How to Design a Gender Inclusive Living Room

In the US alone, about 5% of adults identify as transgender or non-binary. That might not sound like a lot, but it equates to roughly 3 million people. And as awareness around non-gender-conformity grows, so does the community of people who identify within it. 

Designing a gender inclusive living room (and home in general) simply means designing an interior that’s not dictated by traditional gender roles and stereotypes. 

Instead of reserving pink hues for women and shades of blue for men, why not push the boundaries of gender and explore a more neutral atmosphere altogether? At the end of the day, everyone deserves to come home to a living room that feels open, comfortable, and inclusive, both physically and otherwise.   

Need a helping hand creating a stylish living room that everyone feels comfortable in? 

Let’s explore some useful tips for designing a gender inclusive living room through the mindful selection of color, shape, texture, and form. 

Embrace Open-Plan Design 

An open-plan design can help create a sense of spaciousness and light in your living room. When furniture and décor are too closely stuffed together, it can feel cloying and claustrophobic—two things no one wants to feel in their designed chill area. 

Instead, try to position your major furniture such as sofas, coffee tables, or bookshelves in a way that allows movement to flow freely throughout the room. 

Give your walls space to breathe by keeping them relatively minimalistic and being selective about what you choose to put on them. The less clutter and noise there is, the easier it will be for you and your guests to unwind and allow the atmosphere to organically shift based on who’s in it. 

Keep The Bones Of The Room Neutral 

If you love ever-changing trends or don’t have a set style you follow, avoid making bold home design choices that can’t easily be changed. You can keep your living room feeling open to different gender identity expressions by using neutral bones that suit a wide variety of feelings. 

In the home design industry, when people talk about “bones”, they mean the integral, structural elements of a room. This can include walls, doors, windows, and floors. 

Some examples of neutral colors include white, ivory, beige, cool blues, light ochre, and sage green. These gentle colors are not specific to any gender, and they work well in just about any home. By sticking to the basics, you give yourself more freedom to experiment with personal décor.  

Although neutral colors like bone or beige might seem boring to some, in the long run, they’ll allow you to be much more playful with unique décor and different color schemes. That way, you can change things up depending on how you feel, all without spending a fortune redoing the entire room. 

Let Plenty Of Light In 

Light plays an important role in any home environment. Not only does it allow you to see things better during the day, but it also adds an element of elevation and breathability to any room. If you’re looking for a simple, natural way to make your space feel more open, large windows and lots of light are key. 

Various studies show that natural light brings many benefits to indoor spaces. It can make you feel warmer, more relaxed, more productive, and possibly even more creative. 

If you don’t have big windows, that’s okay. You can still let more natural light in by using light color opaque curtains and avoiding clutter by the windowsill. If that’s still not an option for you, soft-wattage (warm) light bulbs in your lounge lights will make a big difference in the atmosphere.  

Avoid Traditionally Masculine Or Feminine Décor 

Society has developed some pretty strange ideas about what specific colors and items men and women should like. This can make it difficult for non-gender-conforming people to design an environment that feels truly free of those limiting ideologies. 

Historically, masculine décor has often taken the form of various metals, wood, and cool or hard colors like black, brown, and blue. Feminine décor does the opposite, encouraging women to adopt soft themes of pink, purple, lace, and floral patterns. 

If you feel ready to embrace a gender inclusive living room, you can throw all of these conformist ideas out the window. 

If you (or people you know) are non-gender-conforming, using traditionally masculine or feminine décor might feel regressive. Instead, opt for more gender-neutral colors like green, yellow, orange, or white. This can make your home feel more playful, diverse, and comfortable for all types of people to enjoy. 

You can also include décor that appeals to you and doesn’t have roots in gender conformity. A bookcase full of your favorite books, a rack filled with special bottles of wine, or a sideboard board stocked with board games all add to the aesthetic of a room and give it personality without gendering it.

Open Your Space To Different Types Of People 

Gender inclusivity is about accepting different people and different bodies for what makes them feel most themselves. By opening up your living room to different types of people, it will naturally become more gender inclusive. 

There are interesting people all around, and many of them (especially non-gender-conforming ones) may find it difficult to integrate into gender exclusive environments. But with the right attitude and willingness to explore, this doesn’t need to be the case. 

You can change your space for the better by making it as comfortable for your friends and family as possible. The more relaxed and at home they feel, the more they’ll want to spend time with you.  

The Feeling Is Neutral: Keep Your Space True To You 

When it comes down to it, designing a room that is gender inclusive just means doing things your own way rather than being guided by preconceived notions about gender. 

While positioning your décor and living room furniture, try to avoid thinking about whether it looks masculine or feminine. Focus instead on whether or not you think it looks good. After all, a living room is for resting and feeling comfortable. So, it should reflect the things that make you feel that way. 

Society’s rules about certain colors being exclusively for men or women are fading every day. It’s time to embrace gender inclusive design for home environments that every person can enjoy. 

3 Ways You Can Better Organize Your Living Room

Communal living spaces are probably the hardest areas to keep clean and organized. Someone, be it a guest or a member of the household, is always in the living room doing something that will require some cleanup. One way you can prevent the need for too much cleanup is by having the right organization system in place.

Good organization can also help your living space feel updated and bright without spending too much to do so. Keep reading to learn about three ways you can better organize your living room so that it stays clean and updated.

