Spring is a time for fresh starts: spring cleaning, spring training — and how about a little spring decorating? We’re not talking total overhaul here (though if the spirit moves you, we’re here to cheer you on). Just a bit of a rethink. An inspiration injection. Pick a room you’ve almost stopped seeing because you’re so familiar with it, and make it feel brand-new (without actually, you know, making it brand-new).
To get you started, we’re turning to the living room — and turning to Grandin Road for help. The popular online brand puts the whole gamut of home decor as close as your keyboard, from entire suites of furniture to style-forward accessories you can impulse-buy yet never regret. Here’s how to love your living room again.
Shake Up the Seating
Let’s start with the most ambitious living-room project: reimagining the conversation area. The very thought of replacing a sofa is a bit daunting — but you can get much the same effect in 10 minutes if yours has slipcovers. The Somerset Slipcovered Sofa (seen in the living room at top and above, behind the coffee table) has a sleek bench seat and contemporary lines, and you can buy additional slipcovers separately. Not feeling the navy? Instantly “reupholster” in pewter, cream or any of the other eight available colors.
Another strategy is focusing on the accent chairs. Yes, you could reupholster or slipcover them. Or you could go with this designer-approved idea: Slipcover one of them. (Matching is overrated, and saving money is underrated.) Mixing in even one adventurous pattern or eye-popping color can shake up staid decor. And while you’re at it, don’t forget the OG of easy style change-ups: the throw pillow. Above, a pom-pom-encircled Bella Embroidered Pillow gives the refined Ellery Accent Chair a little boho punch. (We’re also fans of the adorably fringed square Arlo Woven Pillow, shown on the sofa at top.)
The other major player in a conversation grouping is the coffee table. Simply changing its size, shape or style can not only refresh a room’s look, but also change the level of formality and add new functionality — for instance, the discreet drawer on the Adrian Coffee Table, above, conveniently stores blankets and pillows. (Grandin Road carries matching side tables, too.)
Use Little Touches for Big Impact
Accessories are a low-risk way to change the flavor of a room without moving a single stick of furniture or hauling even one heavy box. What’s more, the “old” stuff can be stashed away until it feels new to you again and then swapped back in. Change styles to make a classic living room lean more cottage-y, say, or alter the colors of your accessories to lighten up a space or lend some gravitas. Add or subtract texture, height, heft or quirk; the combined possibilities are nearly infinite. Among Grandin Road’s vast inventory of decorative items, two we particularly like are the Flora Ceramic Vase and the Carved Woven Planter. Note that even though they’re two different styles themselves, they work together beautifully in the room. Message: Mix it up!
Change the Mood With Lighting
This is perhaps the subtlest way to shift the feel of a room. The options are almost endless here too: brighter bulbs, dimmer bulbs, colored bulbs… Or shift the placement of your lamps to literally shine a light on overlooked areas or objects. As an example, the Leila Table Lamp above — also shown at the top of the page, in the traditional spot beside the sofa — becomes part of a decorative tableau when it’s moved to an accent table in the nook.
Another way to go might be breaking up a pair of lamps. (Matching is overrated, remember?) In this living room, the sofa is flanked by a table lamp and the Elise Floor Lamp, disrupting the typical symmetry in an eye-pleasing way while also modifying the angle and area of the lighting to add drama.
Keep in mind, too, that simply placing a mirror opposite a window can dramatically brighten a room. The Woven Flower Shaped Mirror is a curvy rattan number you can hang in an instant — proving once more that it doesn’t take a lot to revitalize a living room that’s been feeling a little lifeless.
