When designing a room, a focal point is necessary to draw the eye and create interest.  Without one, any room, especially the living area, can look bland and jumbled.  As you or a guest walks into a room, there should be a single feature that immediately draws the eye.  Does your living room have an appealing focal point?  If you don’t know, simply walk into the room and notice if any area immediately draws your attention.  If it all seems to run together, this article will explain how to create a great focal point.

Some rooms have a natural focal point

Fireplaces, picture windows and alcoves are natural focal points.  If your living room has any of these features, it’s easy to build around them in order to add extra appeal.

Your fireplace can be the first feature that draws the eye.  Dress up the mantle with collectibles, or place a unique piece of art or mirror above the fireplace.  Painting a border around the entire fireplace using a bold color will also make it stand out.

Can’t find a focal point?

If there is no natural area that attracts your attention, don’t despair – create your own!  All you need to do is add something that is interesting and draws the eye.  Look around the room and consider the furniture and accessories you already have.  Large pieces such as a sofa or display cabinet can make a great focal point!

Make the area around your sofa the main attraction of the room by adding a large grouping on the wall above it.  Toss some boldly patterned throw pillows on the sofa, and flank both ends with unusual table or floor lamps.  If you have a large display or curio cabinet, consider placing additional lighting in the ceiling to highlight the area.  You may also want to paint the item a bold color, and then sand the edges gently to give it a worn look.

Can you have more than one focal point?

If you have more than one area that attracts attention, it can make the room feel unbalanced.  Your goal is to have a single area that automatically grabs the attention of anyone who enters.  Perhaps you have a window with a stunning view AND a fireplace.  What should you do at that point?  The view should take precedence over the fireplace, so highlight it with a stunning window treatment and add a few stone or ceramic pots filled with greenery.

If your focal point is the area around your sofa but you also have a love seat, don’t allow them to compete.  Keep bold colorful accents around the love seat to a minimum, so that the sofa area stands out the most.

Put these ideas to work for you, and the rooms of your home will be stunningly attractive!  Anyone who enters will find your home appealing and beautiful.  You can find hundreds of ideas for creating a home that is stunning without spending more than your budget allows online!

Every room of your home should have a focal point, which is simply a place where the eyes naturally go when entering the room.  You may not even realize if your living room has a focal point.  How can you find out?  Consciously walk in to the room, and notice what jumps out at you first.  If nothing really attracts your eye, you may be missing a focal point, which is essential to proper decorating.  This article explains more about focal points, and how to design your living room around it for the most appeal.

The main feature of your living room

Nearly everyone has an area of the room that makes a great focal point.  For you, it may be a beautiful fireplace, an exquisite area rug or an antique armoire or other piece of furniture.  In creating a focal point, you may be able to use a feature that already exists, or it may be necessary to add a distinguishing touch.

A fireplace makes a great focal point

If you do have a great fireplace in your living room, use it to your best advantage!  Hang a spectacular mirror or painting above it that attracts the eye.  You can also add dramatic sculptures to the mantel, or even paint a faux border around the entire fireplace.

What if there is no focal point?

Create your own!  If there is no large, distinguishing feature in your living room that really draws the eye, create one.  Think outside the box on this one – a great area rug, a glass display case filled with collectibles, or even a great wall display or tapestry can be the focal point of the room.

Once you decide what the focal point is or create your own, it’s time to decorate around it so that it can be fully appreciated.  Large furnishings should be placed in the room before any accessories, because these items lend “shape” to the room.  Furnishings should be arranged so that from any position, the focal point is within view.

Ideally, your living room should be designed to seat six to eight people comfortably.  This may include a sofa, love seat and chair with ottoman, along with a rocker if you like.  Once you have placed your furniture where it attracts the most attention to your focal point, you are ready to bring in the accessories and accents.

Plants, artwork, accent tables and other decor should be placed so that they enhance your furnishings, while at the same time keeping attention on the focal point.  Accents should blend with the decor, not take away the impact of your focal point.

Once you have completed the room, you won’t believe how beautifully it transformation the space!  A focal point is essential for your living room; otherwise, when you walk in to the room there is nothing special to grab the eye, and the room simply goes unnoticed. Why have rooms without personality, when you can have one that exudes great interest and appeal?

When decorating a room in your home, you want it to be stylish with lots of character, but you also want it to be functional. The furniture takes up the bulk of the space in most rooms, whether it’s in your bedroom or the living room. This is why when you go to decorate your home, it’s important to properly plan where you want to place the furnishings.

