a new life, or why not paint a picture or mirror frame. These days, spray paint can be used on almost any finish in a home and gives instant results.
4. Blow away the dust
If you do have a bit of spare time on your hands to get more involved in a mini-makeover, give furniture and textiles a good cleaning. You can hire a carpet cleaner or get in a professional company to clean furniture, carpets and rugs, and the room will appreciate it.
If you prefer to do it yourself, take textiles and upholstered furniture outdoors for a good dusting down with a vacuum cleaner (remove the cushions as well) and a quick scrub with an upholstery or carpet cleaner.
5. Create a wall gallery or photo wall
If you no longer have your photos processed and rely on your phone or tablet for all your family pics, where are all your memories? What's a home without some family photos or a gallery wall of memorable events? Photos still play an important role in our lives and you can still have digital images printed out on photo-quality paper to create framed images for hanging on walls.
This is a wonderful way to add personality to a living room and also create an interesting feature at the same time. Refresh your photos and frames from time to time so that your wall gallery always looks fresh and interesting.
More tips on how to divide a room from TheSpruce
- How do you partition a studio apartment?
You can divide up space in a studio apartment using freestanding room dividers such as wood or fabric screens, open bookshelves, temporary walls, or floor-to-ceiling curtains.
- How do you create two rooms without adding a wall?
You can divide one room into two separate spaces by using wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling curtains, drapes, sliding screens, or by installing a temporary wall. You can also create the feel of two rooms using furniture such as a tall free-standing open bookcase that will preserve light and partial views, or with a large block of built-in or freestanding storage such as one or more bedroom cupboards that will double as a space divider.
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