18 Living Room Decor Ideas for a Luxurious Look on a Budget

A living room is the most important room in any home, and when it comes to designing it you don’t want to skimp on the luxuries. However, if you’re working with a limited budget, you might not be able to afford all of the amenities you really want to go for in your new living room design.

If that’s the case, consider using these 19 living room design ideas for a luxurious look on a budget.

As you might know, a luxurious look of a living room does not come from a single thing. It is a byproduct of several pieces of items and the home décor best practices put together.

Living room ideas pin

The following items add to the luxurious look of an interior living room:

·        Paint choice

·        Room space

·        Rugs

·        Furniture

·        Flooring

·        Curtains

·        Ceiling

·        Electronics

·        Art, and more.

Related Posts

19 Best Inexpensive Home Decor Ideas to Make Your Home Look Expensive

Interior Design Business Ideas: 19 Businesses in Interior Design Niche

What are the Best Living Room Decor Ideas?

1.   Indoor Plant

living room greenry

Every modern living room needs to have a living natural plant. Green plants in your living room help to create a relaxing and inviting atmosphere.

From a home décor standpoint, green plants are a non-negotiable item to add to your living room. You need to include one or two pieces of greenery in the corner of your living room.

You can use a special stand to keep the plant in one place if you’ve got a spacious living room. Alternatively, if your living room is not very spacious, you can use a hanging stand to anchor your plants.

Of course, you need to make sure that the place receives enough lighting. You put your indoor plants beside a widow to allow them to receive enough lighting. However, they’re some plants that can absolutely survive with only artificial lighting.

Again, plants are great for your living room, but you should not overdo them. Don’t turn your living room into an indoor garden. Just add or two plants.

Some of the indoor greenery that you can consider adding to your living room includes

a.   Golden Pothos

b.   Silver Pothos

c.   English Ivy

d.   Philodendron

e.   Maranta

2.   Multipurpose furniture

ottoman for living room

The next idea is so simple. If there is any chance you can find a piece of multipurpose furniture, you should get it.

Multipurpose furniture is very functional to your interior design. Furniture like an ottoman is a very great choice. You can use it as an additional sofa or a coffee table.

There are some ottomans that have hidden space that can be used to add some tiny pieces of stuff. You can use it in the bed, living room, or dining room.

3.   Right furniture

For the best interior design, you need to find the right furniture for your living room. You need to look into the space available in your living room and of course, your budget.

If your living room is so small, you need to find some light furniture. Alternatively, if your living room is spacious enough, you can find some heavy furniture and add to your living room.

Of course, if you can’t afford to buy two sets for two rooms, you should not buy your sofa as a set. Try to buy your sofa as separate pieces of items.

The Uniform set of furniture is very old-fashioned. The best living room trend for sofas is to mix them up with complementing colors. You can mix cream-white with light-brown.

4.   Curtains placement

Curtains play a very important part in interior design. Like I said, interior design is a result of several parts put together and curtains are for sure part of the desired items.

With this tip, you don’t have to make an expensive purchase. You just have to know how to place them.

Here are a few things you should avoid when dealing with curtains for your living room.

·        Avoid placing them close to the window frame.

·        Avoid using curtains with very contrasting colors.

·        Avoid placing the curtain stand at the same length as the window frame.

·        Avoid placing the curtains at different levels

You need to place your curtains 3-6 inches away from the ceiling, at the same level, and same colors. They should be close to the floor.

5.    Pay Attention to Your Colors

The other inexpensive idea you can use for your living room is the choice of color. You need to pay attention to the colors of every item in the living room.

From rugs, furniture, cushions, art, coffee table, candle stand, or curtains, they all need to complement each other. You need one dominant color, secondary color, and minor color.

You can use the color wheel to help you with this one. In short, your furniture doesn’t need to have a uniform color or very contrasting colors either.

In terms of the painting, you can use the current trend. You can paint your living room light green.

6.   Add a Mirror

Living room mirror_betha guide

Having a mirror in your living room takes your room to the next level. Your room looks elegant and spacious with a huge mirror hanging on one side of your living room.

You can opt for a regular shape mirror like circular, oval, rectangular, or square. You can also get creative and get some irregular shape kind of mirror.

7.   Large Furniture

The other way of achieving a luxurious living room is to opt for large furniture. You need pieces of furniture that will be sufficient in the room without cluttering it.

Don’t get me wrong. This is completely possible for anyone even if you’ve got a small budget.

Depending on the size of your living room, you may need three to four large pieces of furniture. However, you’ll need more small pieces to fit into the same living room else your furniture will look ridiculous. This means you can still do this with the same budget.

The idea is not to have too much furniture in your living as it degrades the look of the room.

8.   Ceiling

The ceiling is another part that most people don’t give much attention to. But it’s one of the places that add to the elegant feel of the living room. 

If you can have everything else perfect and miss the ceiling, the living room will still look inexpensive. The ceiling needs a special level of attention.

Generally, you need to use colors that complement the rest of the items in your living room. However, you can still play with your creativity. You can try out some ceiling special designs.

9.   Include Some Cushions and Pillows

Throw Pillows add to the overall decoration of the living room. These pillows can be used as a headrest or for decorative purposes.

