Sofa design ideas

35 Best Stylish & Functional Living Room Sofa Decor Ideas 2022

35 Living Room Sofa Ideas to Inspire You

A high-quality sofa should be comfortable, easy to clean and long lasting while holding up under everyday use. Beyond functionality, look for a visually appealing design, whether it's timeless and versatile or a statement conversation piece.

So, which sofa should you choose for your space? That's up to you to decide, but these living room couch ideas can help get your wheels turning.

Subtle Stripes and Tasteful Textures

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Combining various prints and textures is one of those living room sofa ideas that may seem too busy on paper. But when you choose pared-down patterns and neutral colors, the look can definitely work. See how this space features two identical off-white couches with subtle stripes and accents them with several different pillows in complementing hues.

Simple Statement

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Neutrals certainly aren't your only option for living room furniture. If you want to make a bold statement without going over the top, opt for a relatively simple couch design in an eye-catching color like rust, blush, emerald or sapphire.

If you're drawn to simple decor schemes, check out our blog on How to Design a Minimalist Bedroom.

Long-Lasting Leather

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Not sure what type of upholstery to get? Leather is always a solid choice. While it's on the pricier side, the material is versatile, timeless and durable, lasting for decades with proper care. Leather is suitable for homes with kids and pets too.

If you're relocating, you might need to rethink your furniture situation. See our New Home Checklist for a rundown of what to buy. This is one of the top living room sofa ideas that last for decades.

Mix Round and Square Edges

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One of the best sofa decorating ideas is to balance out the clean lines of your furniture with round accent pieces. See how the curvature of the coffee table, side tables and floor lamp soften the square edges of the couch while still creating a cohesive look.

Lamps can go a long way in enhancing the vibe of a space. Here are some of the Best Living Room Lighting Ideas to consider.

Corner Placement for Small Living Rooms

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Looking for sofa ideas for a small living room? If you're short on square footage but don't want to cut down on available seating, it's OK to place your couch up against the wall. You could also position a sectional in a corner.

Mirrors can help make a small room appear larger. Here's How to Decorate With Mirrors Across Your Home.

Double It Up

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If you're furnishing a large, open space, you can place two or even three sofas in your living room. This home features a pair of matching couches facing each other, plus side-by-side matching chairs. Most importantly, the size and quantity of the furniture, the oversized rug and the vaulted ceilings all mesh well together.

Modish Low Profile

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Low-profile sofas with short legs or even legless designs have a laid-back, modish appeal. To complement the style, this living room features a relatively low coffee table, then balances the scale with a large flower vase.

Bear in mind that a low couch might encourage your pet to hop up on the cushions. Should Dogs Be Allowed on Furniture? Read our article for insight. This is among the best living room sofa ideas for a cozy, down-to-earth vibe.

Crushing It With Crushed Velvet

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Velvet furniture is statement-making yet surprisingly versatile. This silvery-green couch is super stylish, with tufted upholstery, a single bench-style seat cushion and bolster pillows on either side. But in all its glory, it's still somehow one of the simplest components in the room.

Don't leave your coffee table high and dry. Check out these 27 Ideas for Decorating a Coffee Table in Your Living Room.

Oh-so-sumptuous Sectional

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Velvet can also be an excellent choice for sectionals. One of the easiest living room sofa ideas for large spaces is to get an L-shaped couch with comfortable cushions and versatile upholstery. Then complete the space with decorative pillows, plants and an end table or two.

Go Plush or Go Home

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When buying a family room couch, you'll want to prioritize comfort — but that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice style. This ultra-plush sectional has seating for several people and welcomes cuddling with decorative pillows and throws.

Comfy seating is crucial for streaming shows and movies at home. These Movie Watching Essentials will elevate the experience even further.

Simple Sofa, Statement Decor

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You can't go wrong with a simple couch in a neutral color like ivory, navy, grey or camel. And with the right sofa decoration, it'll never look boring. Think textured pillows, an ottoman pouf and a statement coffee table.

It doesn't take much to transform the look of a space. Here are 25 Tips to Upgrade Your Apartment.

