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Living Room & Dining Room

11 living room design dilemmas and solutions

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11 living room design dilemmas and solutions

Image by: Virginia Macdonald

Living Room & Dining Room

11 living room design dilemmas and solutions

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Essential design solutions to help you liven up and fall in love with your living room.

From dealing with an unsightly radiator to not making the TV the focal point of the room, flip through the slideshow for answers to your most nagging living room design dilemmas.

 

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11 living room design dilemmas and solutions

Problem: I live in an old house and there’s a clunky, unsightly radiator in the living space

Radiators can either be a cool, industrial design feature or a nuisance to your decorating scheme. Hide that heater with a beautiful vintage grill or simply build around it, turning it into a window seat.

Image by: Style at Home By: Lauren McPhillips Source: Angus Fergusson

11 living room design dilemmas and solutions

Problem: My new living room has traditional architecture but I prefer a modern look

For an instant modern update in the living room, take paint to the wooden doors and trim. Brush the doors with a clean white and paint the trim the same colour as the walls for a minimalist, seamless look.

Image by: Style at Home By: Lauren McPhillips Source: Virginia Macdonald

11 living room design dilemmas and solutions

Problem: Our living room has wall-to-wall carpet but we don’t have the budget for new hardwood

If you’re game for ripping up that carpet, vinyl and engineered hardwood are more affordable options to pure hardwood. If a renovation is out of the question, spruce up that carpeted floor with large area rugs. They’ll tie the room together and will hide any tough-to-remove stains.

Image by: Style at Home By: Lauren McPhillips Source: Robin Stubbert

11 living room design dilemmas and solutions

Problem: The living room in our new home has big, embedded bookshelves but I’m not a big reader

You don’t need a big book collection to fill those shelves. Add any books that you do have, then mix it up with baskets for storage, beautiful objects from your travels and treasured collectibles like old cameras or Wedgwood plates.

Image by: Style at Home By: Lauren McPhillips Source: Barry Calhoun

11 living room design dilemmas and solutions

Problem: I don’t want my TV to be the focal point of my living room – how do I integrate it into my design?

If your wall-mounted TV sticks out like a sore thumb, paint the wall behind it a dark colour like black or deep navy to camouflage. To hide it entirely, conceal it within an armoire.

Image by: Style at Home By: Lauren McPhillips Source: Michael Graydon

11 living room design dilemmas and solutions

Problem: My thermostat is in a really awkward spot, preventing me from hanging anything on the wall

Instead of trying to work around your centrally located thermostat, work with it. Create a gallery wall with all different frames and objects so that the thermostat blends in to the design.

Image by: Style at Home By: Lauren McPhillips Source: Donna Griffith

11 living room design dilemmas and solutions

Problem: I want to add colour to my neutral living room, but I’m not ready to commit

If vibrant hues or pattern are your decorating phobias, start small with accessories and items that aren’t a big investment and can easily be switched out. Pillows, throws, area rugs and wall art are all easy and affordable ways to add a pop of colour.

Image by: Style at Home By: Lauren McPhillips Source: Stacey Brandford

11 living room design dilemmas and solutions

Problem: We love to have friends over for game night, but we don’t have enough seating in our living room

Make the best use of your space by using multi-functional furniture that can double as additional seating. That ottoman you use as a coffee table? Clear it off to seat more guests. Same goes for those Chinese garden drums you use as side tables.

Image by: Style at Home By: Lauren McPhillips Source: Janis Nicolay

11 living room design dilemmas and solutions

Problem: Our sofa has a lovely patterned fabric and I’d love to use it elsewhere in the room

Getting chairs covered in the same fabric might be too matchy-matchy, so try covering some toss cushions for your side chairs or even framing the fabric and mixing it in with your existing wall art.

Image by: Style at Home By: Lauren McPhillips Source: Stacey Van Berkel

11 living room design dilemmas and solutions

Problem: Our side chairs have seen better days and need a little love

Instead of sending the chairs off to furniture heaven, breathe new life into them by covering them in a fun new fabric or simply by adding new piping in a bold, vibrant hue.

Image by: Style at Home By: Lauren McPhillips Source: Angus Fergusson

11 living room design dilemmas and solutions

Problem: We love to throw parties in our large living room, but we have more seating than table surfaces

If you entertain a lot in your living space, ensure there is a table surface within reach of each seat. Besides the coffee table in front of the sofa, set a small side table in between two occasional chairs or a fold down tray table for guests to place drinks.

Image by: Style at Home By: Lauren McPhillips Source: Jason Hartog

11 living room design dilemmas and solutions

Up next: 99 problems for dining rooms

Click "next slideshow" for our solutions to dining room design problems.

Image by: Style at Home By: Lauren McPhillips Source: Monic Richard

 

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Living Room & Dining Room

11 living room design dilemmas and solutions

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