Decorating a small living room sometimes feels like trying to win a game you didn’t even know you were playing. I’ve definitely made the mistake of buying a piece that looked cute in the store but swallowed half my floor space at home.
Designers love giving advice about what not to put in small rooms, but let’s be honest, some of their suggested swaps aren’t much better.
If you’ve ever felt more confused after hearing just use a pouf instead, you’re not alone. Here’s a look at what pros say to skip, and what might be an even worse idea.
1. Bulky Sectional Sofas
Corner sectionals eat up precious floor space faster than a hungry hippo at mealtime. These oversized seating arrangements might be comfy for movie nights, but they’re space vampires in compact rooms.
Most designers suggest choosing streamlined two-seater sofas instead. Your tiny living area will thank you when people can actually walk through it without performing gymnastics around furniture corners.
2. Dark Paint Colors
Moody navy and dramatic charcoal might look stunning on Pinterest, but slapping dark colors on your walls can make your small space feel like a cave. Though some designers claim dark colors add depth, they often shrink rooms visually.
Light, airy colors open up spaces and reflect what little natural light you have. Your room will breathe easier without those heavy, space-shrinking dark tones weighing it down.
3. Heavy Blackout Curtains
Thick, floor-length drapes might keep the morning sun from interrupting your beauty sleep, but they’re practically room shrinkers in disguise.
When fabric puddles on the floor and blocks windows, your already tiny space feels downright claustrophobic. Lightweight, ceiling-mounted curtains that actually fit your windows allow precious natural light to flood in.
Sometimes the difference between cramped and cozy comes down to how much sunshine can dance across your floors.
4. Massive Entertainment Centers
Giant entertainment units with enough shelving to display your entire Funko Pop collection are serious space hogs.
Those wall-to-wall behemoths might showcase your prized possessions, but they make your room feel like a crowded electronics store. Wall-mounted TVs with floating shelves underneath offer the same function without the bulky footprint.
Your room will suddenly have breathing space when you’re not forcing guests to navigate around furniture that belongs in a mansion.
5. Multiple Small Area Rugs
Scattering several tiny rugs around your living room creates visual chaos that makes your space feel like a disorganized patchwork. Your eye bounces from rug to rug instead of seeing a cohesive room.
One appropriately sized area rug anchors your furniture and creates a unified look. If you’ve been playing musical rugs with three different patterns, try consolidating – your small space will instantly feel more pulled together and purposefully designed.
6. Oversized Coffee Tables
Massive coffee tables that require Olympic-level hurdle skills to navigate around are design disasters in compact spaces. Those giant wooden squares might offer plenty of surface area for your remote collection, but they’re traffic flow nightmares.
Slim nesting tables or C-shaped side tables tuck away when not needed. Your shins will appreciate the extra clearance, and guests won’t have to perform acrobatics just to reach the sofa.
7. Too Many Accent Pillows
Pillow mountains might look plush in home magazines, but in real life, where do they go when you actually want to sit down? Fifteen decorative pillows on a loveseat leave no room for actual humans.
Limiting yourself to 2-4 strategic pillows adds color without overwhelming your space. Your couch should be for sitting, not for storing a textile shop’s worth of seasonal pillows that end up on the floor anyway.
8. Clunky Reclining Chairs
Massive recliners that transform into horizontal beds at the push of a button might spell comfort, but they’re space-sucking monsters.
When fully extended, they practically touch the opposite wall in small rooms. Streamlined armchairs with separate ottomans offer similar comfort with more flexibility.
You can move the ottoman aside when space is needed, unlike that behemoth recliner that permanently claims half your living area like an immovable landmark.
9. Floor-To-Ceiling Bookshelves
Library-style bookshelves spanning every available wall might showcase your impressive reading habits, but they make small rooms feel like closing walls in a horror movie.
Those looming shelves create visual weight that presses in on the space. Floating shelves or curated book displays on smaller units give you storage without the heavy presence.
Your room can still reflect your bookworm status without feeling like you’re living inside a crowded bookstore.
10. Bulky Armchairs
Overstuffed armchairs with rolled arms wider than airplane seats consume valuable floor space in tiny living rooms. Though they might remind you of your grandpa’s cozy den, they’re essentially room-shrinkers disguised as seating.
