Express Living Room Repair: 9 Ideas

To completely transform the interior of your living room, sometimes just a few localized interventions are enough. We tell you which ones.

Refreshing the Old

If the furniture frames are intact and undamaged, don't cut corners by dismantling your old built-in wardrobe and sending your beloved but rather worn-out sofa to the countryside. Reupholstering the upholstery, replacing cabinet doors and hardware will cost less than buying new furniture and save time you would otherwise spend searching for it.

The same applies to parquet, wooden windows and doors: they are cheaper and faster to restore than replace.

Design: Anna Pavlovskaya

Refreshing the Walls

Polyurethane or felt wall panels, as well as thick vinyl or textile wallpapers with bold patterns, imitation stucco, or suede texture are what you need if you don’t want to spend time and effort leveling and soundproofing walls.

Paint can also partially mask unevenness if you use dark or, conversely, very light matte shades.

Looking for Express Materials

Use materials whose installation technology does not require a lot of time. For example, instead of plastering you can use gypsum board: if leveling is necessary, it’s faster to make the walls even with it than to apply layers of plaster and wait for them to dry.

Design: Katerina Sizova

Camouflaging Radiators

This point should be included in the list of quick living room updates if there are no complaints about the operation of heating radiators, but they look untidy, outdated in design or don’t fit the room’s style.

Old cast iron models can be painted in wall color or, if the living room is decorated with contrasting colors, choose a bold and eye-catching shade. Another option is to install a screen with an attractive grille.

Design: Marina Sarkisyan

Using Designer Tricks

For example, a bold technique of painting walls along with adjacent wardrobes, shelves or racks. Whoever dares to apply it will kill two birds with one stone: quickly and budget-wise update the walls and old furniture and visually ‘dissolve’ them, thereby expanding the living room space.

Design: Maria Pilipenko and Ekaterina Fedorova

Changing Baseboards and Ceiling Molding

Do you think these elements in the interior are a minor detail? You're seriously mistaken. After replacing narrow plastic moldings and baseboards with tall ones made of polyurethane, wood or MDF, walls and floors will look significantly more expensive and polished. Demolition and installation work can easily be done over the weekend.

Design: Oxana Butman and Natalia Anahina

Choosing Photo Wallpapers

Abstract stylized drawings are always in fashion. If there’s an empty wall in the living room or you need an interesting background for a light shelf, photo panels will be an excellent express solution.

It's important not to be too picky about the placement of the panel on the wall, and mount it either full-width or centered.

Including Architectural Elements into Decor...

Neoclassicism and eclecticism are currently in vogue, which is a great opportunity to use cornices that were previously acceptable only in strict classical interiors.

Modern outlets, cornices or moldings made of polyurethane can be installed even by a non-professional using a builder's level and glue gun.

Design: Daria Baranovich

...and Mirrors

A powerful way to hide wall imperfections is also covering niches and fragments of walls with solid mirror panels. A faux window and furniture decorated with mirror elements will help bring more natural light into the living room if placed opposite real windows.

Design: Olga Kulikovskaya-Eshbi (Interior Box)

On the cover: design project by Olga Syrukh.