Transitional Living Rooms to Recreate for a Fresh Space
Embrace this timeless living room style.
Transitional design is a perfect blend of timeless traditional styles and more modern trends. Styling a transitional living room allows you to embrace classic traditional architecture and furniture, while incorporating your favorite contemporary styles. Embrace transitional style and have fun blending furniture, decor, and other elements to create a space that is uniquely yours. Read on and find all the living room inspiration you need with these 14 ideas for styling transitional living rooms.
Tip!
Solidify your understanding of transitional interior design with our Transitional Style Guide.
1. Liven Up Your Traditional Space
Super traditional rooms can sometimes feel dark and stuffy – transitional spaces are brightened up versions of these spaces. Refresh a traditional-style living room with a fresh coat of a light and airy paint color and cool toned upholstery. For example, choose a traditional-shaped chaise lounge in a modern cool toned color like light gray. Center the room with a bright pop of color – like this royal blue satin ottoman.
Transitional style spaces are known for their use of natural materials and their associated colors. Use this color palette in your space to exude transitional style. Blend cool tones like whites and stone grays with warm earth tones. Choose cool tones for your walls to create a bright room and the illusion of a bigger space. Select a similar cool tone for your sofa, and layer in browns and dark grays with throw pillows and blankets to create depth. Balance out your seating with earthy tones – try modern brown leather accent chairs to offset traditional architecture.
Create a lived-in transitional space by taking advantage of traditional architecture. Give your mantel a modern makeover with floor-to-ceiling slate blue shiplap. This highlights sky high ceilings that give your room an ornate traditional feel. Natural hardwood flooring gives your living room a down-to-earth look, while comfy modern furnishings like this low-profile sectional and plush carpet create the perfect space for family living.
Highlight traditional accents to further your transitional aesthetic. Mantels and fireplaces are a staple of transitional living rooms. Style an ornate mantel with a mix of traditional and modern-style decorative objects and floral arrangements. Draw attention to natural light by framing windows with dramatic window treatments – choose rich colors and luxurious materials. Bring the room together with a traditional paisley or Oriental-style area rug.
Choose traditional-shaped furniture in fresh and colorful modern patterns to keep your space feeling more transitional. Modernize traditional accent chairs with white pinstripes. Break up a solid blue sofa with patterned throw pillows – blue and white floral patterned pillows and red and white stripes are perfect for a transitional living room with a coastal flare.
Create a transitional space with an edge by combining traditional style-seating with industrial-accented pieces. The cream traditional L-shaped sectional and transitional leather accent chairs are offset by the metal industrial accents in this look, including the metal-framed, reclaimed wood coffee table and matching end table. A beige shade chandelier with black metal accents pulls the room together and is complemented by a black metal-and-glass table lamp.
Add metallic-accented furniture and decor to your transitional space for a bit of contemporary glam. Pair traditional seating with a metal–framed coffee table. Add sleek silver vases and silver table lamps. Embrace luxurious textures with fur throws and a cloud-like plush carpet. Keep your space bright and let in natural light with sheer floor to ceiling curtains.
Living rooms with traditional-style architecture like built-in mantels, bookshelves, and hutches make great backdrops for transitional spaces – all you have to do to achieve this aesthetic is layer modern decor over the traditional bones of the room. Stackable books in all-white are an ultramodern twist on traditional decor, as are glass and stoneware vases in simple curved shapes without ornate embellishments. Hang a round or sunburst mirror over the mantel for a modern focal point.
Create a gallery wall with traditional-style wall art to easily add a transitional feel to your modern room. Choose your favorite traditional and vintage-style artwork, such as paintings, watercolors, or landscape themes that are reminiscent of classical or vintage style art. Avoid bold prints and colors when you are creating a gallery wall for a transitional living room, since neutrals and natural color palettes are key with this style. You can also opt for transitional modern style wall art, which often features neutral colors, curved lines, and various textures. Making a gallery wall allows you to express your creativity and make your living room style truly your own.
Create a space that blends traditional, modern, and abstract style for the perfect transitional living room. This space incorporates transitional, modern, and traditional furnishings. Choose traditional furniture and then add a few pieces of abstract decor to create interesting variety and add a modern edge that doesn’t overwhelm the space. One or two animal print throw pillows are an eye-catching addition to the neutral palette seen above. Two large abstract wall art pieces placed directly behind the main sofa draw the eye to the center of the room. Small abstract sculptures are an easy inclusion to add variety to your transitional-style living room decor.
Transitional-style living rooms are often arranged around a fireplace with a mantel. Not only does a mantel provide a surface for decor, but the warmth of a fire creates an inviting space for family and guests to gather. If you don’t have a fireplace, no problem! Invest in an electric fireplace to add instant comfort to your transitional living room. Choose an electric fireplace with a classic or modern design to best fit your space. Adorn the fireplace mantel with transitional-style decor.
Transform your modern living room to a transitional masterpiece the easy way by incorporating understated traditional elements like lighting, decor, and area rugs. Center a slender metal chandelier in your living room for a modern take on a traditional candle chandelier. Create ambience with candles and traditional-style holders. Place a few traditional style decorative objects on surfaces around your living room.
Blend ornate traditional and ultramodern decor and furnishings to create a grand, transitional living room. Wallpaper sky-high walls with traditional-patterned paper in neutral colors – try stripes, damask, or toile in cream or beige. Adorn grand walls with large modern-style paintings and hang a large ornate mirror over the mantel. Choose cozy modern-transitional sofas and accent seating. Include ultramodern decor like large sphere sculptures or an eye-catching glass coffee table as a statement piece.
Bring transitional style to your rustic space with transitional-modern and traditional furnishings and decor. Natural materials like wood are staples for both transitional and rustic spaces. If you don’t have wood beams in your architecture, consider adding wood paneling to a wall. You can also incorporate wood by including a reclaimed wood end table or displaying firewood by the mantel. Decorate a transitional-traditional style couch with rustic style throw pillows – try a neutral-colored plaid pattern. Faux fur throws are cozy additions that add rustic flare to transitional living rooms.
