Apartment Living Room Ideas

Part of the fun of decorating often comes from using design in creative and often surprising ways. Even if you live in a modern high-rise apartment, you can still enjoy a traditional style of decorating. If you'd like to add a traditional look and feel to your modern living room, here are some decorating tips to help get you started.

Bridging the Design Gap

If you think that a modern living room can't be decorated in a traditional style, think again. In fact, adding traditional touches can add a sense of warmth and charm that is often missing in many contemporary styles. Although you might not want to decorate in a strictly traditional style, there are certainly ways of blending sleek sophistication with traditional charm and grace. For example, you can bridge the design gap by choosing traditional furniture styles in cool colors such as gray, blue and sage, which will work wonderfully with the room's modern architectural features. Or, use the rich warm color palette that is so common in traditional decorating styles, such as burgundy, gold and deep green, combined with modern touches such as stylized metal wall art. Hang traditional oil paintings in sleek metal frames to seamlessly combine the two decorating styles. Preserve the beauty of your city skyline view by using window toppers in rich shades. Art Decor pieces are also quite useful for combining traditional and modern decorating styles. By combining traditional and contemporary styles, you can create a comfortable and attractive eclectic look that will be uniquely your own.

Traditional Furniture Styles

Instead of focusing on ornately decorated furniture, choose simpler pieces that will beautifully blend your modern apartment and traditional decorating style. Combine clean lines with opulent fabrics to incorporate the best of both decorating worlds. Choosing smaller pieces will also help keep your apartment looking sleek and spacious. Accessorizing a sofa or love seat with a few throw pillows or a comfortable throw is also a great way of combining comfort and style. Dark colored wood can help add a traditional look. However, by choosing pieces that feature simple lines instead of carved detailing, you'll also add a sleek and stylish look.

Decorating Details for the Traditional Living Room

It's often the small decorating touches and details that can make or break a room's style. A well-placed art sculpture, decorative clock or interesting wall shelf can add a lot of visual interest to a room. Creating a focal point can also be a great way to define a room's style. A large potted tree, a collection of framed family portraits, or an oversize art print can all serve as a focal point. Even if your apartment features wall-to-wall carpeting, you might want to consider an area rug. Strategically placed rugs can add a very traditional look to a room, while also serving to visually unite seating areas and room design features. By adding traditional styling details to your sleek high-rise apartment living room, you'll be able to create a cozy living space that you'll love coming home to.

I'm all about improving my living room. I get so tired of the same layout in my apartment everyday that I constantly shuffle things around to make it seem different. This weekend I did a few simple things to give my living room a whole new look. These 5 seriously easy ideas can help gain a brand new feel to a stale living room for very little money in almost no time.

1) Mix Up the Furniture - Stir things up. Pull your sofa, chairs, and tables out of their current positions to the middle of the room. Then switch them up by placing them all back in new places. Try putting things at angles you hadn't thought of before. If you don't like how things end up, switch it all again. I like to turn it into a great little party game.