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Oblong living room ideas


Tips to make a narrow space seem wider |

These long living room ideas will help you turn a narrow living room into a space you will love for years to come. 

If you have, or have ever had, a narrow, long living room at home, then you’ll be more than aware of the tricky task of making it look wider than it actually is, while desperately trying to make every corner look cozy. 

You’ve probably spent hours rearranging furniture in a frenzied attempt to make your rectangular space look more square, but in the back of your mind you know that unless you knock down the walls and rebuild the room from scratch, there’s just little you can do. 

Never fear – with some clever small living room ideas and tricks of the trade, there are in fact tons of ways to help turn that awkward living room layout into something stylish and sophisticated. 

1. Keep a long living room clutter free

(Image credit: Future)

If there’s one thing that’s going to create the illusion of more space in a long living room, it’s decluttering – it can actually make a room feel wider in seconds.  

Make sure you keep your room tidy and organized by using clever small living room storage ideas to remove toys, plants, knickknacks and other unnecessary items, and your space will instantly feel bigger and more pleasant to be in. 

2. Use the right furniture for a narrow living room

(Image credit: Haris Kenjar / Hoedemaker Pfeiffer)

Furniture in long living rooms can be a cumbersome business, so it pays to invest in the right pieces – and consider the arrangement carefully, as interior design firm Hoedemaker Pfeiffer have done in this small, narrow space. 

A great tip is to choose a sofa and chairs with open arms and exposed legs, and a glass coffee table. Both will keep the appearance of a much more open and free space, allowing light to filter under and around the furniture far more easily.

3. Pull furniture away from the walls 

(Image credit: Future / Mel Yates)

Another important pointer is not to place large pieces of furniture against walls. And, just because a room is long, doesn’t mean you need to fill it all with furniture. Use the middle of the room to center the furniture arrangement, leaving the sides as open, but not dead, space. 

4. Scale the furniture to fit a long living room

(Image credit: Future / Paul Raeside )

Scale the furniture to fit the size of the room and don’t block walking pathways. Pick the perfect couch for a small living room by avoiding oversized sofas, or too much furniture that will make the living room look smaller. Furniture and accessories blocking the view into a room will make the space look cramped – if you can see the floor, the room will look larger.

5. Light up a narrow space

(Image credit: Rikki Snyder / Becca Interiors)

Light helps to brighten up a room instantly, so first and foremost allow any natural light to stream indoors by taking down heavy, dark window coverings. If looking for apartment living room ideas , try sheer window treatments or install white wooden blinds or shutters to let the natural light flow into your room during the day, while simultaneously providing nighttime privacy, like in this narrow space designed by Becca Interiors .

6. Use mirrors to reflect light

(Image credit: Future / Jonathan Gooch)

Not surprisingly, decorating with mirrors can make a long living room look a lot larger. Hang a large mirror on a wall opposite a window or very near one to reflect the outdoors, broadening the feel of your room. 

Mirrors reflect both natural and artificial light to make a room brighter during the day and night and they bounce light deep into the room, making it appear larger. Mirrors on the walls and glass tabletops will make it seem like there’s a more open flow. 

7. Use paint to visually enlarge a long, narrow room

(Image credit: Future / Richard Powers)

You can visually widen a rectangular-shaped living room by painting the two end walls a darker color than the other two walls. The gradation of shade and color of paint on opposing walls can either lengthen distance by using a lighter shade – or shorten a distance with a darker shade. 

8. Zone a long room with accessories

(Image credit: Sarah Shields Photography / Whittney Parkinson Design)

Long living rooms rarely feel homely, but here Whittney Parkinson Design has used a few ingenious tricks to zone the space to make it feel far cozier.  

Decorating small spaces with a rug can visually draw together the furniture, giving rooms focus and adding comfort. While a focal point that contrasts with the rest of the scheme can be visually interesting, disguising the awkward layout, something like quirky piece of art, vase or striking lampshade.

