A table is a furniture unit which is seen in every home used for a variety of purposes from study to dining, tables are a very popular type of furniture unit. Theoretically speaking a table is nothing but a horizontal platform with legs that support various activities in everyday work.

Since the primary function of a table can not be defined with 100% guarantee the form and shape/size of tables greatly vary. For example tables for studying/dining/coffee/in restaurants/in bedrooms/in living rooms all have different sizes.

In living rooms two types of tables are primarily used. First are the end tables that come with a living room furniture set as part of the other furniture units like sofas and chairs and the second type is a coffee table. As the name suggests a coffee table is normally placed in the center of the “loop” formed by sofas and is used to serve eatables or drinks etc. because of this the overall volume of the coffee table is short and does not “over occupy” the living room.

On the other hand end tables are only used as fillers to occupy the small corners at the “end” of sofa units where living room ends. These kind of tables are also mostly used to keep a flowering arrangement or statues that will hide the unwanted corners of the room. The typical height of both end and coffee tables measures to be 450 mm (1 feet 6 inches approx.) This height does not obstruct the vision of the people occupying  the living room.

The coffee table normally comes in a two layer design. The upper layer is used to serve coffee or other eatables and the lower layer can be used to keep magazines/newspapers.

One very creative way to break the old pattern of decorating is to use the end tables as a coffee table but in more numbers. For example instead of using a single rectangular coffee table with glass top you can use two wooden end tables and two glass+steel end tables to create an interesting pattern. Since the end tables measure shorter in demission around 450mmX450mm such type of design will not obstruct the human movement between the sofa loop.

Also the variation in top surface material will give rise to interesting material themes that can be repeated elsewhere also. Some possible shapes of such an arrangement could be

* A big square using 4 small squares end tables of different  top surface finish
* 2 small square tables with 2 half round tables at both ends to form a “capsule” shape in plan.
* Two rectangular end tables to for a “L” shape.

The variations can be unlimited if done creatively. But one thing remains to explore here, what happens to the “end” space where these end tables need to be placed primarily? Of course this space is a good one to place a attention grabbing feature such as a medium height plant or even designer lampposts. The advantage of using these is they will
evenly balance the visual focus away from the center tables and form a visual frame in the living room by providing good lighting at the same time.

Many more creative ideas are possible using simple tables in the living room. I hope you will find more new ways to use them in your home. I have tried to mark a few ones here

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya

Shrinivas Vaidya is the webmaster of http://www.livingroomdatabase.com/. Visit today to get more free tips on making use of living room tables and other furniture models such as chairs, sofas, and living room sets in home decorating. 

Decorating a living room is a great way to enhance the value of your home. A beautifully decorated home always helps in creating a charming mood amongst the family members. Apart from just arranging furniture and finalizing color schemes, there are many things that can go in a living room decorating project.

Accessories in decorating can make a big difference in the look and feel of any interior space. Objects such as wall clocks, picture frames, wall hangings, feng-shui objects can greatly add to the value of beauty in a living room.

Indoor metal statues and plants are another my favorite objects in decorating. You can also go in for bonsai trees on window openings to add some extra interest. In addition to these accessories a good choice of curtains, window valances depending upon the theme of decorating can create a good visual balance in the room. If your home is located at a place where there is plenty of natural sunlight the curtains that will filter out harsh sunlight during daytime will create some great lighting play inside the living room.

carpets of various sizes and shapes can add a good sense of direction of human movement inside the room. While selecting the carpets it is necessary to look for the maintenance factor as well.

Furniture in any interior space occupies maximum floor area. Apart from providing comfort for the users, furniture also has a certain emotional attachment from user’s point of view.

Depending upon the volume of space being decorated and the overall theme of decorating, furniture can be used to bring some great ambience in the space. If the living room you are trying to decorate is smaller in volume, it is necessary to create a perfect balance between the used and unused areas. That’s why it is recommended that you go in for furniture that is more “sleek” in nature like cane furniture. If you use bulky furniture like stuffed sofas etc. they create an appearance of large volumes and the smaller room looks smaller.

Will keep on writing more about various furniture types later. That’s it for now

Sofa in a living room is a very special way to occupy space for a special purpose. The main purpose of any sofa unit is to not just to provide seating, but create a secured environment where the home owner and his family can enjoy moments of togetherness. 

That’s why sofas come in a variety of shapes and sizes. In most cases sofa units come in a category of “number of seats”.

3seats in a row, 2seats in a row (commonly called as a “love seat”) and a single seat sofa are available today in the furniture market. Apart from these special designer sofas for placing in corner on the living room are also popular. These designer sofas are sometimes in the form of a letter “L” in plan, with the longer side of the “L” has a back rest with 3 seats in a row.

The most preferred arrangement of sofas in a living room furniture unit is making use of one 3seat sofa along the longer length of the sofa and two single seat sofas with an end table in between them. A living room set is also available for customers. This living room set contains a 3 seat sofa, a love seat, a single seat sofa, end table(s) and a coffee table.