Go Low

If you don’t have kids or your kids are old enough to know not to dump out every container they come across, then using lower spaces for extra storage may be the best solution for your living room. Low storage is easy to see into and access compared to storage high up on shelves, so it’s a great option for kids that are learning to organize their things.

The best options for low storage are rolling organization bins that can slide under coffee tables, although you can also get cube organizers for lower open shelves or a chest that’s easy to open. As long as it’s accessible, your choice of low storage is up to you.

Create a Fun Zone

One of the reasons living rooms constantly feel messy is because they’re where all the fun happens. Kids play there, adults entertain there, and families relax together there. Instead of trying to regulate all this fun by sending kids to play in their rooms and creating separate entertainment nooks, embrace that this is what the living room is for and create a fun zone designed to contain it.

Start with a taller cabinet for adult entertainment, like board games, and then store kid’s games and toys underneath it. Ideally, you should have a table or comfortable area to use these games and toys. This way, if you don’t clean up the game right away, at least it’s all in one area.

Buy Multi-Function Furniture

Technically all furniture is functional, but multi-function furniture can help take the burden off you to find a spot for every little thing and fit all your furniture in the same room. Ottomans are probably the most famous kind of multi-function living room furniture since they give people a place to sit or rest their feet and provide storage. You can also find shelves that fold in so that they resemble a table.

The three ways you can better organize your living room are with lower storage, a designated fun zone, and multi-function furniture. Proper organization can help you maintain a cleaner home, stay relaxed, and keep your space looking fresh and updated.

How To Add a Pop of Color to Your Living Room

Neutral decorating schemes are all the rage right now. However, it can be nice to change things up with a pop of color so your living room feels fresh and inviting. Try out these ideas for adding a pop of color to your living room.

Throw Pillows

If your living room furniture is mostly neutral in color, adding a couple of brightly colored pillows can be a great way to liven things up. It’s also an easy way to decorate for the changing seasons without throwing off your entire décor scheme.

Wall Art

Wall art is another fantastic choice because it’s incredibly versatile, and you have many styles to choose from. Changing out your wall art is also far less expensive than replacing furniture, making it easy to reset your home’s ambience without breaking the bank.

Armchairs

If you’re willing to invest a little more money into your redecorating, try incorporating a brightly colored armchair or one with a bold pattern. This can help break up visual monotony and add interest to your main living space.

Potted Plants

Probably the easiest way to bring color to a room is simply to add several potted plants and let their exuberant green leaves brighten up your space. You can also put them in colorful pots that match your decorations.

Throw Blankets

Throw blankets are another easy way to add a pop of color to your living room without changing too much of the general design. Plus, if you get tired of the color, you can always hide them inside a storage ottoman or basket.

What Color Should You Choose?

The color you want for the main accent is entirely your choice, but it might also depend on the neutral shades already in your palette. One fun way to keep things fresh is to decorate with Pantone’s color of the year since you know you’ll be able to find decorations with that color. You can also choose a tone associated with the mood you want to feel in your living room. No matter what, the choices are endless!

How To Create a Focal Point in Your Living Room

All rooms need focal points to draw guests’ attention. This is especially true of living rooms, since they’re communal places for home residents and guests alike. Keep reading to learn how to create a focal in your living room that you, your family members, and your guests will love.

Use Existing Architecture

Architecture makes for a natural focal point, immediately drawing the eye with little effort. So what architecture already exists in your living room? If you already have pieces such as large built-in shelves or French doors, use them to create a focal point and arrange the furniture around this piece of architecture.

If nothing in the room immediately draws the eye, you can add architectural pieces. A high-quality fireplace will add comfort and style to your living room and make a stunning focal point all year round, especially if you decorate the mantle with art or a collection. You can also add large shelving, which will be a talking point for conversation as well as a focal point for the eyes. Plus, it serves as another opportunity to display a collection or art.

Add Color

If you don’t have architecture or don’t want to add any, consider choosing a statement color for your living room. This can be in the form of a bold-colored couch or window drapes—or you can get more creative. A statement wall that’s either painted a bold color or covered in bright wallpaper can create a stunning focal point. If you paint the wall a solid color, you can also add additional pieces such as art or photographs to draw the eye.

Different colors can change the atmosphere in your living room, so choose wisely. Light colors such as tangerine will brighten a smaller space, while darker ones such as navy will be more dramatic. In between these you’ll find vibrant colors such as turquoise, which creates a cheerful space.

Change the Light

Another way to create a focal point in your living room is to change the light fixture. Light fixtures are required in a room, so you may as well make yours the focal point. An oversized fixture in any shape will create an interesting focal point, drawing the eyes upward. Just make sure to measure everything so that you know what will fit in your space.

If your living room doesn’t have a light fixture built into the ceiling, you can still make a lamp the focal point. This isn’t the type of focal point around which you’ll arrange your furniture, but a stunning lamp will still draw the eyes when people come into the room. Choose a lamp with either an interesting base or an interesting lampshade; a lamp with both can be overwhelming. You want to draw the eye, not overstimulate it.

Now you know how to create a focal in your living room using existing architecture, color, and light. You’ll have a welcoming, eye-drawing living room if you use any of these methods to create a statement in your space. While there are other ways to create a focal point, these are some of the easiest and will help your home look great without too much work.