The way most people live their lives changes over the years. This is reflected in how families act together in the home. Back in the day, the living room used to be a real central point of every house. It was the norm for the whole family to sit in there every evening to watch TV or talk about things. Nowadays, things have changed slightly, which means designing a living room has changed, too.
If you want to get the most out of your living room, then you need to ensure it’s fit for a modern family. So, what things require your consideration? There are quite a few things to think about, and I’ve listed the main ones down below:
Ideas for Designing a Living Room Today
Flexible Furniture
In traditional living rooms, you’ll always find a nice big sofa that’s coupled with an armchair or two. Everyone had this type of furniture because it was suitable for traditional families at the time. You wanted things that everyone could sit on, and where everyone was accommodated. These days, according to InteriorDesignEDU.org, the trend has moved towards more flexible items of furniture. What does this mean? Basically, it’s furniture that can be used in more than one way, for more than one thing.
A great example of this is a beanbag. Beanbags have become so popular lately because they’re perfect for the way modern families live. It gives the kids a place to sit. Plus, they can be moved around the room to anywhere you please. In some cases, you can get unique bean bags that are massive and act like sofas for numerous people, or just a massive seat for one person looking to relax. And, when not needed, they can be put away easily in a closet.
The whole point is that furniture is no longer a static thing that sits somewhere and doesn’t move. With this comes the ability to change the design of your living room all the time by altering the layout of furniture.
Storage Space
Modern families now have more stuff than ever before. There are loads of different things you may need in your home, and it means you need somewhere to store it all too. As a result, living rooms are being designed with the sole purpose of incorporating as much storage space as possible into the room. We see this in the furniture some people have; there are footstools with storage built into them. Then, we see unique and interesting ways of adding storage around the room by way of wall units and shelves that take advantage of the height in the living room. Essentially, if you’re trying to design a modern living room for your modern family. Then make sure you emphasize the importance of storage space to help declutter your home.
Space-Saving Design
Following on from this idea of having lots of storage space, there’s also the idea of a designing living room to make the most out of the space available. This is another reason why flexible furniture has become so popular. Like I mentioned, you can use things like bean bags to your advantage as they don’t take up a lot of space and you can arrange them however you want. This idea is also reflected in other living room furniture like coffee tables too. These days, a lot of people are getting nesting tables that provide you with numerous coffee tables, but they can be tucked away under one another to save space when not in use.
One of the main reasons space-saving design is so popular is that modern families are getting bigger and homes are getting more expensive. So, you end up with big families that are stuffed into small homes with small living areas. As a result, you need to make the most of all the space you’ve got!
Open-Plan Living
If there’s one thing that’s evident in designing a living room, it’s that open-plan rooms seem to be the way forward. This is an idea that basically merges your living room with a different room in your home. More often than not, people have a dining area that opens up into their living room. I think there are two reasons this has become so popular in modern times. For one, it lets you feel as though your house and living room is a lot bigger – which plays into this idea of making the most of all the space in your home. Open-plan gets rid of walls and means you have this massive open space. But, it’s also a reflection on how modern families live.
No longer do a lot of us have time to sit as a group and eat family dinners every night. Especially when there are older kids in the family; it means everyone is doing their own thing and eating at different times. So, an open-plan living room lets people eat their dinner and still be part of the family even if no one else is eating. Of all the things in this article, the idea of an open-plan living room is probably my favorite.
Smart Features
Lastly, we have this idea of a smart home. It’s a concept that’s very popular. It basically means you have parts of your living room that are connected to one another. And all is controlled by a mobile device. A good example is lighting that can be turned on or altered using an app. It goes without saying that modern families all need modern home comforts. A smart living room is one of them. So, bear this in mind if you want to design a contemporary living space!
Modern families use their living rooms differently compared to the families of old. It’s less about bringing everyone into the same space, and more about making the room as practical as possible. Follow the ideas in this piece, and you will soon have a living room that keeps up with modern design trends and is fit for your modern family to use!