You can add a recliner chair with cushions on it and scatter accent pillows across it. This will give you a relaxed peace of mind.

My favorite way is to have cushions of at least two colors that complement each other. The living room looks inviting, cozy and elegant.

However, you don’t need to get crazy about it. Don’t introduce unnecessary colors into your living room because of the cushions.

Make sure the colors of your pillows and cushions are part of the three colors you have chosen for your living room. 

And don’t forget to follow the rule of three and balance. This only means that you need to make sure your pillows and cushions are in old numbers and of different colors under your three-color pallet and of different textures.

10.       Mix-up sectional sofas

No living room needs to contain only one type of sofa. Mixing and matching furniture pieces is a great way to give your space a dynamic feel and you can achieve this without spending too much money.

Start with your favorite and the most expensive piece, like the love seat, and then move on from there. If you have an odd-shaped living room or dining area, try out different configurations with modular pieces until you find what works best for you.

If you can’t afford separate sets of sofas, you need to buy them as separate pieces of furniture. This way, you’ll achieve the best living room design without breaking the bank.

11.        Consistent flooring

The floor needs consistent color and material throughout. Two types of flooring can be used: hardwood or carpet.

Hardwood provides a sleek look but can become too slippery when there is no rug in the center of the room for grip. The trending hardwood flooring is the light wood floor. It looks clean and modern.

The Carpet flooring gives warmth to the room and it feels cozier, but can make noise when people walk on it.

12.        Make your living room spacious

A living room needs not to be cluttered with unnecessary pieces of stuff. Put only those pieces of furniture that are absolutely necessary such as furniture, a green plant and coffee tables in this area.

Remove everything else that you don’t need from the area and make sure it is spacious for you to walk around freely. If you have a large room, use the corner for reading or relaxation by adding some soft cushions on the floor or buying a comfortable multipurpose ottoman that can also serve as extra seating when needed.

13.        Corner Fireplace

Having a fireplace is a wonderful feature on its own, but you can take it next level with some cool décor.

If you have a corner fireplace in your living room, there are plenty of ways to decorate it and give it a fresh look. You can add a mirror above the mantel to reflect light and make the room feel brighter.

You can also try hanging a statement piece of art on either side of the fireplace. 

Candles are also always a nice touch, and you can use them to create ambiance or even set the mood for a romantic evening.

Another option is to add some greenery above your fireplace. Artificial plants are good for decorating a fireplace, but they can also add moisture, which might be an issue if you have a real wood-burning fireplace.

14.        Scented Candles

One way to make your living room look and feel more luxurious is to include some quality scented candles. Not only do they add a touch of elegance, but they can also make your home smell amazing.

Choose candles with warm, rich scents like vanilla or cinnamon for a cozy feel, or go for something light and refreshing like citrus or lavender. Place them on accent tables, coffee tables, or even on the mantelpiece for a dramatic effect.

15. Coffee Table Decorating

If you want to add a touch of luxury to your living room without spending a fortune, you should also give attention to your coffee table.

Depending on your preference, you can add a transparent grass coffee table or just a classic wooden coffee table. As a rule of thumb, you need to have a coffee table that is too small or too big.

You can also add tall and short coffee as long as they complement each other.

16.        Lighting Effects

The other way of achieving an elegant look is to figure out what kind of lighting effects you want to achieve in your living room. Do you want it to be bright and airy? Or warm and inviting?

Once you know the look you want to create, you can start shopping for light fixtures. For a cheap option, try using table lamps or floor lamps. If you’re looking for something more permanent that will give off plenty of light, try chandeliers or wall sconces with shades.

You can also try some rechargeable lamps. Most of them come with remote control and varying colors. This is so ideal because you can switch the color depending on the time of the day. For example, you can switch to red color if it’s at night.

17. Drapes & Curtains Detail

If you want to give your living room a luxurious look on a budget, one of the best things you can do is invest in some high-quality drapes or curtains. Not only will this add a touch of elegance to the space, but it will also help to keep out unwanted light and noise.

Most importantly, drapes and curtains are relatively inexpensive, so you won’t have to break the bank to get the look you want.

If you’re not good at picking colors, you should opt for neutral-colored curtains and drapes. 

18. Hang crystal chandeliers from the ceiling

Crystal chandeliers that dangle amazingly from the ceiling create an extraordinary expensive look in your living room.  Chandelier has many types, sizes, and shapes, so you can choose the best for your house and budget.

Maintain an airy and modern atmosphere by using white furniture or pastel colors like pale green, light blue, and light pink.

If you want to find affordable chandeliers on Amazon, you need to use the Amazon visual search. You take a screenshot of the chandelier you want and navigate to the visual search on Amazon.

Amazon will pull out all products related to your photo. This way, you’ll find cheap products at affordable prices.

Final Words

Again, there are a lot of ways to make your living room look elegant. It’s not only the issue of what you should buy but it’s a combination of several things.

Not every living room may need all the 18 things discussed in this post.  For some living rooms, it may just be a matter of organization or decluttering some pieces of furniture.

Whether you want to implement these ideas or you’re just researching, I wish you all the best.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *