20 Genius Apartment Living Room Design Ideas

Conventional wisdom holds that you should float living room furniture away from walls (to improve traffic flow, create intimacy and so on). That’s sometimes great advice — but in a space like this one, a massive, angular sectional suits the far corner so well that it looks custom. (It also happens to improve traffic flow and create intimacy quite effectively, we’d say.)

Tall bookshelves with no-nonsense right angles are heavy hitters in apartments for good reason: their geometry maximizes storage. That said, more fanciful pieces, like this one, accommodate a respectable number of books and creates a sense of movement and lightness that a traditional stack of shelves just can’t match.

Sometimes a massive wall of built-ins or an entertainment center just isn’t in the cards for a small space. This living room features a simple, white Parsons desk that holds a turntable below the wall-mounted TV, and proves to be a stylish solution for maximizing square footage in a smaller space.

No yard? No problem. Invest in large-scale greenery — the bigger, the better — to bring the outdoors in (and add color and texture to your living room). A choice like this red aglaonema is one of the easiest houseplants to grow, as it thrives in low light and requires minimal care. If even minimal care feels like a chore, know that realistic faux plants are having a big moment now, too.

If you’re blessed with enough free space for a large coffee table, fill all that glorious real estate right back up by covering it with a layer of books and magazines. A graphic tablescape, like this one, defies traditional expectations, creates a stunning visual display and still offers functionality (provided you’ve got a lot of coasters, that is).

A substantial piece, like this one, is a spatial commitment, but stylish seating that can double as a spot for snoozing is key in the absence of a guest room.

Reclaiming storage space to create a living-room addition can have serious visual and functional impact, as this chic bar area demonstrates. Highlight your space’s new dimensions by using a contrasting paint color, like the muted teal here.

Deploying a piece, like this one, in lieu of a bookcase, allows the books and objects on the lower shelves to reap the benefits of contrast with the berry-colored wall behind them. Not only does this piece provide shelving, it also allows the homeowners to display their favorite books, bringing personality and style into the space.

While this trio of perches happens to be efficient and versatile (both key attributes of apartment furnishings), it’s also appealing. The right angles of each piece and the diagonal line they create when viewed together adds to this living room’s visual texture.

If your apartment boasts intricate molding and you fancy a bold wall color, like the steely blue-green used here, consider limiting art to the lower portions of your living room. That background hue is charismatic enough to hold its own as ‘blank’ space, and it offers the eye a place to relax.

Create a subtle distinction between living and dining spaces in an open-plan apartment with a piece like this contemporary leather chaise. Its depth creates a useful pause without compromising the home’s flow.

Take a moment to appreciate the genius of this living room’s two matching pastel cabinets: they establish a dramatic horizontal line (and provide a ridiculous amount of storage), and they ring in at a fraction of what a bespoke piece with the same dimensions would cost.

This apartment’s dramatic, black artwork is its undeniable star. It’s also a canny choice for anyone who can’t sink anchors into their wall: without glass or a frame, it’s light enough to hang with adhesive hooks.

Use substantial decorative elements, like these barn doors or antique lacquered screens, to make a large-scale stylistic statement in your living room. Bonus: they can be redeployed in a pinch as room dividers.

Try putting a new spin on a gallery wall with decor other than art or pictures. The vintage pieces in this display make it infinitely more interesting — and aren’t competing for valuable shelf space.

Try a low-commitment approach to playful patterns, like this one, by displaying a few yards in a standard frame. This solution is significantly less expensive than papering an entire wall or purchasing art with similar dimensions.

What’s better than adding movement to your living room with an elegant light fixture? Adding movement to your living room with an elegant light fixture that doesn’t necessitate an electrician or your building management’s permission.

Will you have to remember to wear pants when you’re in the living room or embrace a special relationship with your neighbors? Maybe. Will the daylight and atmosphere you gain in the trade-off be worth it? Almost definitely.

The identical chairs, occasional tables and lamps in this loft space are immensely satisfying — and their repetition makes the three identical windows behind them even more dramatic.