Italian furniture can make any room look perfect. Read this article to find out how to pick the best pieces for your interior!
If you want to create a stylish and comfortable living room, you might want to opt for Italian furniture. Italian tables, chairs, sofas, cupboards and other units look stunning and can serve you for decades. In this article, you’ll find a step-by-step guide on choosing the right furniture for your living room. These tips should come in handy for consumers with any budget, regardless of whether their homes are spacious or compact.
How to Get Started
Before you begin to select furniture, you should think of how to make the most of your living room:
- Take measurements. Measure the width and length of the room using a meter stick, yardstick or tape measure. Make sure to take into account all the recessed spaces, if there are any.
- Draft a floor plan. You can do it either in digital format or on a sheet of paper. Sketch out a few variants of placing furniture. There should be at least one yard (1 meter) of free space in between pieces of furniture so that your guests and family members can move freely around the room.
- Stage your living room. Now, let’s check how your sketches will look in real life. Take painter’s tape to mark the spaces on the floor where you would like to place furniture items. Or, you can put paper sheets on the floor to better visualize how much space each object will occupy.
- Measure the width of your doorways. Each piece of furniture that you’re planning to place in your living room should fit into the doorways.
- Think about the functionality of the room. How will you and your family members be using it? Will you have dinners here every day or will you eat in the kitchen? Will your kids do homework on the dining table? How often do you invite guests and how many? Do you prefer to watch TV in the living room or in the bedroom? Do you want to have some extra storage in your living room? Do you have pets? The more actively you’ll be using the room together with your kids and pets, the sturdier the furniture should be — and the less maintenance it requires, the better.
- Take into account the room’s natural architecture. Is there a fireplace or any alcoves? How many windows are there? What’s the shape of the room? How high is the ceiling? The answers to all these questions will impact your choice of furniture and decor items.
Once you have completed these essential steps, you can start choosing the furniture.
How to Choose the Best Italian Furniture for Your Living Room
Here are the tips that you might want to follow to make a smart investment.
Start with the basics. Typically, a living room contains the following furniture items:
- Sofa
- Armchair
- Side table
- Coffee table
If your room is compact, you might not need to add anything else. Otherwise, you might consider adding more tables and ottomans.
Purchase high-quality pieces. They are more durable than their budget-friendly counterparts. In the long run, you’ll save more on buying solid pieces with sturdy wood frames and sinuous steel springs. Updating furniture every couple of years would be a bit costly.
Opt for stain-resistant fabrics. They last longer than more affordable alternatives and they will make you feel much more comfortable. Some people think that only families with small kids need to follow this recommendation. But if you like to invite adults to your home, someone will inevitably spill a drink on your sofa sooner or later.
Look for cushions made of wrapped foam. This material is durable and comfortable. It won’t wear or break as quickly as down.
Test the strength of the frame. To detect whether the frame might be too flimsy, you should try to lift one leg of the piece about six inches (15 centimeters) off the floor. If the frame is too flexible, the adjacent leg won’t rise as well — and that’s a negative sign.
Consider purchasing a loveseat instead of a sofa if your living room is compact. You’ll be able to comfortably cuddle in a loveseat with your spouse — but there will hardly be enough space for anyone else. Such a solution is popular among people who normally invite no more than one or two guests at a time.
Make sure all the pieces of modern dining room furniture you buy match each other. The term “modern” furniture is rather broad. Some consumers perceive it as a synonym for “minimalistic”, others don’t mind a bit of eclecticism.
If there is enough free space, you might want to leave it empty for a while. One day, you might come across a wonderful pouf or chest in a shop. When you add it to your living room, it won’t feel crammed.
Select decor items for the room: mirrors, curtains, works of art and so on. It’s essential to buy them after you purchase the furniture but not before. Each decorative object should match the style of the furniture. What if you have some family heirloom that looks a bit out of place in the living room? Consider relocating it to your bedroom, or kitchen, or elsewhere.
And of course, you should ask for the opinions of your family members. Do some of them have allergies? Then, you should buy furniture made of non-allergic materials. Have any of them been dreaming about a particular piece, such as a coffee table or a motorized recliner? Try to find a balance and make sure everyone’s wishes can come true.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, you found this article informative and now you better understand how to select furniture for your living room. You should start with assessing the space and the overall aesthetics of the room. When choosing the furniture, you should keep in mind both its functionality and design. Italian furniture should become your best choice thanks to its exceptional quality and stylish looks. It will be a smart investment that should make all your family members happy.
Images from Honor Maison designed by RUI DESIGN – See the full story on Archiscene