Timeless Couch, Playful Accents

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Even the most creative living room sofa ideas often feature timeless, versatile couches. This home started with a classic leather sofa, then added a pair of swings, a circular coffee table and other playful accents throughout the space.

For more inspiration, see our Guide to Design and Decor Ideas for Your Home.

Overstuffed Luxury

Overstuffed couch cushions exude cloud-like comfort and laid-back luxury. While some people view brown and black ensembles as a fashion faux pas, the color combo is a go-to for interior design. The juxtaposition of smooth leather upholstery and textured knitted fabric works well here too.

Warm colorways are a top choice for autumn interior design. These Fall Home Decor Ideas offer something for every room.

Beachy Vibes

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Pale-colored upholstery pairs beautifully with light wood grains and jute or rattan woven accents. The tones offer just enough contrast while preventing a washed-out look.

The easy-breezy appeal of this beachy living room sofa idea is perfect for warm climates. Here are more Summer Home Decor Ideas to consider.

Retro Colors, Modern Taste

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Retro colors don't automatically mean your space will appear outdated. When combined with simple silhouettes and modern decor pieces, burnt orange, brown, olive green and marigold are anything but antiquated.

For more decorating tips, see our guide on How to Create an Interior Design Mood Board.

Tufted and Tonal

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You can add interest and dimension to a monochrome color scheme with different textures and varying shades of the same hue. For instance, this mostly grey living room features a tufted grey sofa, charcoal and dove gray accent pillows and a striped rug with beige, black and grey.

If you like this look, read our blog to learn How to Design and Style a Grey Bedroom.

Rustic Woods

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While the loveseat and accent chairs in this space aren't an exact match, they all have wooden frames and a mid-century aesthetic. The rustic living room sofa idea calls back the natural grains with wood ceiling beams, a wooden bench, wooden shelving and an unpainted wood door.

Our blog has expert tips from stylist Macy Evonosky for Creating a Nature-Inspired Home.

Textured Tweed

Whether for furniture upholstery or decorative accents, tweed is a great material for adding textural interest to a space. This living room features a fabric-upholstered sofa with contrasting medium wood legs, plus a pillow and matching throw in a tweed-inspired textile. One of the best living room sofa ideas for an old-world feel.

What Are Euro Shams and Euro Pillows? Get details about these decorative pieces in our blog.

Rounded Silhouette

The silhouette of your couch can make a statement in your living room without overwhelming the space. Reminiscent of modish furniture from the 1960s, this sofa features a continuous backrest that curves into the arms and a single bench-style cushion that cascades down the front. 

Bouclé All Day

Bouclé is a textile style featuring both looped and woven yarns, which creates a sort of curly surface texture. This popular upholstery option is an excellent choice for living room couches. It's hard to say whether the material is a trend or here to stay, but the off-white hue enhances its versatility.

Neutral Modern Medley

When in doubt, go neutral. A medium-grey family room sofa like this one will be easy to style with other understated colors like ivory, beige, brown and white. This is among the best living room sofa ideas for when you want to keep things a bit muted.

Pared-down colors and natural elements are key components of feng shui. Here are more Feng Shui Interior Design Ideas to explore.

Call Back Colors and Finishes

You can choose a statement couch color like olive, mauve or sienna, then call back other colors and finishes. For instance, this living room features brass metal legs on multiple furniture pieces, decorative pillows in a similar golden hue, a wooden side table and tray and off-white textiles throughout.

Once your living room is furnished, you can start browsing Bedroom Essentials for Your At-Home Oasis.

Don't Clash, Contrast

Unlike clashing colors that look incompatible, contrasting hues complement each other and make a living room look cohesive. See how this muted chartreuse sofa pops against a deep green wall while enhancing the moody black end table, lamp and baskets.

Believe it or not, you can combine furniture collections and decor styles without clashing. Read our article to learn How to Design an Apartment You and Your Roommate Love.

Mid-Century Peg Legs

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Mid-century furniture was first popularized in the 50s, 60s and 70s, but the interior design style is here to stay. One of the defining characteristics is wooden peg legs, whether slightly splayed or straight down, as seen on this plush low-profile couch.

