Preplan your living room decorating project by using this assessment quiz

Build a living room decorating plan that is uniquely suited to your lifestyle and personality

Whether you live in a small apartment, a log cabin secluded in the forest, or a huge rambling Victorian home, for most families the living room is the social center of the home. It is the room where families relax, socialize, and generally connect with each other.

It is also the most public room in the home, the center for entertaining relatives and friends, and oftentimes the first and most lasting impression people receive of the atmosphere and comfort of your home. The living room decor sets the mood for your home and should be a statement of your tastes and personality.

Take the time to answer the questions below. This is not a timed test. Take as much time as you need. A day, a week, or a month, time does not matter here. What does matter is that eventually you will have a concrete idea of what you want to accomplish in this room. Write down any thoughts, living room decorating ideas, and feelings in a notebook. Download a printable form of the following questionaire to fill out at your leisure

ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS:

Lifestyle:

• What is the main purpose of this room?
• What are the main activities conducted here?
• How well is this room serving your needs?
• How do you feel when you are in here?
• Are you calm and relaxed, or is this a room you rarely use because you are uncomfortable with the living room decorating decor?
• Is is a place where the family gathers to talk and relax
• Is is a formal room, used mainly to entertain guests?
• How many guests? How often?
• Is this where you watch TV?
• Do you eat here?
• Do you nap here?
• Do you read here?
• Is is used by children as well as adults?
• Do you play family games here?

Try to get as clear a picture as possible of the many activities conducted here. Try to pinpoint all the ways this living room is put to use. The clearer the purpose of the room is to you, the easier it will be to achieve the living room decorating look you want.

Think not only of the way the room is now being used, but if ideas come to you from the above list about various ways you would like to use this room, be sure and put them in your notebook.

Do these thoughts bring other questions to your mind? What you are really looking for here is insight into how well your home meets your needs. Put these new questions and answers in your book.

A home is a living, breathing, constantly changing environment. Five years from now you may find many changes have occurred in your life and this living room is no longer functioning efficiently for you.

This is why keeping a notebook of your feelings, needs, and living room decorating ideas is a good thing. You will recognize these new needs and be able to reference how and why the room was decorated as it is. You will be able to move smoothly into a system of being able to recognize and anticipate these life changes. You will realize that home decorating is not something you do once and forget it. It is an ongoing process that reflects changes not only in your life, but also changes in your inner being.

Regardless of what purpose your living room serves, the fabrics, colors, furniture, and accessories should be what you love. Whether it’s serene and neutral, colorful and lively, or something in-between, it should reflect your taste, personality and creative spirit. Never be afraid to let your room reflect you true self.

After all, this is your room for living.

PREFERENCES:

The next questions deal with preferences. Have you given any thought to what you would really like to have, or have you settled for whatever happened to be in the house when you bought it. You can decorate around what you have or totally change the look of your room. A lot of your living room decorating decisions will depend upon your budget, but have a clear picture in your mind of your likes and dislikes, and then work from there.

Preferences:

Style:

• Do you have a particular style of furniture here?
• Do you want to continue in this style or are you looking for change?
• Which pieces of furniture do you want to keep?
• What needs replacing?

Walls:

• Are you happy with the wall covering?
• Do you prefer paint or wallpaper?
• Are you happy with the artwork or do you prefer a family photo area?
• Do you like the feeling of openness that mirrors provide?

Flooring:

• Do you prefer hard floors (wood, tile, vinyl) or carpeting
• Do you like area rugs?
• Do you mind vacuuming wall to wall carpet or do you prefer the ease of a quick sweep and mop that hard flooring provides?

Colors:

• Are there any particular colors in the room that make you feel good and that you would like to continue using?
• Do you prefer the calmness of neutrals and pastels?
• Would you rather have the lively, upbeat feel of brights?
• Perhaps you prefer the solidness of darker colors?

Lighting

• What are your feelings about the present lighting in your room?
• Is it convenient for the activities conducted there?
• Is there only central overhead lighting?
• Would you prefer dimmers?
• Do you have ample lamps around the room?

Window Treatments:

• What type of draperies do you have? Are you looking for a new style?
• Do you have shades or blinds? Do these need to be updated?
• If you have blinds, do you prefer horizontal or vertical blinds?
• Do you like wood or vinyl?
• Do you like a room that is bright and sunny, or do you prefer a room that is dim and cool?

Pick up some decorating magazines and look through them. What attracts your eye? It may not be the whole picture you like. There may be a color that attracted you, or a sofa style you really liked. Visit Stylish Living Room Ideas for some great ideas about living room decorating.

Cut out what attracted you and add it to your file. You may want to paste it in a scrapbook and make notes next to it in order to solidify the ideas you received when you looked at that particular photograph.

Search the internet looking for images of rooms or accessories you like.

Once you have finished all these exercises and have some plans, preferences, and living room decorating ideas in mind, it is time for Comparison Shopping

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