20 Genius Apartment Living Room Design Ideas

Whether you’re working with a small space, rental restrictions or hallways and elevators that feel hostile to your stuff, these moves will take your apartment’s living room to the next level. (Unless you’re already on the top floor, of course.)

Keep in mind: Price and stock could change after publish date, and we may make money from these affiliate links.

January 20, 2021

By: Lauren Oster

Related To:

Shop This Look

Photo By: Costas Picadas

Photo By: Nicole Baas Photography

Photo By: Sarah Sweeney Photography ©Rustic White Photography

Photo By: Léon & George

Photo By: Yoshio Itagaki

Photo By: Caitlin McCarthy Design

Photo By: Laura Hull

Photo By: Claire Esparros for Homepolish

Photo By: Robert Peterson, Rustic White Photography

Photo By: Brian Patrick Flynn

Photo By: Seth Caplan

Photo By: Sarah Elliott

Photo By: David Land

Photo By: Chinasa Cooper

Photo By: Regan Baker Design

Photo By: 2lgstudio.com (interior design) / Megan Taylor (photography)

Photo By: Chi Chi Ubina

Photo By: Eisner Design

Photo By: Claire Esparros

Photo By: Joyelle West

Tuck a Sectional in the Corner

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.)

See More Photos: 20 Living Room Design Ideas for the Gray Sectional Owner

From: Andrew Suvalsky Designs

Think Beyond Standard Bookcases

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.

See More Photos: 30 Mantel and Bookshelf Decorating Tips

From: Barbara Vail

Minimize Entertainment Accessories

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.

From: Jaclyn Joslin

Grow Big

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.

See More Photos: 20 Houseplants to Enliven Your Living Room

Try a 'Horizontal Bookcase'

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).

See More Photos: 20 Living Room Coffee Table Looks We Love

Select a Deep Sofa

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.

See More Photos: 30 Sofas Made for Hours of Lounging

From: Caitlin McCarthy Designs

Convert a Closet

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.

From: Jackson Paige Interiors

Use Open Shelving

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.

From: Justin DiPiero

Try Nested End Tables

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.

From: Brian Patrick Flynn

Aim Low

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.

Interrupt Gently With a Sectional

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.

See More Photos: 30 Sofas Made for Hours of Lounging

'Customize' Cabinetry

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.

Hang an Unframed Canvas

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.

Convene Panels

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.

See More Photos: Charming Barn Door Design Ideas

Elevate Objects

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.

See More Photos: Personalize Your Space With a Gallery Wall

From: Regan Baker

Frame Statement Wallpaper

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.

Use an Arc Lamp

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.

See More Photos: 20 Living Room Lighting Design Ideas

From: Amy Zolin

Skip Window Treatments

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.

From: Eisner Design

Make Use of Multiples

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.

From: Becky Shea Design

Bid the TV Adieu

An intricate triptych makes unapologetic use of the time-honored TV spot in this loft apartment’s living room. While watch parties are undoubtedly more difficult in this space, its tech-free look is utterly exquisite — and in a big city setting, that serenity is especially precious.

From: Barbara Vail

We Recommend

50 Small Bathroom Design Ideas & Solutions 51 Photos

20 Fresh Ways to Use Teal in Your Living Room 20 Photos

500 Operands are not of the same type: comparison is supported for Number types only.

Operands are not of the same type: comparison is supported for Number types only.

Cannot serve request to /content/hgtv-com/en/design/rooms/living-and-dining-rooms/photo-galleries/2021/january/apartment-living-room-design-ideas-.html on this server

ApacheSling/2.7 (jetty/9.4.42.v20210604, Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM 1.8.0_271, Linux 4.14.203-156.332.amzn2.x86_64 amd64)