Modern Furniture

You can boost a low ceiling using color contrasts. Paint the walls darker than the ceiling (use any two colors, or shades of a color, that you wish). Then, using the darker wall color, paint a 6-inch-wide border all the way around the edge of the ceiling, as if framing it. The central, lighter area of the ceiling will now look higher.

To magnify the effect, leave 6 inches of white space between the edges of the ceiling and your darker painted frame. The central framed area, now smaller, will look even higher.

Make your living room more romantic, increase the wattage of the light bulbs to 100 or 150. (It’s essential that your lamps are labeled to accept this wattage; if not, they’ll need rewiring, which may cost about $30.) Then install dimmer switches and dial the brightness down. You’ll get a golden-yellow light that encourages intimate conversations.
Why not just start with less wattage? Because a 100-wattbulb dimmed to 60 watts casts a yellower light - more like candlelight - than a plain 60-watt bulb. So simple but it works! Try it.

Makes you think of unwinding, doesn’t it? A place to steep your tea, open the mail, have a sandwich, read a blog.

Now call it a modern living room, and suddenly the place leaps to attention. You could almost take inventory with your eyes shut: a painting hung over the sofa, check. Matching side tables, check, identical lamps, check. Twin candelabra on the mantelpiece, check.

Friends have gathered in these formulaic rooms for years with no ill effects; indeed, such settings can be so pretty that there’s nothing visibly wrong. But if you also sense that your living room stands at attention, that it’s not quite as inviting as other rooms that you’ve admired, then your decorating may need to loosen up. In magazine - editor parlance, you need to put a twist - your own personal spin - on all that tradition.

A really good living room truly invites relaxation. It reflects your passions and eccentricities, feels inviting, and functions very much like the heart of your home.

And it’s not even that hard to achieve. The tips in this blog-those that appeal to you, at least-can help guide your design decisions.