Prevent A Stuffy Living Room With One Easy Decor Choice

Your living room is one of the spaces in your home you spend the most time in, so it should reflect your personality, right? It can be easy for living rooms to feel stuffy when you stick to the traditional design "rules" many of us grew up with, especially when it comes to hanging a bunch of formal art in your living room, all in ornate frames. However, the secret to creating a truly inviting and modern living room often lies in breaking these design traditions. By bringing in a variety of art and different frame types, you can shake up your living room's art vibes and be on your way to creating something more modern that actually reflects your personality.

Some people feel their living rooms ought to contain a bunch of fancy art so that it looks nice (or even downright impressive) to any guests. But formal living rooms are now an outdated and stuffy concept, so we can wave goodbye to the outdated and stuffy design rules they insisted upon. Now, your living room can be just that: yours. All you need to do is look through trendy wall art ideas for inspiration, buy whatever appeals to you, then kick back and enjoy it. By mixing and matching your art, as well as the frames you put them in, you can easily transform your stuffy old-fashioned living room into the vibrant, personality-filled space you deserve.

To prevent your living room's art from getting that old-fashioned stuffy feel, the easiest thing to do is embrace a medley of materials and textures. You can absolutely still use some ornate art pieces or frames if you'd like, just blend them with others. Think a Scandinavian-vibe pale wood frame for some nature prints, a shiny silver frame paired with a colorful modern painting you did, or an extra-thick black frame to balance a small black and white photograph.

Adding a wider variety of pieces like this around your living room is a gentle yet exhilarating way to make it a little more interesting. Alternatively, you can go all in with an eclectic art wall (aka, a gallery wall). Mix and match to your heart's content. As you decide how to create the perfect gallery wall, consider looking for inexpensive wall art at craft or thrift stores.

You may also want to expand this mix-and-match thinking into the other elements of your living room. Get creative and combine the textures and colors of your furniture, rugs, lighting, and knickknacks. Layer a plush velvet sofa with linen throw pillows and a chunky knit blanket in a bold color. Make all your tables of a different material. Add in a uniquely shaped rug and colorful faux stained glass window with translucent window films. You'll have fun shopping for all of these things and be rewarded every time you walk into your living room and see the fun (and far more personalized and artistic vibe) the room now has.

At this point, your living room looks far more interesting and inviting than your parents' home ever could have. Consider accentuating your gallery wall even more by putting a bold coat of paint behind your frames. It is an exciting and relatively easy way to connect all the art on your wall. And if you really want to make that wall the focal point of the room, add a funky wallpaper pattern instead. Alternatively, use one or two of your favorite colors throughout your room for pops of color in frames, vases, or pillows.

Literally and figuratively, one of the best ways to make your living room less stuffy is to bring the outdoors in with some greenery. Grab a pothos or two, decide on some good planter colors for your indoor space, and enjoy their beauty. You could incorporate large bookshelves and decorative shelves into your living room's vibe, too. They are slim but take up a lot of vertical space, giving your eye plenty to look at, just like your art.

Think beyond your decorative art efforts and accessorize beyond the expected. Forget nana's weird fragile trinkets and add in some random tchotchkes that are functional while still showing off your unique personality, like candlesticks, trays, or vases. Finally, add some modern lightweight curtains for privacy as well as some extra color. Heavy draperies often feel outdated and limit how much natural light your room gets, which can add to stuffiness.