9. Hang pictures correctly

(Image credit: Future / Paul Raeside)

Walls that are covered with pictures and other wall hangings tend to make a room feel closed in or busy, so simply hang one or two large pieces of artwork to make the room feel wider and more spacious. 

Choose art that can sit wide but low over the sofa or fireplace for example, to bring the eye level down and help make the room seem wider.

10. Unite two rooms

(Image credit: Sara Tramp / Ginny Macdonald Design)

If you’ve got a long living room that’s divided in two – like a living room one end and a dining room the other – it might be worth picking a couple of your favorite colors and using them as key tones to coordinate the one space, as interior designer Ginny Macdonald has done here.

Plus, try and turn your sofa so it goes against the length of the room, to help break it up – you don’t want the line of your sofa running into your dining table, too.

How do you arrange furniture in a long living room?

If possible, try to avoid arranging all your furniture on one side of the long living room wall. By alternating furniture groupings – or by utilizing the middle of the room better – it will effectively force the traffic flow to take on an 'S' shape, and stops the space looking too straight and narrow, much like a hallway.

How do you utilize a long living room?

Select furniture pieces that are in proportion to the size of your room – oversized cabinets, sofas and chairs can make a small room feel narrow. 

Make sure you arrange your furniture at an angle to create a sense of depth to the room, otherwise if you place all furniture against the walls you might end up with a narrow look.

What's more, as long as your ceiling is painted in a paler color than your walls, no matter what the color, your ceilings will feel higher, helping a narrow living room feel more light and airy.

How to Decorate a Long Narrow Living Room

Is your living room a hallway?

No?

It’s just really long and narrow, so it gives off the vibe of a hallway.

Well, it doesn’t have to.

In this guide, we share how to decorate a long narrow living room, transforming your hallway into a cozy living space.

Furniture arrangements

The way you arrange your furniture in your long narrow living room can change the perception of the shape of the space.

Plus It sets the foundation for the room and the rest of your decor going forward.

Here are a few different arrangements for long narrow living rooms.

Courtesy of decorsteals.com on Pinterest

The Straight Pathway

Pushing all of your furniture up against your walls might be your first instinct when decorating a long narrow living room.  

But this tactic works against you, as it emphasizes the length of your space. 

Instead, thespruce.com suggests pulling your furniture out and away from the wall.

Then, arrange your seating in the center of the room underneath a light. 

This creates a cozy central space with footpaths on either side.

Easily achieve this look with a sectional or a combo of a sofa opposite two chairs for an intimate seating arrangement. 

If you don’t like your furniture in the middle of the room, apartmenttherapy.com suggests pushing it up against the wall underneath a window or piece of wall art.

BONUS TIP: Arrange your furniture cross-wise to give your living room a wider appearance.

Courtesy of patticakewagner.com on Pinterest

The Curved Pathway

While the straight pathway does make traversal convenient, it can accentuate the length of the room. 

Break up a long narrow living room by arranging furniture in a curved path.  

To achieve this illusion, use your furniture to divide your space into two separate seating zones.

Courtesy of decorsteals.com on Pinterest

Separate the Space

Instead of decorating one long, narrow living room, separate the space into two different conversation areas. 

These could be:

By segmenting the space into U and L furniture arrangements you guide foot traffic into an arc.  

This negates the hallway feeling that long-living rooms can have while making more use of the available space.

BONUS TIP: You can also zone these separate areas with rugs, lights, and color, making it feel intentional.

Courtesy of settingforfour. com on Pinterest

Decorating a Long Narrow Living Room

Now that you have your larger pieces arranged in your long, narrow living room, you’re ready to decorate!

Here are a few tips for using your decor to reduce the visual length of your living room.

Courtesy of modsy.com on Pinterest

Recommended Round Pieces

A long narrow living room is essentially a big rectangle. 

That's painfully obvious when staring from across the room. 

To help counter long horizontal lines, thespruce.com recommends using circular pieces with soft edges.

Courtesy of classiccasualhome.com on Pinterest

Rely on Rugs

Striped area rugs are a great way to make your living room look and feel wider than it really is. 

