Decorating Large Great Room With Many Windows

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It can be fun and also challenging to bring life to a large living room through decorating it. Stay true to your style as you consider different design elements, such as the furniture, the wall space and accessory options, in order to decorate your large living room as a warm and inviting place.

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Take a quiz online to find your style. Go online and simply search "Decor Style Quizzes" in order to get some direction. These quizzes will determine your personal style by having you choose between different rooms, accessories, and pieces of furniture. As you take the quiz, reflect on whether or not you could see yourself relaxing and/or entertaining guests in each space You may be interested in:^[1]
- Happy modern
- Warm industrial
- Eclectic collector
- Classic glam
- Keep in mind that a single style may not fit your tastes. Feel free to mix and match elements to create a unique, but cohesive, style.
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Look online and in magazines for inspiration. Buy some interior decorating magazines and cut out any rooms, furniture pieces, and accessories in the magazines that you like and then make a collage or scrapbook out of the clippings. Search your specific decor style on sites like Pinterest and save any pins that you like to your "Decor Style" board. This should help you develop a clearer sense of style.^[2]
- Include your specific style in your Pinterest search. For example, search "modern style large living room" or "traditional style large living room."
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Go through what you already own before you purchase new pieces. You likely already own several furniture pieces and accessories that fit your style, so go through your home and make note of what you enjoy having and what you'd like to replace. Get rid of the pieces that don't fit your vision and purchase new pieces that stay true to your style.^[3]
- If you can't afford to get several new pieces at once, keep your current furniture and accessories and replace one at a time over the course of several months.
- To save money, consider changing the pieces you can without replacing them. For instance, you could paint an old boring dresser that you have a bright color or change the upholstery on your dining room chairs to better fit your style.
- You can also repurpose items to fit your needs. For instance, instead of buying a new coffee table, make one out of crates or a large trunk.
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Match your decor to your personality and lifestyle. As you're trying to determine your style, consider who you are and what kind of life you live. For instance, if you're always planning your next trip and are passionate about seeing the world, you may want to go for a boho world-traveler theme that incorporates bright worldly colors, antique furniture, and organic textures. Some other styles you may consider include:^[4]
- Top-notch tastemaker: classic designer pieces, neutral backdrop, and high-tech gadgets.
- Life of the party: bold colors, playful accessories, and mixed patterns.
- Avoid displaying breakable items and using fabrics that stain easily if you have pets or children.
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Emphasize lighting. Since your living room is big, it probably can't be lit properly with just one central light source. During the day, take advantage of windows and keep the curtains or blinds open. Use 2-3 unique lamps near the corners of the room to enhance the central light source and make the evenings feel cozy for guests.^[5] ^[6]
- Consider keeping 2 identical table lamps on side tables located on either side of your biggest couch. Then, put a floor lamp that is made of the same materials, or contains the same colors, in a corner on the other side of the room.
- If you have a fireplace but don't use it, fill it with candles and light them for extra brightness and ambience.
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Use a warm color palette. Cool colors, such as blues and greens, tend to visually expand space. Since you want to do the opposite, go with a warmer color palette that includes reds, oranges, and/or yellows. Get curtains, lamps, wall art, and throw pillows and blankets in these colors.
- Use a warm white or warm neutrals to add brightness and coziness at the same time.^[7]
- For example, you could get a set of solid mahogany curtains and 2-3 apricot throw pillows that have mahogany appliques or tassels on them.
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Add in rough textures to warm up your large space. Texture is important because it adds dimension to a space, which is especially important when you have a lot to work with. Specifically, rough textures help a room feel more intimate and grounded, so try to incorporate several rough-textured pieces into your living room.^[8]
- Toss a few wool throw pillows onto your couch and/or keep a tree branch candle holder centered on your coffee table to add in some rough texture.
- To create a focal point, choose a textured couch or a large chair paired with a jute ottoman.
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Lay a large patterned rug on your living room floor. A large patterned rug can split up space and add personality to your room. Place it near your main sitting space underneath the coffee table and between or underneath your couches. Once again, choose patterns, textures, and colors that fit with your personal decor style, and make sure the size of the rug is proportionate to the size of the space.
- Consider getting a unique Persian or oriental rug, such as a Kazak rug or an Aubusson rug. These are typically very colorful and detailed.^[9]
