New Year’s Sale: Get 20% off Dwell with promo code YEAR20
SubscribeSign In
All Photos/living

Living Room Design Photos and Ideas

A custom blue bookshelf offers a pop of color in the living area and houses the couple's collection of art books and objects.
The den off the kitchen was set up for cozy TV nights, with an inky-toned accent wall, custom curtains by a local maker, and a comfortable sectional.
The 500-square-foot dwelling includes a first-floor living room, kitchen and bathroom, along with a lofted bedroom.
Greenery views and vast amounts of light stream through two sets of large windows.
Two sconces, Steven Handelman Studios Iron Wall Lights, flank original photography by Bess Friday. The design team furred out foundation walls in key places – such as behind the couch here – to create functional ledges, and straighten sloping walls.
"The house meets all the requirements for being a Greenbuilt Home,
Smith knew he wanted to use plywood for the interior walls. "Plywood can look fantastic,
Almost every room in the extension has direct access to the outside so the relationship with the grounds is immediate. In addition, carefully considered windows frame views of the surrounding landscape—especially the large window facing the valley in the first-floor living space. “It’s incredibly joyful to see how the views, smells, and emotion of being in the extension changes throughout the different seasons,” says architect Je Ahn. “It’s very tranquil and a retreat in the true sense of the word.”
The custom floor is made from maple. As you lift storage hatches and walk through the Airstream, the pieces follow a sea to sun design that designers Schmitt and Jacobs worked with Kyle on.
In years gone by, the street was lined with Milkwood trees, some of which still remain. The angled bay window was specifically designed to frame two ancient Milkwoods, which were sadly removed by neighbours despite many objections. It does, however, remain a cosy, sun-filled nook with 180-degree views.
Upstairs, pieces from the homeowner's eclectic art collection add pops of color. A coconut chair by George Nelson was reupholstered to bring a contemporary feel, and a sleeper sofa from Design Within Reach offers flexible space for guests.
The Brutalist estate is south-facing and placed on a steep lot, giving the home access to natural light. “During lockdown three, we were trapped at home with our beautiful cats, lounging the whole time, learning the way the sunlight would move through the space,” says Grimshaw.
The main living room within the central volume of the house
Parlor floor living area
Intended primarily as a social gathering place, the house has no dedicated bedrooms.
The renovation entailed completely rebuilding the interior and opening up the segmented rooms. In the living space, a low-slung contemporary sofa offers a comfortable place to land without stealing focus from the restored antiques. The circular mustard rug reflects the tone of the hardwood floors and pulls the room together.
The living room's built-in sectional is positioned toward the view.
Architect Nic Brunsdon renovated an original heritage cottage for a young family in the suburbs of Perth, Australia. The 3,229-square-foot home includes a sunken “garden room” with large sliding doors that connect the interior gathering space to a sunny green courtyard.
In the living area, a cedar storage unit made by Grant features a five-by-five-foot sliding panel that conceals shelving and the television. “It’s a way to make it feel less like a TV room during the day,” Beer says. The sunken sofa—a throwback to the residents’ childhoods in the 1970s— is from the Houdini collection by King Living. The dining chairs were a secondhand purchase.
The sunken living room features a multifunctional piece of built-in furniture that integrates a sofa, sound system, and television, and also contains a "secret door" that leads to a wine cellar. "[We incorporated this] as a clin d’oeil to the midcentury tradition of built-in work stations and bookshelves," says Morales.
The clients enjoy boating and kayaking and often utilize the site’s direct water access. “There’s a boathouse at the bottom of the site, so we’ve tried to clean the view up,” says architect Fraser Mudge of the framing. “We also controlled the height of it a little bit to frame the beauty of the water and the National Park, rather than the sky.”
The architects incorporated sustainably sourced parota wood into the living room’s sunken seating area. The Turn Tall side table is from Blu Dot, and the pillows are from West Elm.
Rocks dug up during construction were saved and incorporated into the poured-concrete floors and walls. Hydronic heating coils in the floor are augmented by a wood stove during the damp winters.
The sunken living room allows for delineation of space while keeping an open-plan environment
A gentle site crossfall offered an opportunity to experiment with internal level changes. “I just loved the idea of a conversation pit,” says architect Jeremy Bull. “It is a quirky oak and leather bench which gets used for most of our sitting, meals, board games, and spilling things.”
Sunken Living Room with Conversation Pit
Classic sunken living room
Sunken Living Room
The rug in the sunken living room is from West Elm.
The sunken living room features a built-in sofa and loveseat.
In the study, an oil painting by David Kroll, one of the artists represented by Sette's gallery hangs above a Le Corbusier daybed.
A mezzanine loft level provides extra floor space without increasing the home's footprint. Built-in bookshelves double as a guardrail for the lofted work space, accessed by a built-in ladder.
The bedroom/office connects to the outdoors via a large sliding glass door. The space's orange accent wall was inspired by Los Angeles sunsets.
Paths of Andalusian tile and intervening plaster walls help to delineate space in the expansive apartment, which is centered around an internal entry courtyard. The armchair, designed by Peter and Alison Smithson, is covered in a Josef Frank textile from Just Scandinavian. The white piece just behind it is a repurposed Austrian stove that’s now used as a storage device.
The kitchen and dining space lead to a sunken lounge anchored by a fireplace built with stone from Sydney-based provider Eco Outdoor. Art by Bobby Clark hangs above a sofa from HK Living accented with pillows from Città Design. The rugs are from Armadillo & Co.
In the open living/kitchen/dining area, the containers’ original apitong wood flooring, heavily sanded and sealed multiple times, complements the industrial austerity of the painted corrugated steel ceilings. The rug is vintage.
Built-in bookcases in the living room echo the birch ply of the kitchen cabinetry.
When the casement windows are opened, family members can bask in sunlight while reading a book indoors.
In the new living area, a brick plinth is positioned at just the right height for sitting. It extrudes out into the garden to serve as an outdoor bench.
The renovated interior offers unobstructed views and a clean, minimal backdrop for Rick and Lucy's bespoke collection of furniture, art, and decor.
The interiors of the cabins showcases a concrete ceiling and walls and wood flooring.
The living area retains the home's original fireplace and masonry wall, with new sliding doors next to the kitchen that connect to the side yard. The sofa and side chair are from Ariake, the ottoman table from Hem, and the rug is from Hay.
In the sitting room, designer Dennis Budd of Gast Architects bumped out the foyer space slightly to define an entry colonnade, while new white oak paneling on the far wall creates a mural-like backdrop for the relocated dining area.
While Hank fabricated the built-ins, Nell set to work on the sofa's cushions. Two of her collages hang over the sofa and desk.
The custom sofa is finished in black corduroy.
Living room
1...34567...156