9 Living Room Interior Design Mistakes + What To Do Instead

Of all the rooms in our homes, we tend to spend the most waking hours in our living spaces. So how this room looks and functions is essential to our comfort and well-being. There are a few missteps that tend to affect living spaces more than any other room so let’s break them down and look at what to do instead to create a living room that’s comfortable, cohesive and inviting.

🗝️Related Videos:
Interior Design Ideas for Living Spaces https://youtu.be/uL5SItejuyo
5 Interior Design Ideas for Small Living Rooms https://youtu.be/c1XNIVyaBPk

🗝️ Shop the looks and products featured in this video with the affiliate links below:

Chicology (Shades and Blinds_) https://www.chicology.com/

IKEA (not affiliate links)
SIMRISHAMN Floor lamp https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/simrishamn-floor-lamp-chrome-plated-opal-glass-50437773/
EVEDAL Table lamp https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/evedal-table-lamp-marble-gray-10405745/

Lulu and Georgia
Shop By Room – Living Room Inspiration https://rstyle.me/+IFzcTzgmYRCj21RYZJ3vCA

Pottery Barn
Living Room Inspiration https://rstyle.me/+25ZquRiG1FXiQ6OEmg2GHw
Holiday Lookbook https://rstyle.me/+AD5CqcotbYd7mf1p0MljPw
Shay Woven Leather Chair https://rstyle.me/+E6lW-WnipVLWLqYAsvI-zw
Delaney Oval Marble C-Table https://rstyle.me/+-35WLSk1kMciOpHp2GduYw

Rejuvenation
Jute Braided Pouf https://rstyle.me/+EO_9MDyXREM5EGu4B4JxaQ

West Elm
Living Room Inspo https://rstyle.me/+VBxFdt8jnIFnOupNiYmcPg
Sintra Metal Coffee Tables https://rstyle.me/+kM3OVBBQggbSVnr2kb9LrA
Industrial Storage Pop-Up Coffee Tablehttps://rstyle.me/+pheAk_QdlFBbzqfbFm9nJQ
Mid-Century Drink Table https://rstyle.me/+4APMSqfXRXKmWtJmlZprHg

WS Home
Lisbon Rectangular Coffee Table https://rstyle.me/+xeO3nY9mgqvSIAiw6XgcUw
Artwork Graphite Grid Series https://rstyle.me/+7ujhw3j8FAoBIeF1CqKyWw

9 Living Room Interior Design Mistakes
00:00 Comfort & Well-being
00:56 Mistake 1
01:46 Mistake 2
02:45 Mistake 3
03:22 Mistake 4
03:51 Mistake 5
04:39 Mistake 6
05:14 Mistake 7
06:16 Mistake 8
06:46 Mistake 9

Thanks so much for watching! Please let me know what you think in the comments. If you find this information helpful, please like, share and subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/c/BalanceRhythm

See you next time!