Depending upon the design/dimensions/shape and volume of the living room various combinations of the sofas can be done to utilize space. While deciding the arrangement of the sofas keep one thing in mind that as soon as you arrange a sofa layout, the volume of space occupied by the sofas and surroundings immediately becomes the focus of attention. For example if the sofas have been arranged around the TV unit, see that the rest of the space gets enough attention or it will look unoccupied. Also make use of small elements such as end tables and coffee table of various shapes to create some interest in the living room.

Before defining a living room furniture layout first finalize your main activity of interest in a living room. What does this mean? What I mean is for do you use the living room most. Is it reading? watching TV, sleeping, home office in a short corner with a computer etc. Answering this question first is very important because in a living room furniture layout sofas play a major role. Since sofas are the heaviest furniture elements you can not move or shift them every other day for a different layout. I’m not saying you can never change the layout once it’s done, but if you arrange the sofas around a TV unit then naturally watching TV becomes your main activity.

On the other hand if you place them around the exit to patio then naturally you will have to spend a lot of time watching nature and birds in the outside garden.

I hope this article was a good start in thinking about more creative ways to use sofas in a living room decorating.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya

Shrinivas Vaidya is the webmaster of http://www.livingroomdatabase.com/ Visit today to get more free tips on making use of living room sofa and other many aspects of decorating that can make your home a beautiful place to reside.

It is very common to see home decorating projects taking longer times in finishing than what was scheduled for. Why does this happen? Has this happened anytime with your home.

I have got an easy solution to this problem. Before starting staring the decorating project finalize what “theme” you would like to go for. This solution seems to be very common, but has a lot of power in it.

The biggest benefit of this system is that you don’t get distracted from what you want to achieve with decorating. The theme will always guide you in executing the right color schemes/linen finishes/wallpapers/lighting fittings/ carpets/furniture styles and every minute detail; you want to go in for.

For example if you have a clear idea that you are willing to go for a “contemporary home decorating theme” then you won’t waste your time looking for stuff that is heavily decorative, because the very essence of a contemporary theme is “simplicity with straight lines”.

I will write more about this type of theme later, but if you want to achieve such type of mindset that always forces you to execute your every project in time and in the shortest possible budget, I recommend “Home Decorating Made Easy”, a step-by-step guide for anyone who wants spectacular and charming rooms, which your neighbors will envy

What color shade should you choose while decorating your living room?

If you mess up with this, the whole beauty of your living room (and the rest of the home) will be vanished in no time. Why? It’s quite common sense.

A living room is like the face of your home. In most home designs the main entrance of the home is either directly in the living room or a small lobby that get you into the living room. So for you or a stranger, the living room instantly creates the first impression of your home. Most people will judge you and your habits by looking at your living room.

But fortunately we can create a better picture of your home using color schemes while decorating your living room. As a general rule the color scheme must be “inviting”. Use of bright shades will be the best option. Bright shades also have an advantage of dispersing the natural sunlight evenly in every corner of the living room. Bright colors always give a fresh look to any interior space and the space always looks bigger.

for more information on how you can easily decorate any interior space on your own in shortest possible time and budget visit home decorating made easy!

Chairs provide a very simple yet effective way to relax and spend some good time in a comfortable body posture. But not all chairs are designed to “relax” . This is especially true about chairs in the workplaces. In the workplaces we are supposed to be alert hence the office furniture is designed to be alert at work. They keep your body in a manner which will keep you from relaxing.

But things are different in a living room. the whole and sole purpose of chairs in the living room are to provide better comfort and maximum relaxation. But there is one more important aspect to this situation.

let’s see a small experiment. If you have been given a choice in a living room to watch a good movie and provided with two different types of seating arrangement. First a big stuffed leather sofa and a small chair with fair amount of seating space a person should have, which one would you choose to sit. Of course most people will unconsciously choose to sit on a large sofa and ignore the chair altogether.

Why does this happen? It’s simple a sofa has a much different psychological impact on the human mind because of its sheer volume and form. Because of his a chair in a living room is always considered as a “option” for seating arrangement. If your more friends join the movie viewing with you then you might consider getting a few “chairs” to sit around the TV and fulfill the need of emergency occupancy.

So chairs are always considered a fillers rather than core furniture elements in a living room. But this same principle can be very effectively used, let’s see how.

If you observe the furniture arrangement in any living room you will notice that sofa sets are arranged in living rooms that overlook some object of interest such as a fireplace, TV, outdoor patio, backyard etc. So such kind of arrangement is used to create a focus in the living room. Go right now to http://images.google.com and search for “living room” images. View at least 10 images and you will see that all attention has been focused around this furniture arrangement.

We can easily use this method with chairs as well. An arrangement of chairs in a large living room will definitely be used to balance the attention elsewhere and create another focal point. For example if the exit to patio has been overlooked an arrangement of even 4 chairs with a small coffee table will make the space look more used and
balanced.

In this way chairs do have a lot of “power” in decorating when used in groups and with creative arrangements. I hope this article has shown you the importance of chairs as a design element in living rooms.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya
Shrinivas Vaidya is the webmaster of http://www.livingroomdatabase.com Visit today to get more free tips on living room chairs and many other factors that will help you to create a charming and beautiful living room.