How To Furnish Your Sitting Room from Start to Finish

Next to the kitchen or bathroom, your sitting room is arguably one of the most used areas of your house, so furnishing it can present a challenge whether you’re starting from scratch or planning a re-design. As well as curating the most footfall, your sitting room is where you and your family unwind after a long day and host guests, so it’s normal to feel intimidated about furnishing it from start to finish. 

Much like your kitchen, your sitting room is another room in your property that commands a significant amount of time and money spent on furnishing it – or in other words, every detail counts! Since you spend many of your waking hours in your sitting room, it needs to be outfitted for various activities, whether this includes a large leather corner sofa for watching movies, bookcases for reading sessions, or toy storage to keep your little ones happy. 

Modern or traditional, casual or formal, eccentric or subdued – whichever style you prefer, we’ve outlined several tips and tricks to help you achieve it. Continue reading to discover how to furnish your sitting room from start to finish. 

Start Big 

Funding a property purchase or moving house is already a significant financial blow, becoming even more costly when furniture gets added into the mix. When confronted with ample, empty space, many people are overcome with the urge to fill it; however, furniture can be expensive, and not everyone can afford to purchase everything in one fell swoop. 

We recommend spreading out the cost of your furniture purchases over several months; otherwise, you run the risk of running out of money for other essential things. You can start by purchasing any piece of furniture. 

Still, for ease, we recommend starting with a more significant piece such as a television, bed frame or corner sofa, as these pieces typically set the foundation for a room and help you plan the rest of the room’s layout. These items also tend to be more in monetary value, making it easier to see what remaining funds you have left and determine what else you could buy. 

Once you’ve got the more significant pieces into place, you can think about finishing touches such as wall decorations, greenery, candles etc. This will give the space a more ‘finished’ look and allow you to add glimpses of your personality to it. 

Experiment With Upholstery 

Usually, when you purchase a corner sofa from a furniture retailer, they give you the option of buying the rest of the set in matching upholstery. This is a popular option for many homeowners, but it doesn’t mean that you should opt for it. Matching upholstery is an excellent option for those that want their sitting room to look orderly, formal, and cohesive. Still, if you’d prefer your living space to have more personality, you could consider experimenting with upholstery. 

One of the easiest ways to experiment with your upholstered pieces is by pairing different materials in the same room. For instance, you could pair a leather corner sofa with a pair of fabric armchairs to create an intentional contrast. This makes a difference that is pleasing to the eye, but it also gives family and guests the option of seats depending on what they prefer. 

If you’d like to learn more about experimenting with upholstery, look at furniture retailers such as Denelli Italia and draw inspiration from a variety of corner sofa options on their website. Corner sofas are easy furnishings to mix and match upholstery since they come in various colours, textures, and fabrics. 

Head over to Denelli’s website to browse their exquisite range of corner sofas, or visit their showroom in person for expert advice about making your sitting room stand out by experimenting with upholstery. 

Understand The Space 

Much like the name suggests, a living room is meant to be lived in. Therefore, it’s worth knowing how you and your family would like to live in your new sitting room before making any critical furnishing decisions. As well as being aesthetically pleasing your sitting room needs to be functional and outfitted for various activities so that family and friends can derive enjoyment from it. 

We use our sitting rooms for reading, napping, entertaining, eating, conversing, etc. So, the space must be versatile and accommodate all these activities and more. To determine what you and your family require from your sitting room, you’ll have to understand the space and how your family would like to use it. 

Suppose that you have young children in the household. Would a leather corner sofa be more suitable for young children than the fabric one you originally had your heart set on? Additionally, would your sitting room need ample storage areas to keep toys hidden when guests are over? Etc. 

These considerations will help you make more suitable furnishing choices, prevent you from making mistakes that could be costly to rectify further down the line, and ultimately create a living room that everyone in the family will love. 

Always Measure 

Regardless of your plans to furnish and arrange your sitting room, it is crucial that you don’t forget to measure your space before committing to any purchases. Especially when buying more prominent pieces of furniture like a corner sofa or rug, it’s imperative to have an idea of the room’s measurements to ensure that whatever you purchase fits. 

Furnishings like rugs and corner sofas can be difficult to re-home if purchased in error, and nobody wants to recreate the iconic pivot episode of ‘Friends’. To avoid wasting your valuable time and money, ensure that you measure all available wall, floor and doorway space, then use the measurements you’ve recorded to aid your decisions while furniture shopping.

Suppose you’re moving into a new property or relocating by yourself and feel like you’d struggle to accurately scale up your sitting room without assistance. Thanks to advancements in technology, a range of measurement apps for Android and iOS are designed to help people measure up rooms and furniture. 

From applications that automatically detect a measurable surface like Google’s own application ‘Measure’ to apps that enable you to create floorplans by tapping your phone against walls like ‘RoomScan’ – there is a variety of helpful tech to help you record and save the measurements of your sitting room. 

Choose Moveable Furnishings 

Another tip to bear in mind when furnishing your sitting room is to choose moveable furnishings if and where possible. No matter how pleased you are with the overall result of your newly furnished sitting room, there will inevitably come a time when you will have to move furnishings around. 

Whether you fancy a shift around, redecorate or relocate, we recommend that you save your future self the hassle and opt for lightweight, moveable furnishings. From tables, ottomans, stools, and chairs, having easy-to-move furniture makes the space more flexible and saves time when shifting items around. 

Plus, furnishing your sitting room with furniture that can be moved around easily makes the space much more comfortable as family and friends will have lots of options when it comes to sitting or placing something down. It also makes accommodating guests easier, as additional seating can easily be provided.