Slim-profile chairs with exposed legs create visual lightness. The space underneath allows your eye to travel further, making the room appear larger than it is – a neat visual trick that bulky chairs simply can’t pull off.
11. Inflatable Furniture
Thinking of replacing that sectional with blow-up furniture? Nothing screams “temporary college housing” quite like an inflatable sofa that squeaks when you sit and deflates midway through movie night.
Your guests will wonder if you’re planning to move tomorrow or if you’ve given up on adulting entirely. Plus, these plastic nightmares puncture easily and often come in colors that would make even a carnival clown question your taste choices.
12. Beanbag Chair Collections
Multiple beanbags scattered around your living room might remind you of fun childhood days, but they’re essentially amorphous blobs that never look tidy.
These formless lumps shift around, collect dust, and make your space look like a college dorm room. Trying to get up from these squishy traps requires core strength most of us don’t have.
Your guests will appreciate real seating that doesn’t swallow them whole or leave them struggling like turtles flipped on their backs.
13. Exercise Equipment
Squeezing a treadmill between your sofa and TV stand isn’t the clever space-saving solution you think it is. That exercise bike you use as a clothing rack takes up precious real estate while constantly reminding you of fitness goals unmet.
Nobody wants to relax surrounded by equipment designed for sweating. Your guests shouldn’t have to navigate around dumbbells or yoga mats to find a place to sit – that’s what dedicated exercise spaces or foldable equipment is for.
14. Massive Floor Plants
Giant fiddle leaf figs and palm trees reaching for your ceiling might bring jungle vibes, but they’re essentially leafy space thieves in small rooms.
These botanical giants cast shadows and create obstacles in already tight quarters. Smaller plants on shelves or hanging varieties give you the green without the footprint.
Your room needs floor space more than it needs that enormous monstera that requires its own zip code and makes guests feel like they’re navigating through an urban jungle.
15. Plastic Storage Bins
Transparent storage containers stacked like wobbly towers aren’t the organizational solution your living room needs. These utilitarian boxes broadcast “I have too much stuff” while adding zero aesthetic value to your space.
Seeing all your seasonal decorations and old magazines through clear plastic walls creates visual clutter even when physically contained.
Storage should either be hidden or pretty enough to display – those college-dorm plastic bins fail spectacularly on both counts.
16. Fake Plants In Excessive Numbers
Filling every surface with dusty artificial greenery turns your living room into a fake botanical garden that fools absolutely no one.
These plastic imposters collect dust like magnets and scream “I can’t keep anything alive!” to everyone who enters. One quality faux plant might pass inspection, but an army of them looks desperate.
If maintaining real plants seems daunting, try low-maintenance varieties instead of creating a synthetic jungle that’s one feather duster away from a sneezing fit.
17. Folding TV Dinner Trays
Setting up a battalion of metal TV trays as permanent furniture solutions takes your living room straight back to 1975. These wobbly platforms designed for TV dinners weren’t meant to be your main side tables or workspace.
The constant clatter when they’re bumped and their inherent instability make them poor substitutes for real furniture. Your coffee cup deserves better than a precarious perch on a surface designed for frozen dinner compartments.
18. Unframed Posters
Tacking unframed posters directly to your walls with putty or thumbtacks screams “first apartment” no matter your actual age.
These bare paper rectangles curl at the edges and flutter whenever someone walks by, drawing attention to your decorating shortcuts. Even inexpensive frames elevate poster art to intentional decor.
Your favorite band, movie, or art print deserves better than being stuck to the wall like a college dorm room or teenage bedroom – your living room should reflect more permanence.
19. Mismatched Dining Chairs
Pulling random chairs from throughout your home to surround your living room conversation area creates visual chaos. That office chair next to a folding chair next to a kitchen stool looks like furniture musical chairs stopped mid-game.
While designers sometimes intentionally mix seating, haphazard collections just look messy. Your living room shouldn’t resemble a waiting room assembled from sidewalk findings – cohesive seating creates harmony even in small spaces.
20. Futon With Metal Frame
Metal-framed futons with thin mattresses offer the worst of both worlds – uncomfortable seating by day and punishing sleep surfaces by night.
The squeaky hinges announce every movement while the exposed metal frame threatens shins and toes with each passing. These college apartment staples look cheap no matter how you dress them up.
Your living room deserves seating that doesn’t double as medieval torture equipment or remind visitors of their broke student days.