If a striped rug isn’t your style, use other styles to define distinct areas we mentioned earlier.

Courtesy of decorsteals.com on Pinterest

Space Saving Shelves

You can only put so many items across the width of your narrow living room. 

We’re no stranger to decorating small spaces, and floating shelves are a great way to save floor space. 

As we mentioned in how to decorate around a tv, floating shelves can help decorate your living room.

They’re excellent tools for providing additional storage without taking up any precious floor space.

Courtesy of thesavvyheart. com on Pinterest

Maximize Vertical Space

Drawing the eye upward will take the focus away from how narrow your living room is. You can do this in several ways. 

A tall armoire or bookshelf will point towards your ceiling while also adding additional storage.

Homedesignlover.com suggests breaking up your horizontal space with an array of photos, artwork, and mirrors. 

This helps define specific spaces within your living room, and reflective surfaces will bounce natural light, making it feel larger. 

Add floor-to-ceiling drapery with vertical stripes to create the illusion of height, and you should be good to go.

 

Now It’s Your Turn

There you have it, how to decorate a long narrow living room. 

Hopefully, you’re more confident in transforming your space from a hallway into a hallmark of a cozy, stylish living room.

Will you be organizing your living room into a straight pathway or a curved pathway? How did you design your sections? 

Let us know which tip you’re going to use on your long narrow living room in the comments below!

Narrow living room design (65 photos)

Many owners of apartments built in modern and Soviet high-rise buildings encounter narrow living rooms. Compared to a square, an elongated rectangular shape creates more conventions and nuances that should be taken into account when organizing the interior decoration of a room. However, if you successfully cope with this task, you will get a harmonious area that does not create the illusion of a tunnel.

Design highlights

Quite often, pencil cases are found in Soviet "Khrushchev" and other typical panel buildings. Such houses have an inconvenient layout, poor lighting, small room sizes. Typical "wagon" spaces are only 2.2 meters wide, and the ceiling rises only 2.5-2.7 meters. An explosive combination gives a lot of trouble to the owners.

Nevertheless, it is possible and even necessary to overcome these difficulties. Various tricks and tricks are used - from a well-chosen color palette to organic zoning. The most important thing is to rationally use the entire available area and visually embody square proportions.

According to its main functional purpose, the living room is a space for gathering the family and receiving guests, and therefore the most spacious part of the house is allocated for it. If this role needs to be performed by a long narrow room, you should take care of the correct delimitation of space. In fact, you have to break it into several small zones for separate needs. But we will talk about this a little later, but first we will figure out which stylistic and color solutions are most appropriate in this case.

Style choice for a narrow living room

As a rule, the living room is an excellent basis for any stylistic content. Here you can unleash your inner artist and enjoy the act of creativity to the fullest. However, in the case when an oversized narrow space is at your disposal, you have to compromise and work within the framework of modern styles that stand up for space and freedom in the room.

First of all, pay attention to minimalism. Discreet monochrome colors do not hide the space and do not weigh down the space. Straight lines create the correct geometry and add expressiveness to the overall look. In addition, principles such as the absence of unnecessary details or the ultimate functionality of objects actively contribute to the achievement of the task.

You can also try loft-room techniques:

1. Get rid of partitions. For example, combine the hall with the kitchen. Subject to proper zoning, such a move will add real meters to the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe room and create a free atmosphere.

2. Finish the ceiling in white. This will visually increase the height of the walls.

3. Use space-saving furniture. There were simply no walls in the huge industrial premises, and therefore the space had to be delimited in other ways, including with the help of furniture.

4. To complete the factory interior, add characteristic details - brickwork, rough plaster, exposed pipes, as well as bold decor elements.

Scandinavian style suggests an abundance of white, which visually expands the space and partially compensates for the lack of natural light. To achieve the latter goal also contributes to a large number of artificial light sources. Accessories typical of the Scandinavian style in the form of bright textiles, rugs and pillows will help to dilute the white.

Not the best solution is to decorate a narrow living room in such styles as shabby chic and empire, as they are characterized by excesses in decor and furniture design. In a small room, there is simply no room for such excesses. Although individual elements of style can still be applied, but in very limited quantities.

