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9 Living Room Furniture Ideas

Every living room needs a place to sit, a place to lounge, a table for drinks, and somewhere to put the TV. But is it really as simple as all that? For relaxed and stylish living, it’s all about picking the precise sofa, the perfect armchair and the right TV stand. Start by carefully considering your home, your living room and, most importantly, the people who have to live with it all. Here, then, are our tips for creating a living room you’ll love.

Large scale reversible chaise end fabric sofa

**1. The flexible sofa

One of the most versatile – and stylish – living room furniture ideas is the modular sofa. Often contemporary in style with wide arms, generous cushioning and low backs, modular sofas are designed to grow with you and adapt to different room layouts. They come in sections – a corner unit, an armless unit, a chaise end and so on – so you can mix and match units to create the perfect sofa. It’s also super easy to reconfigure a modular sofa to make it bigger or smaller as your needs change or if you move house.

And if you’re into flexible functional furniture, you could also try a large sofa with a matching footstool. Push the footstool to join the sofa and you’ve created a chaise sofa. Move it away and you’ve got an extra guest seat. Still not sure what’s right for you? Our sofa finder is here to help.

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Distressed brown leather relaxed snuggler chair

**2. The armchair for two

At a minimum, your living room has to provide somewhere for everyone to sit (and we’re including the dog here, too). While traditional armchairs are great – paired with a coordinating sofa they really help to give a living room a well-finished look – they’re not always the most accommodating of living room furniture ideas.

That’s why recommend opting for a cuddle chair. Also known as a snuggle chair and clearly inspired by the love seat, these oversized armchairs are built to seat two in cosy comfort. Prefer to sprawl? Go solo and you’ll really appreciate these large arm chairs’ generous proportions and emphasis on relaxed comfort.

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**3. The footstool that’s a coffee table

The humble footstool is one of the very best living room furniture ideas, and that’s because they’re not just for putting your feet up. Right now, we’re in love with the idea of footstool as coffee table – an oversized rectangular footstool that takes the place of a coffee table as the focal point of your living room.

Choose one with supportive cushioning so it’s able to safely support a tray of drinks as well as the usual stack of magazines and collection of TV remotes. Given centre stage, a fabulous upholstered footstool is a cool and creative way to anchor all of your living room furniture, from sofas to storage.

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Elegant painted and wood coffee table with drawers

**4. The coffee table that’s a storage piece

You may not be a coffee drinker, but every living room needs a coffee table – even if it’s for a tray of tea things. As well as providing a useful surface for mugs and glasses, the coffee table inevitably becomes the repository of the TV guide, last Sunday’s newspapers and the remote control, too. Arrange cushions around it, and a large enough coffee table can even serve as an impromptu dining table for the younger or more flexible members of the family.

It makes sense to ensure that this most useful of living room furniture ideas is as versatile as possible by choosing a coffee table with built in storage. Shop around and you’ll find many options with shelves, roomy drawers, clever alcoves and even hidden supper tables.

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And the storage piece that’s a footstool

If your living room is on the smaller side, we recommend that you always keep a watchful eye out for double-duty living room furniture ideas. By this we mean intelligently-designed multi-functional pieces like sofa beds that quickly turn a living space into a guest room, or modular shelves that offer both closed and open storage.

We especially love the kind of footstools that have built in hidden storage in the form of a handy compartment under the lid. It’s also easy to find storage footstools upholstered in your choice of leather or fabric, so they look fabulous as well as being functional. A leather footstool is a fantastic investment piece as it’ll work with almost any kind of upholstered furniture style.

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Italian brown leather footstool with storage

Tall Art Deco style table lamp with grey shade

**5. The statement table lamp

The interior designer accessory of choice, a stylish table lamp or floor lamp can turn an ordinary room into a comfortable, relaxing retreat. One of the brightest living room furniture ideas, lighting is the easiest way to create an ambience – and the right ambience can make you feel right at home.

