As designers, we are often asked our top tips for styling the heart of the home – the living room. With so many products and options on the market, it can be difficult to know where to start, what is the right choice for your home and your family’s needs. We have de-mystified the process a little for you with 5 tips below that will help inform your choices and make shopping for your new living space easier.
1. Design your interior for how you live
Taking time to carefully consider the way you intend to use a space is crucial for making the right choices when designing any room within the home. Every home is individual and is a reflection of the people within it and their unique style and needs. Too often we see people create living spaces based on a picture they have found in a magazine or online but it simply doesn’t work for how they want to live.
Create an overarching concept for the whole home, or the space you’re working on before you start. It is a great way to ensure you have a visually pleasing and cohesive end result that reflects your personal taste and style. When you combine the concept or scheme with well-considered choices in terms of functionality, the result is a living room that is easy to live in, meets everyone’s needs and that resonates on a deeper level which brings you joy.
2. Consider your rooms aesthetic
Consideration of the room’s aesthetic, and referring back to your concept, will help you to narrow down furniture, furnishing and technology choices in relation to style, design and colour. Ensuring that you layer pieces that work together rather than against each other is key.
Consider the palette and concept and make sure your selections each fit within this framework. One of the best ways to deliver a clean and uncluttered look in the home, and particularly in the living space, is through great storage solutions and integration of technology. We’re big fans of creating unique storage solutions to create a seamless look and help to manage the focal point of your room and turn it into something well considered and beautiful. The new Hisense Designer Collection of TVs marries perfectly with this idea, with its sleek white frame blending into a feature wall or joinery piece with ease.
3. The focal point and the hero
Something that is really key to achieving a beautiful living room is understanding the difference between a room’s ‘focal point’ and its ‘hero’ – they are two very different things. The focal point is often linked to the use of the space, for most Australian homes this will be the television. All surrounding furniture will be pointed towards the television in order to facilitate comfortable watching. The hero of a room is usually an item that draws the eye and serves as the crown of a room. It could be a richly patterned rug, marble coffee table or designer sofa – all other furnishings are kept streamlined and simple in order to support the hero but not compete with it.
Given the television is often the focal point, we regularly find ourselves choosing the “right” sized television for the space. Making sure you get the size right depends both on the wall you intend to install it on but also based on the distance you will sit from the set. Sometimes bigger is not always better.
For making sure you choose the right sized TV, you need to calculate your viewing distance. Here is the formula we stick to: your viewing distance (in inches) divided by 3 = your recommended TV size. Measure the distance between the back of your sofa and the wall your TV will be mounted on. For example; if the viewing distance is 4 meters (157 inches) divided by 3= 52.3, which means the perfect TV size would be 55 inches. The Hisense Designer Collection provides a great opportunity to create an aesthetically pleasing focal point – something that’s often hard to achieve!
4. Technology that works with your space.
We are always on the lookout for stylish home technology solutions that work with a home’s aesthetic and don’t stand out in all the wrong ways. A gorgeous living room space can easily be compromised with the wrong choice of technology, particularly the television. That is why we were so excited to see the new Designer Collection from Hisense – at last a television that elevates the home interior!
If you’ve been frustrated by the limited availability of choice in the marketplace for TV’s which work with rather than against your room’s aesthetic, then this new collection may just be the right solution. The new collection is the physical embodiment of function, form, style and elegance combining the exquisite picture quality and sound we have come to expect from our smart televisions, with a seamless white frame which integrates within your interiors with ease.
5. Shop a curation rather than a collection
When shopping for furniture and décor it can be very tempting to buy all your pieces from the one store, making sure everything matches perfectly. This is a perfect way of making sure your living room looks like a showroom rather than a home! Part of the fun of redecorating is curating a mix of items which you love and which celebrate your tastes, travels and unique style. For people that are daunted by the task of starting a space from scratch, we often recommend choosing one large piece, like their sofa, and using that as a springboard to help select the next item.
Interiors that evolve from a collection of items, which have been pieced together over time, are usually the most inspiring. This means keeping your eyes out for unique additions that fit into the aesthetic of your room. Sometimes unique additions that give a space the most character aren’t found on a traditional showroom floor – they are often those that are found in art galleries and vintage resellers, or are sourced from local designers and are custom items (such as reupholstering an old chair in a modern textural fabric – a great way of making a signature item that no-one else will have).
Utilising the latest technology for amazing picture quality, the premium white design of the Hisense White TVs make them perfect for both blending in with your decor or standing out to make a statement – explore the range.
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