Colors

An effective way to correct the shape of a narrow living room with color is to cover the oblong walls with a light shade, and the short ones with a rich deep one. A pair of black and white will come in handy here. In addition, this combination can make the design interesting and expressive, and it will also fit perfectly into any modern design direction.

Shades of beige create a bright, spacious and soft interior. If you decide to combine the hall with the kitchen, then warm undertones in coffee, milk, cream variations will promote appetite, but at the same time act relaxing and unobtrusive.

Southern and eastern rooms that do not lack natural light can be decorated in cool blues, grays and whites. This range creates an incredibly fresh and stylish room. At the same time, it would not be superfluous to dilute the restrained colors a little with warm beige, woody notes.

A light background can be left without adding bright colors, but it is quite appropriate to decorate the monochrome with beautiful pink, red, green, or the same blue or blue accents.

Finishing a narrow living room

As we have already found out, minimalism and simplicity are the principles that will help organize a narrow space harmoniously. The interior decoration is no exception. It is important not to overdo it and do everything with taste.

Floor

The floor covering also has an impact on the overall impression of the room. In the living room, it would be advisable to put parquet, laminate, linoleum with a pattern perpendicular or diagonal to the oblong side, so the contrast between the length of the walls will not be so noticeable. It is generally possible to lay laminate with a pattern parallel to a long wall, but in this case it is worth making sure that the flooring has a light shade.

For the same reasons, refrain from elongated rugs along the larger wall. Stop for a small version of the oval or original asymmetrical look. It can be decorated with a strip parallel to the small sides.

Walls

For walls it is reasonable to use neutral light colors of paint or plain wallpaper. A short part of the room can be painted in an active dark or bright color using wall covering or curtains. If you have a lot of windows and lots of light fixtures, it's a good idea to finish with a washed-out variation of an unobtrusive bright color like light blue.

Perspective wall murals will also visually expand the space of a narrow living room. By placing them on a long wall, you level the difference in the size of the sides.

Ceiling

The best way to finish is in white. Painting, a matte or glossy stretch ceiling, or very small plasterboard structures in white or beige variations will not burden the atmosphere and create the illusion of height.

Furniture and layout options

Finishing an elongated room is the first step in the transformation. But in order not to spoil the impression of a proper repair, it is necessary to correctly arrange the furniture. A long space, by definition, does not withstand the standard arrangement and requires a special approach. Even a small detail out of place can enhance the effect of the tunnel, and the proper impression cannot be achieved.

It is best to place the sofa at an angle. However, this method is only suitable if the size of the room allows it. So we will create an original broken geometry that takes the eye away from the “carriage” shape. You can enhance the impression by using round elements: a coffee table, chairs, pouffes.

But still, we often meet conditions when it is more rational to place the main pieces of furniture along the walls. In this case, try to pick up low and oversized modifications of beautiful shapes and original textures. At the same time, be sure to use small tables, stands for a decorated tape recorder or lamps, flowers, beautiful floor lamps, unusual chairs located in the “wrong” places, somewhat chaotically. In this way, we can also form a slight asymmetry, which does not play by the rules of the shape of the room, but creates its own atmosphere.

In general, conditions of limited space require careful selection of furniture. Therefore, a good solution would be custom-made or do-it-yourself production. So you get exactly what you want and what your interior requires.

Decor and lighting

Most of the apartments in the post-Soviet space do not have high ceilings, and therefore it is important not to overload the space. It is better not to use chandeliers at all or to focus on the most light and “light”, airy options. Place small spotlights on the ceiling or floor. Also add additional light sources to the interior, which, by the way, do a good job of zoning. These can be: a variety of floor lamps, including curved ones, sconces, table lamps - at the same time they can play the role of decoration for the living room.

