The best way to begin the process of making over a living room is to decide how the living room should feel to the people who spend time there. Should it be conducive to lots of activities, games, and gatherings? Or should it be a place of rest, relaxation, and respite? This decision will guide nearly every choice that goes into a living room makeover from the colors that will be used on the walls and in the furnishings to the size of the furniture. A good way to move forward after making these decisions is to begin looking through furniture catalogs and design catalogs to collect tear sheets that include elements of an overall aesthetic that will inform the makeover.
The next step in a living room makeover is to choose a palette of colors that will help to create the desired mood in the living room. Yellow, for example, is a color that color therapists generally consider to be good for a sense of emotional lightness, fun, and creativity. Purple and violet, on the other hand, are considered by the same group to be good colors for meditation and introspection. In addition to using the basics of color therapy to choose a palette for a living room makeover, it is also important to choose colors that one finds to be beautiful, and that offer some sort of resonance.
Once the colors have been chosen, it's time to start shopping for paint, furniture, fixtures, and fabrics. Also, remember that a living room makeover can be completed without replacing every item that currently exists within the living room. The first items to remove or replace are items that one dislikes and items that one believes are not right for the new aesthetic of the room. Then, think about what can stay. If the couch is a color that matches or complements the new living room, then keep it.
A great way to complete a living room makeover on a budget is to replace just one or two items and then repaint, reupholster, or refinish the rest. A dark wood side table can quickly brighten up a room if it is painted a pale green. A great set of club chairs can be kept during a living room makeover if they are reupholstered. Adding just a few new pieces of furniture and repainting all of the walls, plus doing a bit of work on old favorites is a great way to finish a living room makeover without breaking the bank.