Typically, the way you arrange your furniture depends on several different factors. Of course, the type of room you are decorating will be a factor, but so will what furniture you are working with and what style you are going for in your décor. Each room is going to be different when it comes to arranging furniture. However, here are some basic tips to follow when decorating your home.

Choose the Focal Point of the Room
You’re not going to be able to arrange your furniture until you’ve decided where the focal point is going to be in your room. The room might have a natural focal point, such as a bay window or fireplace, or you might choose one of the furnishings you have and build the room around that.

To choose your focal point, pay attention to where your eyes are drawn when you first walk into the room. Wherever that is, you want to focus on that part of the room. Once you’ve determined the focal point, you can now rearrange the furniture in order to emphasize that place in the room.

Plan Your Design
It’s not uncommon for homeowners to play around with a room’s design before they get it the way they like. It’s best to start by arranging the largest pieces of furniture first.

If you’ve already chosen one of your larger pieces of furniture to be the focal point, then that will be easy to place. The largest pieces need to be arranged first since they are going to take up the most space and be more dominant than the smaller pieces in the room. In a bedroom, this might mean figuring out where your bed goes first. In a family room, it may mean planning where the sofa will go.

Your furniture should be placed in relation to the focal point you’ve chosen. Not everything needs to be facing the focal point, but the furnishings should be arranged so that they show off the importance of the focal point. You need to also be sure that you are not putting all the larger pieces together, as it will throw off the balance of the room. After you’ve place the larger pieces, then move on to the smaller ones, such as side tables and chairs.

Consider the Purpose of the Room
You need to consider the purpose of the room when arranging the furniture. In your dining room, for example, you need to pay attention as to whether there’s enough space for people to comfortably pass bytable when others are seated there. In your living room, on the other hand, you want to be sure the seating is close enough together so that people aren’t shouting in order to hear one another. Functionality and purpose are key things to keep in mind when arranging the furniture in any room.

The great thing about arranging furniture in your home is that it’s not set in stone. Once you get the furniture in place, you can always leave it there for a couple of weeks to see how it works out. If in the end you don’t like it or it’s not working, you can always start over again and come up with a different arrangement for the room.

Some rooms naturally have a focal point, whereas other rooms might require you to add something to create that focal point.  But before you add anything to the room, be sure to take the time to look closely at that room to see what it already has to offer. If you already have something like a fireplace in the room, this is a natural focal point that can easily be played up when decorating.

A large piece you already have in the room might make a great focal point, such as a bookcase, a dresser, an entertainment center,  or even a couch. You may only have to rearrange some furniture to create a focal point if you already have something in the room you can use. Or you might have to start from scratch in choosing the proper focal point for a room.

The Fireplace as a Focal Point
A fireplace provides a great natural focal point for any room. If you have a fireplace in the room, then there are plenty of ways you can draw attention to it.

For an instant focal point, arrange the furniture around the fireplace. But there are also other things you can do. You might draw attention to that area by painting the wall the fireplace is on a different color than the rest of the room. You could also change the style of the fireplace or add a new mantle to it in order to draw more attention there. Then top the mantle with eye-catching décor items, or hang a large piece of art over it.

The Couch as a Focal Point
If you have a favorite couch that you just love, with a little rearranging you can make it the focal point of the room. Just be sure the couch is in great condition. If it’s necessary, you might want to add a slipcover to it.

You can add colorful or patterned pillows or throws to the couch to draw attention there. Then arrange the rest of the furniture so it is facing the couch. A large couch can be placed in the middle of the longest wall in the room. Side tables can be added to the couch as well.

The Armoire or Entertainment Center as a Focal Point
If you have a media room or family room and want an armoire or entertainment center to be its focus, be sure to concentrate on that piece’s quality. After all, you don’t want an entertainment center that’s cheap-looking to be the main focus of the room. Thus, be sure to invest in an attractive piece of furniture that’s also of decent quality.

It’s not a bad idea to also look for a furnishing with doors that will hide any electronics. You can add additional style to the furnishing with flower arrangements, candles, and frames.

You can come up with many other ways to create a focal point in a room. After all, you will probably want to show off different pieces in different room. In a bedroom, a popular focal point is the bed, for instance. Remember to use your creativity in showing off and highlighting your focal point as best you can.