If your living room seems directionless, lacking in a particular strength, or like it’s just not welcoming enough, then it could well be that it’s missing a focal point. This visual anchor sets the tone for the entire space and creates a visual throughline that helps the rest of your decor fall into place. However, what should your focal point be, and how should you use it? Let’s take a closer look at some of the answers.
A Gallery Wall
There are few focal points that allow you to showcase your own taste and personality, as well as a gallery wall. Whether you shine a light on a host of photos of important people, places, and moments or choose artwork to add to your walls, a well-arranged gallery wall with modern art from local artists, like you can find at East Side Studio, immediately catches the eye and adds character to the room. Thoughtful curation is vital for an effective gallery wall. Don’t choose generic pieces just because you think they look fitting. They need to stir something in the viewer and reflect the style of the rest of the space for a real impact.
A Coffee Table Vignette
A stylish coffee table is ripe for hosting a focal point, centrally positioned between seating furniture as they often are. Adding a vignette to it, a curated arrangement of decorative items like books, candles, vases, and sculptures, can help you establish the personality and theme of the space. A vignette should feel like a key to the rest of the room. When the viewer understands what you’re doing with it, the rest of your style should click into place.
A Roaring Fireplace
Fireplaces are one of the most traditional and classic focal points in living rooms. Indeed, before TVs, they were the default choice and loved for their ability to add warmth, charm, and elegance. You don’t need an in-built fireplace to have access to that same timeless appeal, however. A media wall fireplace can help you incorporate it much more easily than installing a new hearth. It can also help complement the traditional aesthetic of a roaring fire with a more modern framing.
Your TV?
Whether or not you should emphasise or hide your TV is a subject of debate for any interior style enthusiast. The fact is that a TV will naturally become the focal point of a room if it’s allowed to, as it simply tends to catch that much attention. However, if it’s not contributing to the aesthetic that you want to create, you may want to look for ways to hide your TV or balance it with other decorative elements that stand out more. However, for the contemporary or sleek look, embracing it as part of a feature wall, surrounding it with built-in shelves, or framing it with decorative elements can help it feel more intentional.
There are plenty of potential focal points, including many not mentioned here, that are well worth considering. However, it’s important that you feel confident and trust in the one you choose, as you can then help design the rest of the room around it to create a cohesive style of your own.
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