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Looking for white living room decor ideas? We’ve got some genius concepts to suit every interior style!
Whether you favour Scandi inspired interiors, like to keep it simple with minimalist concepts, or dare to be bold with love-it-or-hate-it styles, a white living space creates the ultimate blank canvas.
So, here are 21 white living room decor ideas to inspire your space!
White Living Room Decor Ideas
1. Make Your Fireplace the Centrepiece
One of the greatest things about all white interior design for the living room? The vibrancy of such a stark colour can actually make the space feel bigger and more airy.
But this means you need to establish a focus point within the space to avoid that overwhelming “drowning” feeling of such a sizable room. The above living space executes this perfectly by zoning in on the fireplace and making it *the* statement.
2. Bring the Outside In
Looking for white furniture living room decorating ideas? It’s easy to see how this show home-ready interior would look pretty dull without real (or faux) plants taking centre stage.
Even the greenery-clad canvases help to introduce eye-catching textures that often go amiss where all white interiors are concerned.
Love adding natural touches to your space? So do we – here’s how to create the dreamiest bedroom decor with plants!
3. Keep It Neutral with Cream & Beige
When it comes to white living room decor ideas, it’s important to not get too carried away with your dreamy all-white vision. Introducing other neutral tones such as cream, beige, grey, or even greige adds dimension to break up the starkness of the space. This also makes your living room feel more homey and less clinical.
4. Introduce Pattern & Texture with Accessories
Look around – there are a myriad of contrasting patterns, textures, and tones in this stunning living space. Yet, every individual element works beautifully to complement the true white shades of the side table and wall paint.
Going for carpet instead of wood or vinyl flooring? We’ve got 10 living room carpet ideas that are perfect for neutral spaces!
5. Create Visually Intriguing Bookshelves
A clever way to break up empty space is to build built-in bookshelves. Perfect for storing books, photo frames, and other decorative elements, it’s also a brilliant place to introduce gentle textures and subtle splashes of colour.
6. Mix Up Your Furniture Pieces
What’s the first thing you notice in this funky space? We bet you it wasn’t the plain white walls…
If you adore that clean, fresh aesthetic, but hate the clinical feel it often brings, mixing up your furniture is a fabulous way to introduce warmth and divert the attention.
7. Add a Homey Feel with Warm Toned Accessories
If you find you often lean into the characteristics of inviting Mediterranean interiors, this one’s for you. Break up luxurious white furniture pieces and stark walls with homey tones and textures radiating warmth.
8. Fill Empty Wall Space with Decorative Plates
Despite almost every plate being white, this striking wall display brings textures and shadows that instantly make a large white wall look far more intriguing. This also works perfectly if you love boho interior design – take a look here!
9. Create Oversized Statements
From the unmissable light fixture to the towering plant pot and large-scale art piece, these oversized objects create a point of interest whilst subtly taking the attention away from blinding white walls.
Pssst… here are our favourite places to buy wall decor prints in the UK!
10. Go For a Casual Aesthetic with Distressed Furniture
We’ve said it already, but white interiors can often look too clinical – sometimes even stiff and uninviting when styled a particular way. So, create a cosy, lived-in vibe with stunning distressed furniture pieces and relaxed seating.
11. Add a Contrasting Skirting Board
A fitting choice for properties drenched in history, adding a contrasting skirting board to your walls is one of the most underappreciated white living room decor ideas.
injecting character into what otherwise might be a boring space, there’s no denying this stunning interior catches the eye immediately.
12. Match Wall Shelves with Furniture
Yes, we have already preached adding visually intriguing wall shelves as one of the most clever white living room decor ideas. But can you spot the difference?
Matching the shelves with your furniture helps the space to feel beautifully cohesive should you choose to introduce other tones to your white space.
13. Introduce Black Accents
If you want a living room you can decorate once and never touch ever again, a monochromatic colour palette is 100% the way to go. Classy, chic, and most importantly, timeless, your living space will look fabulous for years to come!
14. Embrace Minimalism
Many think that plain white walls and furniture pieces mean you need to “zhuzh up” the space to take away the bareness. But you totally don’t need to. If a simple, clean, and uncluttered home is your kinda vibe, white decor makes the perfect backdrop.
