Apartment Living Room Decorating Ideas

This article will provide living decorating ideas, with an emphasis on the personalization of a living room, beginning with area rugs.

Area Rugs and Tapestries

An area rug, though functionally useless on carpet, nevertheless serves to brighten up your living room and break up the monotony of a single-color floor. Buy a rug that has a simple, classy design, rather than a mind-bending cacophony of colors and lines. If possible, it should also match (as closely as possible) with your other décor, although in the case of rugs that’s not entirely necessary. Place said area rug under your coffee table for extra foot-comfort, or in an open area of the floor, where it will serve much the same function as a painting on your wall.

As for wall decoration, tapestries are both interesting and different, adding a bohemian touch to your living room. Again, matching colors and patterns are always recommended.

Classic Art and Artistic Pieces

For those of you looking for more unique ways of decorating your living room, I highly recommend self-made art. It’s unique, and it’s always a point of pride for you in your living room.

For example: Find a bunch of damaged hardcover books from local bookstores, leather-bound being the best, and drill a hole through their centers. Buy a simple do-it-yourself lamp kit from a hardware store and thread the pipe through the hole, spacing the books from smallest to largest to avoid tipping. Anchor the bottom with a large washer and a nut, and voila! The “Book Lamp,” a unique conversation piece that’s useful, as well!

If you have enough lamps, but are hurting for wall decorations instead, then your local art supply shop will be able to furnish you with everything you need to make your apartment living room both unique and inarguably your own. A pre-stretched canvas, some basic acrylic colors, and a $7.99 pack of paintbrushes are all you need to whip up a fun, colorful piece for your wall. Splotches, splats, drips, random brush strokes; since no one is judging your artistic merit, it doesn’t matter how “good” the art is. If you like it, that’s good enough!

Frame Your Favorites

A simple, expressive decorating idea is to find copies of your favorite media (cover of a book, movie poster, etc.) and frame it. I myself have a vintage Batman comic book behind glass, and although you would undoubtedly choose your own favorite cover art to display, the act of framing something you like (but usually isn’t framed) provides a sense of fun to your living room. You don’t have to turn in your favorite movie poster for something that will make your place look more “adult”, but instead just frame it!

To cover an entire wall, giant maps in either modern-day color or vintage parchment-look are a classic solution. Alternatively, bohemian tapestries and/or the flags of foreign countries make colorful additions to your walls.

The above suggestions are just that: suggestions. Use your imagination to make your living room uniquely your own. Remember, a living room must be lived in, so you must be comfortable there!

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Jordan Gaither: I’m a Communications major by trade, an artist by choice, a welder by day and a dancer by night (Okay, I made that last part up). Having lived in a succession of cramped, oddly-shaped apartments, I have a wealth of personal experience in apartment living, as well as arranging and decorating to maximize effect and livable space.