If you like these living room sofa ideas, you'll appreciate our article on Bedroom Furniture Essentials.

Contemporary Curves

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Curved sofa designs balance contemporary charm with design-forward sophistication. If you like the look of rounded furnishings but don't want to invest in a couch that may be out of style in a few years, consider curved accents, such as a circular coffee table or a spherical planter.

Find out what pieces Parachute brand ambassador Heena Gardner chose to Modernize Her Tudor Revival.

Go Green

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Whether with furniture upholstery, foliage or both, green is never a bad choice for home decor. The verdant hue is cheery yet seasonless and endlessly versatile.

Thinking about adding some natural greenery to your living room? These are the Top 16 Indoor Plants for Clean Air in Your Home.

Branch Out With Blue

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Blue is also seasonless. Depending on the shade, some consider it a neutral color as well. This home features velvet-upholstered couches in a navy hue, balancing them with contrasting white walls and a couple of warm-toned accents.

If you like these living room sofa ideas, you'll love our curated guide to Spring Home Decor.

Warm, Rich Hues

This living room features a greyish-brown tweed couch and a burgundy throw pillow, plus a coffee table and shelves in a dark wood stain. The warm, rich colors offer a cozy aesthetic without feeling explicitly holiday-themed or like seasonal autumn decor.

But if you're looking for cold-weather design inspiration, definitely check out these Winter Home Decor Ideas.

Earth Tones and Natural Fibers

This living room is a beautiful example of how well natural fibers like jute, seagrass, wool and cotton pair with earth tones. Consider green, brown, ochre, sienna or terra cotta for your color scheme.

Jute-braided baskets can add a perfect finishing touch to any indoor space. Here are 23 Basket Decor and Storage Ideas to explore.

Super-Chill Chaise Lounges

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Not exactly a couch but not quite a chair either, chaise lounges are one of the best living room sofa ideas for smaller spaces. For more versatility, look for designs with built-in backrests. These chaises can seat multiple guests while offering plenty of room to sit back and relax or cuddle up with a book.

This furniture style is also a good choice for multipurpose spaces. For more tips and inspiration, check out these 29 Home Office/Guest Bedroom Ideas.

Balancing Softness With Sophistication

Smooth, full-grain leather upholstery has an undeniable air of sophistication. You can balance this effect with soft touches, such as a knitted throw blanket, a velvet bolster pillow and a natural woven rug.

Wondering How to Create a Modern-Industrial Style Look for Your Home? Comb through some decor styles. See our article for tips.

Add Pillows for Plushness

Even if your sofa doesn't have the thickest padding, you can create a plush seating area by adding some decorative pillows and cushions. For extra coziness, toss on a gauzy cloud linen blanket.

Read our article to learn How to Style Throw Pillows Like a Designer.

Matching Sets Are A-OK

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If living room sofa ideas featuring curated combos aren't speaking to you, there's nothing wrong with getting a matching furniture set. Whether it's a sofa and armchair, a couch and loveseat or one of everything, your space will look cohesive and intentional. And you can always add character with end tables, ottomans, pillows and throws.

What is a throw, exactly? Our Guide to Quilts, Blankets and Coverlets breaks it down for you.

Seating Sans Sofa

While most living rooms have couches, they're not necessarily a requirement. Maybe you're short on space, creating a smaller seating area in a great room or you just prefer individual seats. Either way, you can do a lot with a few accent chairs.

If you like these living room sofa ideas, take a look at these 56 Decor Ideas for Styling Your Bathroom.

To-scale Furniture Arrangement

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Whatever living room furniture you choose, make sure it's to scale. This means taking into account the height of your walls, the size of your windows and the proportion of any permanent features, like a fireplace or built-in shelving.

Large sofas and chairs tend to look better in expansive spaces with vaulted or otherwise tall ceilings. If your living room is smaller, you'll want to choose scaled-down furnishings to avoid overwhelming the space. In any case, be sure to carefully measure the dimensions of the room and double-check the size of each piece of furniture before buying anything.

Speaking of furniture arrangements, we rounded up Easy Tips for Rearranging the Layout of Your Bedroom in our blog.