No clue which interior decor style you vibe with the most for your living space? Read all about the most Instagram-worthy decor ideas for living room!
15. Go Crazy with Striking Pendants
When styling any room, we’re all for thinking outside the box and creating a totally unexpected statement.
And we’re obsessed with the way these hanging pendants create the illusion of a lower ceiling, making such a huge, overwhelming space feel much more snug.
16. Play with Animal Prints
Love it or hate it, a bold animal print is effortlessly timeless. So, making it the focal point of your space is one of the most future-proof white living room decor ideas.
Pair with accessories, such as cushions, lamps, and even accent chairs in the same colourway to nail your coordination game!
17. Bring in Natural Textures
From that gorgeous jute area rug to the luxurious mohair throw and the feather-clad wall decor, natural materials bring texture without looking too forced or intentional. Consider this a brilliant move for those who love laid back spaces.
18. Double Up on Fancy Rugs
If wall decor isn’t your thing, focusing your attention on the flooring is one of our most favoured white living room design ideas.
Double up on visually striking rugs, opt for real wood with a bold pattern such as the classic herringbone, or keep it cosy and go for a carpet with a classic border.
19. Contrast the Ceiling with the Walls
If your goal is to create a super cosy white living room, a contrasting ceiling shade has got to be a priority on your decorating to-do list. Pair this style statement with the same colour flooring to create a unique sandwich effect destined to bring warmth to your all white living room.
20. Fill Large Walls with Elongated Shelves
One of the best all white living room decorating ideas for particularly sizable spaces is to experiment with statement shelving in contrasting yet complementary tones.
Add subtle pops of colour, create depth and dimension with decorative accessories of varying sizes and shapes, and fill empty space with fresh trailing greenery!
21. Invest in Black Window Frames
See how these white walls are completely exposed? There’s no artwork, strategically placed shelving, or other decorative elements. Yet the starkness of such a bleak paint job doesn’t look as harsh thanks to the bold contrast of the black window frames.
If you’re a fan of monochromatic interiors and don’t mind splashing out on new windows, this is a fabulous design choice that will always create a striking statement.
TOP TIP: Decorating on a budget? We know not everyone has the funds to simply replace windows. So, paint them instead – this jet black paint + primer is perfect for wooden or uPVC frames.
22. Mirror Structural Forms & Shapes
Some of the best white living room decor ideas aren’t about the colours at all. When working with such a stark palette, adding visual intrigue in more sophisticated ways – like mimicking the shapes and forms of the room in your furniture pieces and accessories – will give your white space a magazine-ready aesthetic.
23. Create a Gallery Wall
It sounds simple, doesn’t it – adding a few funky prints in fabulous frames to your plain white walls? But mastering the gallery wall of your Pinterest dreams requires a creative eye to get the composition just right.
24. Stay Away From Fleeting Fads
We get it – it’s hard not to give into the latest trends. And we too want our living space to look like it’s straight from our Instagram explore page. But buying what everyone else has often means you’re subconsciously creating a space that isn’t unique at all. Plus, you’ll only have to replace it when a new trend comes along.
Choosing classic checks, statement stripes, and abstract patterns is the way to go for a perpetually sleek living area.
25. Go For One-of-a-Kind Decorations
While many would say white decor is clean, bright, and serene, others think it’s just plain boring (we know it’s not, of course). But if you’re toying with whether your bold space can handle the starkness of white walls, we know exactly how to spice things up – with funky ornaments that do all the talking.
26. Have Fun with a Pop of Colour
We’ve seen too many white living room decor ideas that are quite literally white on white on white. And whilst it’s pretty cool, it’s tricky to execute just right without it looking boring. Introducing vibrant bursts of colour brings a youthful element to a decor choice that often feels too mature for its own good.
27. Embrace Asymmetry
Remember what we said about creating visual intrigue in a more sophisticated fashion? Choosing a layout that fully embraces asymmetrical interior design is one of our favourite ways to do this. Forming a perfectly imperfect space, the result is a stunning, picture-perfect living area that feels photo-ready yet relaxed and laidback.
