How to Elegantly Design a Room Around a Large TV Screen
How to Elegantly Design a Room Around a Large TV Screen
Televisions today just keep getting larger. Each year, technology becomes more affordable and smart-screen advances so that many families now have a large television front-and-center of the shared family room. Of course, the television shouldn't be the focus of your room all the time. When you're not staying in for a cozy home movie night or your favorite streaming binge, you want to use your living room for things other than television time.
We want to gather with family or friends while able to look at each other instead of all mutually staring at the screen. You want to enjoy your floor space, your wall decor, and nearby handy storage just as much as you want to enjoy the TV when it's viewing time. But modern living rooms are now so-often dominated by the television that it can be tough to do anything else.
As lighting and design experts, we're here to share a few elegant solutions to living room design around a TV without making the television the primary and only focus.
Make Seating Your Focal Point
With a large television in the room, it can be tempting to make that screen the focal point of your seating. Couches and comfy chairs face the screen and we stop facing each other. Instead, make seating the focal point. For a versatile living room, the most important thing is that we gather together and face each other. Form your seating into an L, circle, or semi-circle instead of focusing only on the television. Optimize the floorspace to encourage others to walk around the seating, settle, and chat instead of focusing on the television alone.
For lighting, use the seating as the central illuminated focus of the room. If you hang a pendant or chandelier, hang it over the center of the seating arrangement to draw the eye and the room activity toward togetherness.
Use the Television as Digital Artwork
The television doesn't have to be either off or distracting. All modern televisions can also be used as a presentation for beautiful digital artwork. Smart TVs often have an 'ambient' mode where gentle images - perhaps mildly animated - play over the screen instead of busy content. Turn your television into a large, relaxing source of digital artwork in the room. Your television can also become your source for soft mood music for gatherings or to keep you company without switching on a program.
For those who wish to turn their television into a piece of artwork, you can also light the television or it's mount to make it more beautiful. A strip of LEDs attached along the back edge of your television can create a highly aesthetic back-lit glow that will make each gathering more beautiful Lighting your television frame also makes for a handy night-light.
Tuck the TV Into Versatile Cabinetry
Television cabinets used to be extremely common when a large family TV was about the size of your torso. These days, a good piece of cabinetry to fit your television is more likely to be custom-made. But this also gives you far more leeway to design and built a truly aesthetic and multi-purpose piece of built-in furniture.
To take focus away from the TV when it's not in use, frame your television with its own cabinet, possibly one with a closing or roll-down door so that your television can be both safe and out-of-sight when not being watched. In addition, you can turn the television space visually into more than just the TV. Frame your television with cabinetry and add new lighting that illuminates the shelves and cupboards. This turns your television wall back into a dynamic part of the living room, not just the direction of your screen.
Make the Television Only One Focal Point in the Room
Some living room designs have more than one focal point in the room. A long living room, for example, may have the television on the far-end and the dining room or the open side of an entertainer kitchen on the other. A special pendant light over the open kitchen island can make this your breakfast focal point instead of allowing the television to dominate the living room space.
Many living rooms feature a writing desk in one corner built into a home office for homework or at-home professionals. Emphasize this office and make it feel more productive with brighter illumination focused on the office corner of your living room.
You can design a play area beyond the televisions' couch for unconstrained play of young children and pets. The same space can be padded and well-lit as a family space for exercise, dance parties, or more versatile use with furniture rearranged.
Living Room Lighting that Changes Modes
A living room focused on the television usually has dimmable lights, or lighting far from the television for non-reflective viewing. But if you are designing a family space that does more than watch TV, your lighting can reflect your multiple living room uses. Change modes by changing the lights. A spread of canister lights, for example, evenly illuminates the entire space, while pendant lights or spotlights can highlight each individual area of the living room where different things are done. Dimmable and color-changing lights set the mood, and you can set up your lights in sections so that the television space can be dark while the rest of your family's open space is still in use.
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While televisions are getting bigger and nicer, your TV doesn't have to dominate the entire use of your living room. With thoughtful design and light fixture placement, you can turn your living room into a space that the whole family can use - and not just for movie night. Arrange seating to comfortably face each other as well as the TV. Create spaces outside the viewing area like a home office corner, a workshop, a play area, or the breakfast space. Use lighting to both designate these new purposes and make your entire living room more versatile beyond just enjoying the biggest screen in the house.
For more insights on home design and enhancing your home experience with lighting, contact us today!
