A friend of mine recently asked me to give him several ideas for his new living room, and one of the things he really wanted to know was about the best fabric for living room furniture.
In other words, he was very curious to hear what material would be recommended to use in his new living room, in order to make it look modern and elegant. Although I told him there was no “Top 3 living room fabrics”, I tried to give him several options that would make the best choice when it comes to furniture.
That’s how I got to the conclusion that this topic is actually trending right now, as many people want to hear some really good recommendations for living room furniture.
What is the best fabric you could use? Which are the reasons why X is better than Y? And what exactly makes a fabric good for living room furniture? These are all questions that I will answer in this post.
So stay tuned! 😀
Although most of us think that once we arrange our furniture we’ll leave it in that position forever, that’s not totally true. I moved around the furniture from my living room at least 3 times, and not because I planned to do it or because I needed a change…
I only did it because, in certain situations, I needed an extra chair for a guest, I had to bring in a smaller sofa because I had no place to store it, or I simply had to clean up and move the furniture aside for a period.
The living room is probably the main room of the house, so for this reason it’s important to have furniture that can be moved aside in certain situations. Flexibility is a must when we’re talking about living room furniture.
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Versatility For Several Decors
One of the biggest mistake you could make when buying living room furniture is choosing it according to your actual decor style.
In other words, choosing some kind of furniture that would only suit a Rustic style, because you have this kind of decor in your living room. That is totally wrong because you will never manage to use these items again if you decide to change the style of your room. And you will change it once, believe me. 😉
For this reason, try to choose furniture pieces that have a more “general” aspect.
By this I mean that they don’t have the characteristics of a certain decorating style. These regular furniture items may not be the best choice in a Vintage decor, for example, but you can easily use them in any other style.
So that’s exactly what it means to be versatile, and that’s exactly the feature that I advise you not to forget when buying furniture for your living room. 😉
There is nothing worse than having furniture that is too large in a living room, I can say this for sure!
I’ve come across many living rooms that were simply crowded with spacious, heavy furniture pieces. And guess what?…They all looked horrible. Changing the furniture was the #1 thing I recommended to the owners.
That’s why, when you decide on a certain furniture for your living room, make sure its dimensions aren’t extremely large.
It’s true that the dimensions of your living room matter a lot when it comes to this: so if your room is pretty spacious, you’re allowed to pick furniture pieces that are larger than you would if you had a smaller living room. Here’s an example of a right set for a small living room.
Anyway, in general, the furniture shouldn’t be more than 1/4 of a living room’s surface. That’s only available if you want your living room to look good, otherwise you’re free to add as much furniture you want and handle the consequences afterwards. 😛
Joking apart, that’s pretty much the rule so make sure you follow it and only choose furniture that has the right dimensions, according to your own living room.
What Options Do You Have When It Comes To Fabric?
That’s actually the point where I wanted to get.
Although it’s important to choose some furniture pieces that are flexible, versatile and have adequate dimensions, it’s even more important to pick the right fabric for them.
It’s true that there are maybe hundreds of options available, I want to present you below my favorite 4. I chose them because they are the fabrics that I usually recommend (and choose for myself too, obviously 😛 ) and I know that anyone could never be wrong choosing them.
1. WOOD
I know that’s not the most uncommon material to start with, but wood remains my personal favorite when it comes to living room furniture (and I’m not the only one who has this opinion, that’s for sure :P).
Wooden furniture is probably the most popular choice in every part of the world, thanks to the fact that it’s extremely beautiful and it’s really easy to find. Plus that you can find thousands different kinds of wooden furniture sets. Here’s just an example. 🙂
But let me tell you which are the reasons why you should use it.
Reasons why you should get wooden furniture:
- It can easily blend with almost any wall color
- It will never go out of fashion
- It’s available in hundreds of colors and patterns
- The prices are affordable, in general
- You don’t necessarily need to get an authentic fabric, as there are a lot of gorgeous imitations that look exactly like the original material
Downsides of wooden furniture:
- It’s pretty common, so you won’t get an extremely original decor using it
- Some types of wood can be pretty heavy and large, so they wouldn’t look good for a small living room
2. PLASTIC
Though I can’t say about this fabric that it’s my personal favorite, plastic furniture seems to be more and more popular among younger families.
