How to Decorate Your Living Room Around a Cranberry Sofa

With a cranberry sofa, the rest of the room should be neutral.

A cranberry-colored sofa makes a bold statement inside any living room. However, the color can quickly become overwhelming if it is not surrounded with neutral, complementary colors. Adding neutral colors and pulling the cranberry color through the entire room are two ways to make decorating around a cranberry sofa cohesive and attractive. Most of these decorating tips are simple to carry out and will make a big difference in the appearance of the room.

Things You'll Need

• Neutral-colored paint
• Paint brushes
• Tarp
• Cranberry, brown or off-white pillows
• Pictures with cranberry accents
• Dark-colored furniture
• Neutral-colored decorative objects

Instructions

1. Allow the sofa to be the focal point of the room. Since the sofa is such a bold color, using too many other bold colors in the room will be overwhelming.

2. Choose other furniture colors carefully. Chairs and other furniture should be neutral colors, or a complementary color, such as dark brown.

3. Add elements of the cranberry color to other areas of the room. Use cranberry-colored pillows as accents on the other colored furniture. Choose pictures that have touches of cranberry in the prints.

4. Paint the walls a neutral color, such as yellow, cream, khaki or off-white. Pure white is not a recommended color because it will create too much contrast in the room. Cover furniture with tarps to keep it clean as the room is painted.

5. Consider adding another sofa or accent chair that contains elements of cranberry. A pattern in which cranberry is a main color can tone down the bright cranberry of the sofa, while still bringing the color to the rest of the room.

6. Arrange the sofa so that it is the first thing that people see when they walk into the room. Arrange other furniture around the sofa. If the sofa is placed against the wall, add a large picture over the sofa that has cranberry elements.

7. Remove any other bold-colored decorative objects, such as dark blues, other reds or greens from the room. The use of these colors will disrupt the feel of the room. Any neutral colored objects can be left in the room.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep the sofa looking nice by steam-cleaning the surface once or twice a year. This will keep the sofa bright and new-looking.

References

• Furniture CN: Do You Have a Red Sofa?
• Interior Design It Yourself: Living Room Decorating Ideas
• HGTV: Traditional Living Room