Give your living room an aesthetics touch

What you need to know:

Are you wondering how to align your sofas, curtains and a rug to create a perfect theme? Pauline Bangirana shares how you can play around with colours.

A living room is one of the busiest spaces in many homes. Activities such as watching television, doing homework for children, welcoming visitors, praying and playing, all happen here. This perhaps is the reason your living room must be warm, welcoming and appealing.
When it comes to creating uniform decor, a lot has to be put into consideration. Factors such as curtain colours and patterns, chairs and paint all leave a lot to be desired.
It takes more than knowing the right style, right colours and how to align them to give your home the perfect look, similar to cozy and fabulous homes we watch in movies or read about in magazines.
Christine S. Mwogeza, an interior designer of Beauty Littles Interiors, says having a theme in mind is a great step towards having beautiful living room. For open spaces where you visually move from one space to another, Mwogeza recommends that the colours should be coordinated and must have a visual continuity.
“A colour wheel is a key tool in colour cordination and from it, various colour schemes arise. Some of the examples may include monochromatic-one colour in its varying tones and shades, complementary-colours opposite of each other, analogous-colours that are next to each other, triadic, tetradic and split-complementary,” she explains.
These can be chosen in various hues and shades. According to Mwogeza, some colour combinations are vibrant and alive, while others are cool, muted or serene. The use of the space you are working on can also be a guideline when choosing colours. Mwogeza says that aligning of colours can be overwhelming but recommends using basics and starting with what you like.
For a living room with chairs, floor, walls and drapery, it is important to consider the following:

Natural light
A space with a lot of natural light will allow for one to play with the darker tones on wall (paint or curtains), whereas one with less natural light will dictate lighter palettes on wall painting and curtains. You can contrast, however, with dark trimmings such as curtain rods, tie backs, cushions and so much more. A lot of natural light will allow you to have darker tones on the wall or floor or furniture. Less of it will need lighter colours.

Space sizes
These will also dictate colour or theme alignment. Use furniture in proportion to space. Smaller spaces will call for lighter, thinner furniture that will not overwhelm it. Glass tables and mirrors also create an enhanced space.

Walls and floors
Walls and floors also account for a big percentage of any space. This is why these two should be well coordinated and must not compete. When one enters a living room, they should have a feeling of visual coordination and as they look around the room, a sense of continuity. Mwogeza advises considering neutral or muted shades for wall colour paint.
Focal wall
For a good design, every house must have a focal wall- one that draws attention to it. You may have a deep tone of paint or a large art piece-or even mirror with elaborate frame. This is mainly dependent on your preferences.
The floor, if carpeted can have a centre rug that ties in with a focal wall or drapery in the space. Consider the colour harmonies above and select your theme.

Curtains and carpet
Mwogeza advises that if your curtains are floral and busy, you might want a plain rug. However, if carpet or rug has elaborate designs or is a Persian rug, you could consider plain curtains in a muted shade or tint. The two should not compete lest your space appears crowded.
Having many windows means more curtains. Even though the room is large, you should not make an extremely dark colour for the curtains because they will be all over the room. Remember that dark colours close in and light colours open up.

Furniture
The election should be part of your wall and floor colour scheme. You can choose a shade of yellow-deep mustard, or a patterned fabric in one unique piece of furniture like a wing chair or throw cushions.
For dark colours, use smaller pieces, which are easy to redo.