Choosing Living Room Furniture That Matches Your Décor

The time has finally come – you’re ready to tackle your living room. You’ve lived in your home for years now, ever since you and your husband got married and decided to start a family. But let’s face it, with the cost of kitchen renovations and gutting the bathrooms, and then buying diapers and diaper bags and cribs and sending the kids to preschool, the living room got left behind.

Right now, it’s scattered with baby toys and leftover mugs of coffee. And as you stare at it, you wonder how you let it get this bad. You always promised yourself that even when you had kids you wouldn’t let yourself go – and you didn’t, keeping to a strict yoga regimen even during your pregnancy. But your home, it seems, has fallen by the wayside.It’s time to get back in the swing of things and turn your living room into a place you actually want to be – a place that isn’t completely ridden by toys, a place where you and your husband can snuggle up to watch a movie after the kids have gone to bed, a place where you can be both comfortable and sophisticated. In short, a living room that matches the décor of your modern kitchen and baths – a place that makes you feel like you’re home.

The most important piece of furniture in your living room is undoubtedly your couch. It’s where folks will sit when you host parties, where you’ll watch movies with the family – the central meeting point of your room. If you’ve got a large family or host lots of parties, consider a large sectional sofa.

With contemporary design and elegance and a serious dose of comfort, these sofas seat lots of people without looking totally out of place in a sophisticated room. Often, the ottoman portion is reversible, so you can switch things around if you ever move your living room around. If you’ve got children, consider a microfiber suede cover – washable and easy to vacuum, this material is made for easy cleanup.

Next, consider an ottoman instead of a traditional coffee table. Large round or square ottomans can easily pull double duty in rooms with lots of children and toys, offering storage and a surface upon which to place cups, remotes, magazines, candles and more. A brown leather storage ottoman can also easily serve as a footrest or as extra seating if you’re having people over – but when you’re just there as a family, you can turn the top over to reveal convenient storage options for toys, movies and more.

Traditional coffee tables are great if you don’t have kids – but with kids around, you’re better off with something that is a) unbreakable and b) has lots of storage potential.

You’ll also need a good TV console. For something that will match your design sensibilities and last a long time, consider a piece that’s made from wood and constructed with clean lines. TV consoles that have both shelving and drawers are a good compromise between style and function. You can put DVDs in the shelving areas, as well as DVD players and Wii console, and stick extra toys in the drawers for safekeeping.

Consider buying a console in which your TV sits in the middle – you don’t want the TV to take up the whole space. On the contrary, it’s good to have space on either side of the television for decorate elements, such as large candles or an antique globe – something that brings a little bit of interior design into the space. Unless you’re the kind who can keep everything perfectly clean, make sure you stick to wood tones – espresso, oak or maple. You’ll want materials and finishes that won’t show all the little scratches your furniture is bound to acquire over time.

For extra seating, consider a big, comfortable, manly leather armchair. With nail heads on the trim, this is a classic piece that can be passed on from generation to generation. A leather club chair is furniture’s little black dress – it never goes out of style. Whether you’re going for modern curves and tufted leather or something a bit simpler in basic black, this chair will only get better with age. Leather adds instant age and sophistication to your room, so that when all the toys are put away, you’ll look and feel as though you’ve got the real adult living room of your dreams.

As you can see, a small bit of furniture shopping can go a long way – you can also consider a fresh coat of paint and some new hardwood floors as you redecorate your living room. Stop neglecting your living room! It’s the most important room in the house after the kitchen – so give it the attention it deserves.