11 Ideas for the Living Room That You'll Want to Bookmark

Designers know how to make the space more comfortable and tailor it to the needs of the residents. We reviewed dozens of projects and selected the most interesting life hacks for a small living room. Now we're sharing them with you!

Sofa from soft panels

Designer Natalia Koreneva arranged a cozy sofa in the niche of the living room. Soft panels up to the ceiling visually expand the space, and the pistachio color in combination with a velvet texture softens it.

Design: Natalia Koreneva. View the full project

Separate with a glass partition

When there's no point in building a wall in a tiny living room, but you want to outline its boundaries. A glass partition in Dmitry Dubrovsky's project makes the living room brighter and visually larger.

Design: Dmitry Dubrovsky. View the full project

Install a cabinet flush with the wall

Integrated storage helps make the most of even small spaces. For example, as in this project: here they allocated space for a built-in cabinet, and its doors were made flush with the walls. The storage system virtually merged with the wall.

Design: Vera Ilyinchik. View the full project

Paint the entrance door in wall color

To avoid drawing attention to the entrance door and creating visual noise, it can be painted in wall color. Designer Mariam Razueva did exactly that in this two-room apartment. She also painted the door jambs, threshold, and doorbell in the same gray tone.

Design: Mariam Razueva. View the full project

Or use the color block technique

How exactly? For example, take the idea from Svetlana Khabeeva's project and make a wide horizontal stripe on white walls in the living room. It looks interesting, and the entrance door ended up almost invisible.

Design: Svetlana Khabeeva. View the full project

Design a niche above the door frame

See for yourself in this small studio how every free meter can be utilized. Designers placed a wardrobe with mirrored doors in the living room and added niche cabinets above the door frame to the room.

Design: Afonskaya & Trofimova Studio. View the full project

Evaluate the convenience of a suspended console

In such a console you can put various small items and throw your keys on it before leaving. Plus, a suspended console takes up little space and doesn't overload the interior. Almost forgot to mention: you can push the pouf under it when not in use, as done here.

Design: Alexander Maksimov. View the full project

Make an accent from wooden strips

In Irina Dolganova's project, the wall opposite the mirror wardrobe was decorated with wooden strips, and several hooks-stools from IKEA were placed on them. It turned out functional and cozy — take the idea for note!

Design: Irina Dolganova. View the full project

Choose a mirror cabinet with reduced depth

For example, as in the project by Oxana Savchuk and Irina Baklanova. Designers didn't just go for a spacious cabinet in wall color. Instead, they installed a shoe rack opposite it and a narrow mirror cabinet above it—similar to the ones usually hung in bathrooms.

Design: Oxana Savchuk and Irina Baklanova. View the full project

Hide storage behind curtains

We picked up this trick from Dmitry Udovitsky's project. It is ideal for a narrow corridor where there is a small empty wall or no possibility to install a cabinet with sliding or hinged doors.

Behind the curtains, you can hide hooks, a hanger, and a sideboard. For such an idea, it's better to choose dense textile that holds its shape.

Design: Dmitry Udovitsky. View the full project

Hang a mirror on the entrance door

A working life hack for a small living room. Designer Alexandra Hasanova used it in this apartment. If you want to hang a full-length mirror, but there's no free wall, install it directly on the entrance door.

Design: Alexandra Hasanova. View the full project

On the cover: design by Vera Sheverdenok.