Stylish Housewares and Free Design Consultations From Parachute

These living room sofa ideas should inspire you to design a comfy-cozy gathering space that aligns with your decor taste and lifestyle. Once you have your furniture picked out, you can explore an exciting mix of decorative housewares from Parachute. When you browse the collections, you'll find everything from baskets and bins to window curtains to pillows and throws.

If you're still stuck on furniture arrangements, upholstery materials or color schemes, an expert stylist from Parachute is here to assist. Get your complimentary one-on-one design consultation on the calendar today!

Read Next:

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• The Right Bedroom Color for You

• Bedroom Lighting Ideas for a Stylish & Functional Room

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• Sustainable Fabrics to Use Around Your Home

• Bathroom Color Schemes: Everything to Know

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• 35 Eco-Friendly Home Products: Necessities for a Sustainable Household

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10 living room sofa ideas – the essential design rules for sofa layouts and trends |

(Image credit: Davide Lovatti / Future)

The living room sofa is usually the largest – if not the most expensive – item in a room and is often the most dominant piece, so it is no surprise that the sofa usually dictates the style of the room.  

Asked to name their most indispensable piece of living room furniture, most people would opt for the sofa. Cosseting and useful, upholstered seating has been a feature of the western home since the 18th century, morphing gradually from the prim settles of Georgian days to the more familiar sofas and armchairs of the 20th-century. 

But today, as technology and lifestyles change, the living room sofa has acquired a more pivotal role. Gone are the days when the three-piece suite, festooned with antimacassars, was the place to entertain visiting vicars or slump in front of the television on a Saturday night.

So whether you are buying new or decorating around an existing one, look to these living room sofa ideas for inspiration.

Living room sofa ideas – invest in the best seating

Sofas and living room seating ideas are becoming more multi-purpose as the routines of family life blur. Nowadays, a living room sofa is not just for entertaining or watching TV; we eat on them, use our laptops or play games from them or watch our home-cinema screens.  

Concurrent with our quest for functionality is a return to more nostalgic seating. Perhaps it is a reflection of the economic climate and a desire to turn our homes in to reality-buffering cocoons. Or maybe it is just a flamboyant thumbs-up to a decade of minimalist living room ideas. Whatever the reason, there is no undermining that our sofas play a pivotal role in our homes.

1. Get the scale right with the two thirds rule

(Image credit: Future/Brent Darby)

A living room sofa that’s the full length of the opposite wall could prove overbearing in a room scheme. But you also do not want a sofa that is too small. One approach to getting the right proportions is to aim for a sofa that’s about two-thirds of the wall length.

'It is possible to choose a smaller sofa, however, perhaps influenced by the pieces of furniture nearby. ‘When scaling a sofa to a room – as a rule of thumb – we tend to make the sofa half the size of the wall it is going on. This will allow the space around it to breathe – and also accommodate space for side tables with lamps on either side,’ says interior designer Bee Osborn of Studio Osborn .  

2. Think about functionality as well as style

(Image credit: David Cleveland / Future)

While the dimensions of the living room are an essential factor when choosing the right sofa, how the room is used will also influence which sofa size is best for your space. 

When a room is used largely for entertaining visitors, two sofas facing one another can prove more sociable than one large version that puts sitters in a line. The sofas will accordingly need sizing down with adequate space between and around them. 

3. Invest in a sectional sofa in an open-plan space

(Image credit: Anna Stathaki / Future)

A sectional will often work well as a room divider. ‘A large L-shaped sofa is a great choice for an open-plan space as it helps to delineate the sitting room area from the dining area or kitchen,’ says Emma Sims-Hilditch of Sims Hilditch .

But a sectional can also be a smart choice for a small living room because it’s more space efficient than a sofa plus armchair combination. In this case, choose a design with dimensions that follow the perimeter of the room.

(Image credit: Ian Baldwin / Future)

The living room color scheme you choose for the sofa will influence how commanding it appears in the room, so consider its hue in these terms as well as thinking about it as part of the space’s overall color scheme.