28. Get Cosy with Floor-to-Ceiling Curtains
White walls work in moderation – but too much and they make any room feel cold and uninviting. So, if you have particularly high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling curtains definitely bring the cosy factor, creating a luxe veil atop your stark walls.
29. Go Curvy to Create an Inviting Feel
Dare we say… angular furniture can often appear too stiff and formal. Picking curvy pieces with boundless character softens the aesthetic of your living room, making even the starkest of spaces feel like a warm hug.
30. Brighten the Room with Huge Windows
Imagine this living area without those jaw-dropping windows – it would be pretty dull and lacklustre, wouldn’t it? We’ll do anything to create that wow factor, and sometimes changing structural elements is a fabulous idea (white walls or otherwise).
31. Put Your Staircase in the Spotlight
The easiest way to divert the eyes from unadorned white walls? Focus on fancying up the foundations – like your staircase. Trust us, structural elements don’t have to look ugly and practical. They can be an incomparable art form should you choose to embrace them.
32. Double Space with a Leaner Mirror
Needless to say, this clever trick does work a little more effectively in more compact living spaces. But it’s a brilliant way to create the illusion that you have a much bigger room than you do – it’ll even bounce light into dull corners.
33. Minimise Mess with Savvy Storage
There’s something about an all-white space that just screams clean and polished. So, it makes sense to decorate your living room in a way that leans into this – and implementing built-in storage solutions is a great place to start.
34. Choose a Chunky Couch
White is such a stark colour that it can feel overwhelming in large spaces. So, divert the eyes with an attention-grabbing furniture piece like a chunky couch or a statement light fixture.
35. Lean Into Mediterranean Styling
Think: a luxurious stone-built villa laced with centuries of character – but make it modern. Mediterranean interiors often have white walls, keeping rooms cool, bright, and welcoming. But it’s your accessories that will really bring the space to life. Go for neutral pieces with lots of pattern & texture, organic materials, and a bright, airy feel.
36. Contrast with Rich Colours
Committing to contrasting tones, like red and green, is one of the most genius white living room decor ideas for those who love bold (and dare we say, slightly brash) decor. If you decorate with your heart and not what you think is acceptable in the decor world, a glimpse of your personality will shine through with every accessory or furniture piece you introduce.
37. Choose Oversized Artwork
Think of your artwork like a wallpaper – it creates an unmissable statement and gives your bare walls something to be talked about. We love choosing oversized pieces for white living spaces to hide overwhelmingly stark walls (bonus points for fancy frames, of course).
38. Expose Perfect Brickwork
Especially in more masculine-esque spaces – like luxury lofts and dreamy penthouses – a little exposed brick adds plenty of character and visual appeal with its industrial feel. This is a genius way to utilise what you already have in order to make your white living room more exciting.
39. Let Your Artwork Set the Tone
This black and white palm leaf print is certainly large and in charge. So much so that the designers of this space have let it influence the entire room – from the muted colour scheme to the beachy, light wood furniture and accessories, every element is a subtle nod to the incredible piece.
40. Keep It Sleek with Black Accents
Some would call this monochrome, but we’d say it’s more like a whole heap of salt with a tiny sprinkling of black pepper. And it’s one of the most perfect white living room decor ideas for those who want a totally timeless and sophisticated space without losing the clean, airy feel of an all-white interior.
41. Add Floor-to-Ceiling Texture with Wood Panels
This one goes out to all the haters of our white living room decor ideas… The ones who say white interiors are “boring”. We’ll give it to you – they can be pretty soulless, but not if you know how to style them properly (and luckily, we do).
42. Pick Out Expensive Ornaments
The simplicity of all-white decor is something that can be replicated literally anywhere – a swish corporate office, a doctor’s waiting room, or your living room. Which means it almost holds no value. So, transform your space into an opulent haven by being picky with your ornaments, and choosing quality over quantity.
43. Add Cosy Custom-Made Built-Ins
We’re not sure if it’s the array of eccentric ornaments or the soft strip lighting in each cubby, but something about these built-ins make this living space super cosy. Pair with traditionally snug materials like boucle or tartan fleece to really enhance the homey element.
