35 Small Space Living Room Furniture Design Ideas

Urban living has many perks and benefits. You’re located near the core of major city centers, making it easier to appreciate the artistic culture, plentiful restaurants, and vibrant community events that help define life in a big city. Typically, you can expect to pay higher housing costs for those privileges, but millions of people actively choose to accept that tradeoff in exchange for the perks.

Now, the other consideration with this lifestyle is that many city dwellings are apartment or condo buildings. Again, there are many perks and benefits to these locations, but the drawback is that you have more limited space compared to a detached or semi-detached house in areas located outside the core of a big city.

Luckily, there are several small space living room furniture design ideas that will help you make the most out of your available space. Here’s a brief rundown of some of the best furniture design ideas you can use to customize your unique living room space.

Small space living room furniture design ideas

So what are some of the best small space living room furniture design ideas you can use to spruce up your own home? We recommend using any of the following suggestions to brighten up the look and feel of your living room while maximizing the available space.

Add in more mirrors to make the room appear bigger

Mirrors not only give you a chance to catch your own reflection, but they provide an optical illusion of having more space in a limited living room environment. By including more mirrors in certain sections of your living room space, you can make a small space appear much larger to the untrained eye.

Use neutral colors on the walls to manage the flow of light

The paint you use in your home says a lot about your personality. Rather than go too colorful with your painting choices, consider the fact that neutral colors help a small living room space appear much brighter and open to your guests. On top of that, neutral shades have the potential to make your living room appear more modern and sophisticated.

Allow light to flow with lightweight curtains

Curtains help protect your home from the glare of particular angles of the sun, or the unwanted attention of people passing by on the streets. They also can control the flow and distribution of light throughout your small living room space. Lighter curtains allow more free-flowing natural light to enter your room, creating a more welcoming and comfortable atmosphere for your loved ones and guests alike.

Make creative use of distinct art pieces

Just because you have less room to work with than in larger houses doesn’t mean you can’t bring a healthy decor to your small space living room furniture design ideas. A large and presentable piece of art can be hung on an open space of your wall to grab the attention of your houseguests and create a compelling contrast to the rest of the room.

Choose large open rugs for the space

Rugs can be very stylish, adding a little more character to the home. They also can make a small living room space feel much larger. Large rugs add a new layer to an entire living room flooring space; just make sure the rug is large enough to allow all legs of your surrounding furniture to be situated upon it. This is another great tip to improve your decor!

Move modular furniture into your living room

One of the best ways to make use of a small or confined living room space is to become creative with the furniture itself. Rather than relying on traditional, non-adjustable couches, tables, chairs, and other furniture, invest in modular furniture that allows you to expand or collapse the size of the items at your disposal. This allows you to customize the look and feel of your living room to a distinct decor without being handicapped by the limitations of a small space. Just be careful of misleading advertisements about “false modular furniture.”

Consider an open serving hatch if the space allows for it

It may seem outdated, possibly out of place, but an open serving hatch between the kitchen and the living room is a great way to add more natural light into your living room space. Greater distribution of natural light allows a small living space to feel more open and inviting to guests and family members. Plus, you have the convenience of serving food or drinks directly from the kitchen through the open hatch.

Install wall lights to save more space

Floor or table lamps help to brighten up the living room in the evening hours, but they all take up space that you may not be able to afford to lose. An easy workaround to this problem is to install wall or ceiling lights that do the same job without taking up precious floor space. You can keep the room as brightly lit as necessary without sacrificing room to move around in the living area.

Build in a window seat if you have the option

Some window spaces are very deep, providing an insulated border around the window frame itself. If your home has one of these setups, you can convert that space near the window into a space for a built-in window seat, potentially with a modular sofa that can expand or collapse within the confines of the space as you need it.

Insert stacked floating shelves into your wall space

Similar to the idea of converting floor lamps to wall lighting, you can get creative with how you store items in your small living room space. Stacked Floating shelves can be built into unused corners of the room, allowing you to store books, photos, and other memorabilia without taking up space in the middle of the room, or along the side of a wall where other furniture could be set into place.

Wall mount your TV and get rid of the TV cabinet

Just like the stacked floating shelves, a wall mount for your TV is a great way to compartmentalize and utilize your limited living room space. By installing the TV onto a wall mount, you can get rid of a TV stand or cabinet that may have been supporting it before the installation of the wall mount. This frees up limited space that can otherwise be used to improve the bespoke nature of your living room decor.

Hang wicker baskets on the walls for additional storage

Another creative and space-saving storage idea is to install wicker baskets that hang along spaces of the walls. You can use these baskets to store small items that would otherwise rest on a coffee or side table that may or may not fit into your small living room space. Hanging wicker baskets allow you to keep those items in the room without sacrificing valuable floor space.

Get creative with transformative coffee tables

Some homes use standard coffee tables as center pieces in a room with furniture that surrounds the table. In a small living room space, you may not have the luxury of having a table for that specific purpose. By using modular coffee tables, you can increase or decrease the size of the table to accommodate your living room space. You may also have built-in storage areas in the lower half of the table so that you can reduce the number of side tables in the room.

Slimline shelves provide confined vertical storage space

In some homes, there are deep bookshelves and other shelving units that often have creative wooden designs sourced from oak or mahogany. In a small living room space, there’s no room for deep storage units. Instead, you can use slimline shelving that has a narrower design, almost resembling a ladder in terms of look and feel. This is a much more accommodating shelving unit for a small living room space that does the job without taking away from the rest of the room.

Use L-shaped furniture for tight wall spaces

Let’s say the architecture of the roof in your living room cuts low and inward near the windows of the room. It’s difficult to fit much in terms of furniture near those spaces, especially if there’s a sharp right-degree angle that divides two pieces of the surrounding wall. By using L-shaped sofas, you can insert a comfortable seating space within that low-cut corner of the room to make use of that space. It’s an economical way of salvaging that space and adding another seating area into the room.

What to keep in mind when thinking about small space living room furniture design ideas

Ultimately, what matters most about maximizing space in a small living room is adopting a custom or bespoke approach to your interior design. A standard cookie-cutter layout for traditional living rooms may not support the limited dimensions of your smaller living room layout. Therefore, you need to adopt small space living room furniture design ideas that play to the strengths of that space and allow for comfortable movement throughout the room.

If there’s a certain look and feel you want to bring into your living room space, don’t give up if the dimensions feel too constraining to create that signature design. Get creative with how you utilize storage space with more use of the walls so that you don’t need tables, lamps, and other items taking up floor space for guests to move around.

Similarly, don’t feel like you have to move hard and set furniture into the room. Invest in modular furniture that expands or collapses at your whim to give your living room that unique design you want to create without sacrificing quality or comfort in your furniture. Any space-saving accommodations you can bring into your small living room space will help you create a homely atmosphere that fits all of the items you need for a fulfilled and welcoming home.