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Go with well-tailored detailed curtains. It can be challenging to bring warmth and comfort to a large space, but the right window treatment can certainly help. Purchase curtains that are well-tailored and made of a fabric that has unique details to make your living room feel inviting. Pick colors and textures that fit with your specific style.^[10]
- For instance, you may choose a red, orange, and purple aztec pattern for your curtains if your style is laid back boho, or you might choose a simple black and white geometric pattern if your style is more modern.
- For a bold, but polished, look, layer sheer curtains under a heavier panel.
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Hang your curtains about 20 inches (51 cm) above your window. Especially if you have vaulted ceilings, allow your curtains to take up as much of the wall as possible to fill up the space. Position your curtain rod about 20 inches (51 cm) above the top of your window, or about halfway between the top of the window and the ceiling, to bring a bold attractiveness to your living room.^[11]
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Decorate the walls with artwork. You'll likely have a lot of large, blank wall space to fill in your living room. Get a couple large scale art pieces that really stand out to you. Make sure they go along with the rest of your decor, whether it's classic, modern, or another style. Wall art can fill up some of that overwhelming wall space and provide your room with a warm ambiance.
- If your style is more traditional, go for a classic portrait or landscape painting.
- If you want to keep the decor more modern, go for an abstract piece that displays interesting shapes and colors.
- To create a gallery wall, arrange 3 or more paintings, drawings, or photographs on a single wall.
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Use accessories in groups of 3. To tie everything together, spread identical accessories around your living room. This works best in groups of 3 because it isn't too many of one thing, but it helps the room to look relatively uniform and cohesive. Put 1 throw pillow on 1 couch, another identical throw pillow on a 2nd couch, and then a 3rd one on a big chair. You can also do this with small book shelves, lamps, and more.
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Put plants in the corners. Use tall potted plants and/or trees to fill up any spaces in the room that still feel bare. The corners are typically a great place for these kinds of plants and other accent pieces.^[12] This may bring a refreshing earthiness to the room and also help break up the vertical space.^[13]
- Make sure you choose a plant that does well indoors with little sunlight, or go with a location that's near a couple of windows.
- Feel free to choose a faux plant, if desired.
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Anchor the room with pieces of furniture that are big and tall. Since you have a big room, you'll need some big and tall furniture to match it. These larger pieces will anchor the room and make the size of it not quite as noticeable or distracting. Get a large sectional sofa, a big coffee table, and/or a piano to fill up horizontal space and a tall bookcase or armoire to fill the vertical space.^[14]
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Put dividing pieces in the center of the room. One of the best ways to fill a large room is to use furniture to divide the space and designate different parts of the room for different activities. Place decorative screens and consoles near the center of the room to help make all activity spaces in the room feel desirable.^[15]
- One of the best places for a console is right up against the back edge of a couch.
- However, you shouldn't divide up the space if you plan to use for a single purpose.
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Use multiple pieces to create several sitting areas. Seating options don't need to all be close to each other. Instead, get more furniture than you normally would and make use of the space. With these pieces, create sitting areas for large groups, small groups, and couples.^[16]
- Consider getting 3 couches, adding several sitting chairs, and/or getting 1 hard and 1 soft coffee table.^[17]
- Make a larger sitting area with a sofa and a few chairs, but then add in some window nooks and card tables as well for pairs to utilize.
- Create a reading nook in the corner of the room with a comfortable chair, side table, and lamp. This gives the corner a purpose in addition to making the room feel fuller.
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Keep sitting furniture away from the walls. In order to avoid having large blank walls, you may be tempted to push your couch up against one of the walls in your living room. However, if you do this with your sitting furniture, people may feel awkward when they try to talk across the room to others. Bring your couches and chairs closer together so that conversation flows comfortably.^[18]
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Arrange furniture around a focal point. By positioning your furniture around a focal point, you can make the space feel cohesive and create a nice flow in the room. Arrange your furniture around one of your bigger, more interesting pieces of furniture, or around an attractive feature of the room, such as a fireplace.^[19]

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The best way to decorate a large living room is to emphasize lighting by opening the curtains during the day and turning on multiple lamps in the evening. Pick warm-colored furniture and accessories and add rough textures to make your living room cozy. Then, hang well-tailored detailed curtains 20 inches above the top of your window and use big pieces of wall art to fill up wall space. Finally, lay down a big patterned rug underneath the coffee table to encourage conversation. To learn how to pinpoint your style, pick your furniture, and arrange your furniture, scroll down!

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