44. Create Intentional Blank Spaces
Blank spaces, AKA empty or negative spaces, are an interior design concept that helps to open up rooms and reduce clutter. In this case, it also means the eyes are naturally drawn to the fireplace – something that might otherwise get overlooked in a ‘busy’ space.
45. Add Character with a Comfy Couch
White on white decor is cool, but have you ever walked into a stark white space and been drawn to the one thing in the room that isn’t white? The couch is most likely the biggest thing in your living space, meaning investing in a quality, statement piece is a damn good financial decision if you want a characterful interior (not that we’re trying to be a bad influence).
46. Lean Into Decorative Wall Niches
A brilliant way to break up empty space in a less-than-typical way is to DIY a wall niche. Switch up the interior colour and shelving composition to create a visually intriguing nook that stands out beautifully against your bright white walls.
47. Put Books on Display
Why not floating floor-to-ceiling bookshelves to create a one-of-a-kind art piece? Pretty book spines deserve to be on display, and we’re totally here for that classic library look. In fact, it might be one of our favourite white living room decor ideas to create a space that feels vibrant and personal.
48. Add a Luxe Feel with Sheer Curtains
Whether you live in a high-rise apartment block or a cute country cottage, sheer white curtains are one of our favourite ways to add a touch of luxury design to your space. Plus, a little privacy is always a bonus.
49. Double Space with Open Plan Living
See how the white marble flooring extends into the kitchen? Keeping your decor consistent in large spaces allows the room to feel big and open, rather than boxing it into sections with harsh flooring transitions and contrasting decor choices.
50. Keep It Soft & Sultry
Creating a soft space isn’t just about the tones you choose to complement your white space. The materials play a big part, and textural wood, lightweight linen, cosy boucle, and typically “homey” materials are where it’s at.
51. Get Playful with Bold Accessories
Think of white walls as your canvas and your furniture and accessories as the paint. Have fun with it, don’t be afraid to experiment, and most importantly, don’t shy away from flashy colours. If you’re gonna do it, do it big – be ballsy.
52. Embrace Exposed Structural Features
If you’re on the hunt for white living room decor ideas literally no other homeowner will be able to replicate, turn your attention to your structural features and make them the focal point. No two homes will ever have the same – excluding newly-built, cookie-cutter homes.
53. Go Black & White
Some say it’s boring, we say it’s one of the trickiest interior designs to execute in a way that looks incredibly sleek yet homely and inviting. And that’s because getting the balance right takes time and an eye for aesthetic spaces. An overload of black and your room can look too dramatic, overpowering, and borderline gothic. Go heavy on the white and the space can look unfinished – that’s taking the concept of a ‘blank canvas’ a little too far.
Why Choose White Living Room Decor?
It’s clean, fresh, and bright – a look that will literally never go out of style, making it a pretty timeless choice. And in dinky rooms, it can create the illusion of a more expansive spaces (don’t ask us how, the magic lies in the science of light reflection).
Essentially, white is the ultimate blank canvas. Whether adding a lick of white paint to your walls or embracing your daring side with a stark white couch, there are a million and one ways to make a white living room your own.
What Colour Goes Best with a White Living Room?
Again, white is such a blank canvas – the foundation of your room – that literally any colour will work. So, there’s no need to spend weeks on end matching tones for the perfect look. Commit to whichever colours you’re most drawn to.
But one thing we will say is that a little experimentation isn’t a bad idea. Depending on which colour you pick, you’ll create a totally different aesthetic – be it warm and cosy, soft and sultry, or bold and bright. Decide how you want your living room to feel first, and then choose your colour palette wisely.
Is White a Cold Colour for a Living Room?
There’s no denying white can feel cold, stark, and often clinical. Especially when paired with cool-toned colours – like charcoal grey, icy blue, baby pink, or soft lavender – you can unintentionally create a dull and lacklustre (despite subtle pops of colour).
Unless this is the vibe you’re going for, adding warmer, richer tones to your space is a fab idea. But that doesn’t mean picking out an autumnal amber or an olive green. Cream, gold, and beige work just the same for a luxuriously understated look.