~Liz

let’s talk about nine living room design mistakes 
to avoid and what to do instead to create a comfortable cohesive and inviting living [Music] 
space hi everyone it’s Liz welcome to Balance and Rhythm where we talk about interior design and 
ways to make the most of our homes to create happiness health and well-being of all the rooms 
in our homes living spaces are the ones where we spend the most waking hours so how these rooms 
look and function are essential to our comfort and well-being there are a few missteps that 
tend to affect living spaces more than any other so we’re going to break them down by broad 
categories of comfort proportion and scale and the finishing touches that when missing make a 
space feel bleak and lifeless before we jump in if you like this type of content and you find 
it helpful please give this video a thumbs up and please leave a comment with your thoughts 
it’s great to hear from you and your support goes a long way in helping our community 
grow now let’s talk about our first concept since we spent so much much time in our 
living rooms we want to make sure that they’re comfortable and inviting the first 
thing to consider is the layout and making sure that it supports all the activities of the 
space arranging furniture pieces around a focal point at a conversation friendly distance is 
a great way to do this a common mistake is to spread the seating too far apart lining furniture 
pieces up against the wall if you can think about floating your furniture pieces in the space on 
an ample area rug around that focal point it’s not always possible to float all seating pieces 
in the center of the room especially for smaller spaces but try to keep the pieces in a cohesive 
arrangement that facilitates conversation and togetherness you may be attracted to certain 
looks and seating like curved shapes leather and button-tufting and while these features may 
look great it’s important to evaluate them in the context of the purpose of your space and the 
comfort level you need if the primary purpose of the space is mainly decorative which could be the 
case if you have a formal living room and a family room then things like shapes conducive to lounging 
cozy fabrics and soft cushioning might not be as important as they would be in a space like a 
family room that is used for lots of lounging TV watching and maybe even a little popcorn 
eating if the ladder is the case think about fully upholstered pieces and soft cozy and easy 
care fabrics and smooth cushiony seating surfaces that are easy to clean you can also mix it up 
with some soft pieces built for ultimate comfort and some pieces that while not uncomfortable 
are less lounge-y and can act as an accent placing your TV too high like over a mantle 
puts stress on your neck and makes viewing uncomfortable the recommended height is 42 inches 
or about 107 cm to the center of the screen which will be at about eye level if you’re seated and 
will be the most comfortable angle if your TV must share a space with your fireplace moving it off to 
one side can be a good solution and investing in a picture frame TV that looks like artwork when it’s 
not in use is a great way to take the focus off of it and have it blend seamlessly into the
room having too few tables will leave you and your 
guests without anywhere to place a book a drink or snacks having some type of coffee table 
is a great place to create vignettes with your decor items or it can even double as 
storage and while you may not necessarily need full-sized side tables think about the 
function of your space and consider smaller c-tables or drink tables that will make the 
space more comfortable for you and your guests visual comfort is a about more than just adequate 
lighting using only overhead down-lighting can make a room feel cold and harsh and cast 
unflattering shadows by layering in ambient lighting like wall lights and lamps you’ll 
give your space a cozy and relaxed feel and the lack of glare from a single light source 
will be much more comfortable if you need to have direct overhead lighting put it on dimmers 
to give yourself some flexibility and combine it with floor lamps table lamps and sconces 
for more visual comfort and a softer look in addition keeping the color temperature of 
the lighting in your living space on the warmer side at 2700 Kelvin or even less 
will make the room feel cozy and intimate the scale of furniture and furnishings and how 
they work together is important in creating balance and interest furniture and decor that’s 
placed all at one level makes the space look flat and uninteresting create visual interest by 
varying heights around your living space and balance proportions to each other try to vary 
the the heights of your furniture pieces and add some interest with tall plants tall lamps and 
sconces floor mirrors and wall art to balance the shorter pieces the different height levels will 
engage your eye and draw your gaze around the room in addition to balancing heights make sure 
your furniture pieces are in proportion to each other a good guideline is to follow 
the 2/3 rule for the living room look for a coffee table that’s about 2/3 the 
length of the sofa you can also group smaller tables of different heights 
together to get the dimensions right use the same approach for displaying artwork 
artwork that’s too small will make the entire room and all the furnishings in it feel 
like it’s out of scale and out of balance the guideline here is the same as for the sofa 
coffee table arrangement if you’re hanging the piece over a sofa mantle or console table aim 
for the piece or group of smaller pieces to be at least 2/3 the length of the furniture 
piece wall mantle or whatever it’s hanging over to keep everything in proportion and a 
little bonus tip on artwork is to keep it at about 57 inches high on center which is a 
comfortable viewing height for most people an area rug helps ground and define a room 
and adds depth and texture but if it’s too small it’ll break up the flow of the space and 
make the room appear smaller a larger rug will anchor the space and offer unity for all the 
pieces within the space ideally all the pieces in a living room would fit on top of the rug but 
at minimum the rug needs to be big enough to fit at least all the front legs of the seating plus 
at least 8 inches or about 20 cm on the sides one of the biggest design mistakes is not thinking 
in layers this is the secret ingredient that makes a space feel complete you don’t want to just 
fill your space with random stuff but instead use carefully curated selections placed in 
layers this approach adds depth coziness and personality to your space a first layer could 
be rugs and draperies something to soften the hardness of floors and walls area rugs do this by 
adding texture and it will also anchor the space visually and increase acoustical comfort 
fabric window treatments do this as well whether they be drapery panels or Roman shades or 
a combination of the two next bring in your comfy furniture to create your conversation-friendly 
seating layout using the strategies we covered earlier then comes the most fun part accessorize 
lamps pillows throws pottery plants artwork these are the items that reflect your style and 
personality and help create the cozy layered look let me know in the comments what you think of 
these tips for correcting living room design mistakes if you like this video please give it 
a thumbs up and please consider subscribing to be the first to know about new videos thanks 
so much for watching I’ll see you next time [Music]