Color-wise, we're increasingly looking to nature to inform the narrative, leaning towards inky blues and moss green, while there's also a return of earthy tones, like beige and rust. When homeowners want to go bold, hues are still warm and inviting, echoing nature's spices like hot paprika and golden turmeric.

5. ...And interesting shapes

(Image credit: James Merrell / Future)

The shape of the sofa is also a key consideration. If the room has a low ceiling, opt for a sofa with a lower back to keep the design in proportion to the room’s height. A design with a low back can also create the illusion of extra space below more usual ceiling heights.

When it comes to sofa trends for 2022, modern-retro fluting and glamorous curved lines are de rigueur, while at the opposite end of the scale a raw, organic and unrefined aesthetic is also breaking through.

6. Consider the sofa's arms

As well as the overall form, or shape, of the sofa, focus on its arms. ‘We consider the height of the arms and the reach to the side for side tables,’ says interior designer Amanda Meade . ‘Bulky arms can often obscure the flow in a room.’

Pay particular attention to how the sofa’s arms will affect sight lines through the space. They shouldn’t block the view of a window nor another of the room’s features.

7. Take inspiration from retro trends

(Image credit: Future / Jake Curtis)

Rattan, wicker and woven materials are no longer considered dull, dated or dreary, and we very much welcome its highly-anticipated revival. With texture and intrigue at the forefront of design for 2022, rattan furniture has quickly found itself to be one of the hottest trends in the world of décor.

8. Go for raw beauty – and neutral colors

(Image credit: Davide Lovatti / Future)

‘Raw materials and unrefined finishes are without a doubt two of the biggest sofa trends we’re seeing for 2022,' says Nicola Bissoli, head of interior design at The Sofa & Chair Company. Natural, pared-back designs are combined with heavy textures such as boucle, creating a lovely tactile look and feel.

‘Along with this, we’re seeing the return of beige – warm, earthy shades are making a big comeback to replace cool greys as a base color. If opting for a statement sofa that will add a pop of color to a neutral space, tones inspired by nature (particularly ocean blues and mossy greens) are still the best option.'

(Image credit: Davide Lovatti / Future)

Full-on voluptuous or gently rounded, curves will lift the layout and soften the overall look of your room, adding a statement design focus to your living room décor.

'There’s been a shift away from the more formal arrangement of two sofas facing each other in favour of more relaxed, curvaceous shapes that provide both comfort and ample space for entertaining,' says Suzy McMahon, buying director at Sofology.

(Image credit: Polly Wreford / Claudia Bryant)

Let your living room sofa do the talking. Lisa Whatnough, of Studio Squint observes:  ‘Instead of a wallpaper or curtain fabric being the catalyst for a room scheme, I advise clients to start with the sofa; everything should compliment that.’  

Here, the neutral backdrop allows for the bright, floral upholstery on the sofa to take center-stage.

How should I arrange my living room sofa?

Be mindful of scale in interior design when arranging your living room sofa. Correct sofa scaling is an imperative for a successful living room, along with selecting its shape and color.

‘Size takes precedence as it is crucial for the perception of a room volume to choose the most appropriate dimensions,’ says BIID registered interior designer Hedayat of  Jam By Hedayat. 

'You want to make sure that your sofa has enough circulation around it – as well as space – so that it does not dwarf any design details or features in a room. A living room sofa that is too large will engulf the room disproportionately, and one that is too small will not serve its function.'

Jennifer is the Digital Editor at Homes & Gardens. Having worked in the interiors industry for a number of years, spanning many publications, she now hones her digital prowess on the 'best interiors website' in the world. Multi-skilled, Jennifer has worked in PR and marketing, and the occasional dabble in the social media, commercial and e-commerce space. Over the years, she has written about every area of the home, from compiling design houses from some of the best interior designers in the world to sourcing celebrity homes, reviewing appliances and even the odd news story or two.

Top 10 sofa ideas in interior design - Your Interior & Dekop Kemerovo

Sofas in interior design are an absolutely indispensable element. They largely determine the visual characteristics of the living room and create the first impression of the house and its owners. Especially for beginner designers and just people looking for a good stylish sofa, we have collected the best ideas from around the world of furniture that defy the test of time and perfectly decorate the corresponding interior. nine0004