When you’re choosing a table lamp, think about utility as well as style. Will you want to read by it, or do any kind of close work? Larger lamps can generally accommodate brighter light bulbs. Think about the proportions of the end table on which it will sit. A large table lamp on a small lamp table might look stylishly eccentric, but if there’s no room left for a glass of wine or a plate of cookies, then you’re most definitely sacrificing practical comfort for style. No room for an extra lamp table? Floor lamps take up less space, and tend to offer more illumination.

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**6. The necessary nest of tables

As far as space-saving living room furniture ideas go, the nest of tables is one of the oldest. The clever stacking table arrangement has been around since the late eighteenth century and, for many of us, has pleasantly retro connotations, popularised as they were in the 1960s by brands like G Plan.

If space is at a premium, or you’re looking for a budget-friendly furniture idea, nesting tables are a great solution. You’ll get two or three tables in the same floor space as just one, or you can permanently split the set and enjoy matching side tables for your matching table lamps. A design classic, the wooden nest of tables is hard to match for style and function.

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Open metal and wood industrial shelving unit

**7. The big bookcase

If you’re a reader (and even if you’re not), you’ll know that few things are as visually interesting as a large bookcase filled with books. Whether you’re the kind of person who neatly arranges their books alphabetically by author, or you have a rather more relaxed approach to organisation, the contents and style of your bookcase can reveal a lot about your design personality.

Bringing equal amounts of style and versatility, the large bookcase is one of our favourite smart living room furniture ideas. We also love the fact that bookshelves can be tall and wide without being too heavy or imposing, so they’re a functional and typically more affordable storage solution for compact spaces. Contemporary bookcases often feature asymmetric alcove book storage that’s both cool and creative. Need somewhere for precious keepsakes as well as books? A display cabinet with both open and closed storage could be the perfect piece for your living room.

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**8. The perfect TV cabinet

If your living room is compact, the perfect TV stand is one that supports the TV – and also accommodates media equipment, gaming consoles and remote controls and, ideally, has extra storage space for all that living room clutter.

A corner TV stand is a great idea if space is tight. If you don’t particularly like the look of high-tech equipment, choose a TV unit where all the storage space is behind doors or inside drawers. And a wooden TV stand is a stylish way of bridging the gap between modern technology and traditional well-crafted living room furniture ideas.

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Large scale wooden entertainment and TV unit

**9. Those all-important finishing touches

Perhaps home accessories don’t exactly come under the heading of essential living room furniture ideas but, as they say, it’s all in the details. A stylish floor lamp, an eye-catching piece of wall art, a beautiful framed mirror – it doesn’t take much to elevate a perfectly functional living room into a space that’s just perfect.

So once you’ve assembled your furniture essentials, take a little time to source your home accessories. They really can turn a house into a home – and a living room into the room you most want to be in.

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Accessories including a clock, mirror and rug.

Looking for more creative ideas for furnishing you home in style? Take a look at The Home of Inspiration, our very own library of design and trend articles.

9 Living Room Furniture Ideas

**1. The flexible sofa

**2. The armchair for two

**3. The footstool that’s a coffee table

**4. The coffee table that’s a storage piece

And the storage piece that’s a footstool

**5. The statement table lamp

**6. The necessary nest of tables

**7. The big bookcase

**8. The perfect TV cabinet

**9. Those all-important finishing touches

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9 Living Room Furniture Ideas

**1. The flexible sofa

**2. The armchair for two

**3. The footstool that’s a coffee table

**4. The coffee table that’s a storage piece

And the storage piece that’s a footstool

**5. The statement table lamp

**6. The necessary nest of tables

**7. The big bookcase

**8. The perfect TV cabinet

**9. Those all-important finishing touches

Living

How to: Farmhouse Christmas

7 Cosy Living Ideas

Autumn winter 2023 trends

Latest Instagram

Reasons to shop at Furniture Village

About us

Inspiration

Our services

Help & advice