Complete the finished interior with decorations:

- The most successful decor is fresh flowers. Plants dilute the urban environment and help bring relaxation and comfort to the interior;

- Another good attribute for small narrow living rooms are mirrors that expand the boundaries of space;

- Beautiful bright textiles are able to create laconic colorful accents;

- The walls will be beautifully decorated with paintings and framed photos;

- Use open shelves or small cabinets with glass or mirror inserts to store small and medium decorative items and books.

Narrow living room design - photo

You have already learned the basics of organizing a narrow hall. Now we invite you to get acquainted with interesting examples of the design of such rooms to see how easy it is to play with the given parameters of the room and create a harmonious and beautiful interior. Enjoy watching!

Video: Narrow Living Room - Interior Ideas

interior ideas for a long room with a window and a sofa

In this article I will tell you how best to decorate a narrow living room, which design is better to choose and what nuances should be taken into account.

A narrow living room is a headache for many apartment owners. Unfortunately, both in the Soviet past and now, the layout of residential facilities according to the standard scheme implies saving space in the living room. But, regardless of the size, everyone wants to make this room cozy and stylish, because it is the hallmark of the house.

The main trends in the design of a narrow living room

The long rectangular shape of the room creates inconvenience when decorating the interior of the room. But if you approach the issue of design rationally and thoughtfully, you can achieve an excellent result in the design of the hall.

To make a narrow elongated room as attractive and cozy as possible, you should look at some design techniques

The traditional living room is a "carriage" space of small size and poor lighting. To visually make the room more spacious and bright, as well as give it a more square shape, we will have to resort to tricks and tricks. This is a well-chosen color scheme, and zoning of the area. But, regardless of the chosen method of making the room attractive, the main thing is to rationally use every corner of a small area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe room and arrange the furniture correctly.

To give the hall a visually more attractive square shape, it is necessary to successfully delimit the space. To do this, it is best to divide the room into zones.

The color scheme of narrow rooms is very important. By playing with colors, you can achieve a visual increase in space and give the room a lighter and more comfortable perception.

To hide the long shape of the space, it is necessary to cover the elongated walls with a light tone, and the shorter walls with a rich deep palette. For these purposes, the contrast of black and white is perfect. Against this background, you can experiment with many design styles.

Opposite walls of the room in different shades visually expand the room

Various shades of beige will make the room lighter and softer. This color scheme has a relaxing and pacifying effect on a person.

Light colors are diluted with bright accents - red, blue, green, pink, blue.

If the room is well lit, it is decorated in noble blues, whites and grays. Such tones will give the room style and freshness.

Style and interior

The living room uses a variety of style options. Thinking through the design of the interior space of the room, give free rein to your "inner artist" and enjoy the result of your own creativity.

As for the design style, pay attention to minimalism. Such a fashionable modern trend will fully justify itself in the living room. Minimalism implies discreet monochrome shades, they do not make the space heavier and do not hide the already insufficient square meters. The absence of unnecessary details in the interior will visually increase the space.

Discreet monochrome colors do not obscure space and do not weigh down the space

Modern loft options are also suitable. You can remove the partitions and combine the living room with the next room.

Zone your space with furniture. It will also give the room a visual dimension.

Add trendy modern details to your room. It can be brickwork, plaster. For bold and extravagant natures, you can even try to open the pipes. These are super trendy decorative elements for people who love to break with tradition and are well-received by trendy design trends.

The Scandinavian style will suit the successful decoration of the hall. It involves the use of light white shades that are in harmony with bright colorful details: pillows, rugs, textiles.

Living room design in Scandinavian style

But the Empire style and shabby chic, experienced designers do not recommend using in a narrow living room. It involves the use of a large number of scenery, which can further overload the modest footage.

Lighting

Volumetric chandelier - not the best option for narrow rooms

Floor lamps, table lamps and sconces can be used as additional light sources.

As for lighting such a room, it is important not to overload it with bulky chandeliers. It is better to illuminate with spotlights on the ceiling and on the floor.

Decor

Long walls can be decorated with drawings, large paintings, mirrors

Fresh flowers are used as decorative elements, which will dilute the urban atmosphere.

And to give the room extra space - add mirrors.

Learn more