That’s why I believe it’s a type of furniture that we’ll see around in the next 10 years.
The reason is probably the wide variety of options available for the customers and the good price, which to be honest, sound pretty tempting, right? 😉
Reasons why you should get plastic furniture:
- It’s extremely flexible and light and can be moved around at anytime, without too much effort
- It’s probably the type of furniture easiest to find, as you can get it in almost any supermaket
- There are a lot of colors and patterns available
- It also has the lowest price from all kinds of furniture
- It’s more and more popular, so this makes it a modern choice
Downsides of plastic furniture:
- It’s not extremely elegant, in comparison to wood
- The durability is also not as high as for other fabrics
3. GLASS
The beautiful glassy material is perfect in a living room that wants to impress with taste and elegance. Although it’s not a very common material, furniture pieces made of glass have their own charm and beauty, and here no one can disagree with me.
If you decide on glass fabric, one thing you should know is that it’s not necessarily to get this kind of material on each furniture piece. You can even get a table with a glass top and wooden bottom, like the one from Coaster.
Anyway, let me show you what is so special about this fabric.
Reasons why you should get glass furniture:
- It’s by far the most beautiful fabric you could use, as the furniture pieces made of it are absolutely gorgeous
- The fabric used for furniture is more resistant and it doesn’t break easily, as regular glass
- It can blend with almost any kind of decor, except Rustic and a few similar styles
- It’s transparent and pretty lightweight
- The decor that contains this kind of furniture becomes extremely elegant and impressive
Downsides of glass furniture:
- The price is pretty high
- It’s not available in any shop, and you usually have to order it a few weeks before
- It’s not the safest material either, so it wouldn’t be recommended for families with small kids
4. WICKER
Even though it’s not one of the most used fabrics for indoors furniture, I decided to add wicker among my favorite 4 materials for living room furniture.
My reason is that I’ve seen more and more people interested in this kind of fabric, and not just for their outdoors, but for their indoor decor. And I personally love it, because it meets all the conditions of a good fabric: it’s light, flexible and it can be used in almost any decor.
So it remains among my favorite 4 choices, and I advise you to give it a try sooner or later. 🙂
Reasons why you should get wicker furniture:
- Although it’s not very popular in this very moment, it seems to be gaining some popularity month after month
- It’s very modern and easy to maintain
- The prices are pretty good
- It’s not very hard to find, and online shops remain the easiest place to get them
- It can be moved and used outdoors, in case you get bored of it
- It will make your decor look very original, as it’s not a very common kind of furniture
Downsides of wicker furniture:
- It’s not suitable for elegant decors, like Victorian, Art Nouveau or even Minimalism
- There aren’t hundreds of different textures and patterns yet
So Which Is The Best Fabric For Living Room Furniture?
I guess it’s time for a conclusion right now, isn’t it?
Well, to give you my honest opinion, I would still choose wood. It’s not the most “fresh” fabric on the market, but comparing it to all the others, it has the biggest advantages and the smaller downsides. Plus that it’s available anywhere, anytime and in a lot of different patterns and dimensions.
And the prices for wooden furniture are quite decent in my opinion.
Anyway, if you want a very original decor, you can choose glass or wicker, according to the style of your living room, of course. 😀
And if you have a lower budget but you still want some good-looking furniture, plastic doesn’t look too bad either.
So there is always an option, no matter what decor, budget or dimensions you have in your living room. Just choose the fabric according to the things that I showed you before, and you can’t really make it wrong.
So tell me, which of these 4 fabrics would you choose for your living room furniture? If your favorite isn’t on my list, tell me more about it, I’m curious to hear.
Let me know your answer in a comment. Anne 😀
