BertO’s five rules for creating a Dream Design for your living room

Planning a Dream Design for your living room is, without doubt, an important starting point for achieving what you really want for your home.

Whether you are in the process of furnishing a new home, or want to update the furniture in a living room that needs modernising, you are setting out on a journey full of stimulation and good resolutions.

But they are also weeks full of important decisions to be made, and when it comes time to decide what to buy, it is not easy to juggle everything that goes into designing an entire room (we are referring to the size of the room, the light exposure, the daily use of each piece of furniture, what space a sofa table should have, and so on).

The idea that after buying the sofa, one can easily source and add every accessory and missing detail, can create several problems.
The two main ones are:

1. The totality of the project is not taken into account.
2. The risk of combining accessories that do not take into account materials, colours, correct dimensions and much more.

1. Where and how to position the sofa in the room

Let’s start with a simple consideration: how to place the sofa you have just bought.
It sounds obvious, but it really isn’t.

The size of your new sofa is significant and must enhance your environment, not degrade it!

The first important factor is the light source, whether natural or artificial. The first rule the BertO interior designer will apply is to play with the two sources to ensure maximum illumination of your seating position. Either for when you simply want to read or work from your sofa, or when you want to receive friends without the half-light deadening your conversation.

And the TV? Do we want it in front? Not necessarily… it depends on the shape of your BertO design sofa, which, being modular, can be arranged in many attractive possibilities, from linear to horseshoe, to a corner solution around a pouffe or simply styled with a dynamic and generous chaise longue.

The common mistake most people make is to focus on a single piece, e.g. just the sofa, without thinking about anything else.

2. How to combine fabrics and leathers with materials for accessories

After deciding where to place your sofa, here is the second rule: the upholstery combination.

Leather or fabric? This is a dilemma that many clients face when making their decision.

Of course, your aesthetic taste is the first step in making a decision, just as touch is important when you feel ensconced in a comfortable seat.

Sometimes the sofa configuration itself can be a great help. An integral leather pouffe, for example, can break up the linearity of a soft fabric.

And while not every upholstery is right for every sofa, it is also true that the new BertO Collection features a wide range of fabrics and textures that can be mixed to create striking combinations that dialogue with the volumes of the modular units.

The choice of fabric and colour can interact with the layout of your sofa, but also with the size of the cushions, which in turn can come in an infinite range of colours.

So with these stylish combinations, the interior designer will stimulate your imagination to help you articulate and realise your exclusive dream home.

Our textile collections are always conceived with a combination kit that allows several design elements to be combined.

3. How to choose the perfect armchair for your living room

Now: could you imagine a living room without an armchair?

The ideal armchair is a design accessory that makes the perfect living room, and is a far from easy choice if you don’t know where to start.

And so we come to the third BertO rule: how to choose the armchair for your living room.

Let’s take a step back: the living room armchair today is perhaps the most exclusive design element you can choose.

There are so many possibilities that any kind of contemporary, unique and unrepeatable design can be created.

Starting with colour, for example, you can go one of two ways: the first follows the look of your sofa as far as colour is concerned; the second way goes in the opposite direction.

In any case, it is essential to pay close attention to the rules of combination.

This is why it is essential to rely on the expertise of a BertO interior designer. With him or her, you can evaluate an armchair in the same colour as the sofa, but with two different coverings so that the difference in material lends elegance to your design, especially if the matching accessories stand out completely.

The armchair and sofa may not have the same colour, but both are made of fabric and upholstered in the same textile collection. In this look, the presence of colour is extremely contemporary, luxurious and original.

The armchair can be completely disconnected from the sofa, both in terms of colour and materials. In this case, the armchair becomes an iconic object, an expression of timeless yet always contemporary design.

4. What distance should there be between the coffee table and the sofa?

And here we come to the fourth rule for perfect design: the right selection and distance between the coffee table and the sofa.

The coffee table is an equally indispensable complement to the functionality and aesthetics of the living room, serving as a table and a distinctive element.

And it’s easy to be distinctive with BertO coffee tables: wooden, crystal, marble or cement powder tops feature, creating decidedly practical solutions, especially if you like to have everything to hand when sinking comfortably into your BertO sofa.

The choice of finish for the coffee table is as important as the choice of cushion for the sofa, which is why the interior designer will also be able to advise you on its positioning to enhance the design of your room as a whole.

Now: figuring out the space between the sofa and the coffee table is anything but a foregone conclusion and should by no means be left to chance.

To understand this, you first need a careful study of the design for your living room, taking into account the space, the look you want to achieve and your true objectives.

At this point, you can also evaluate the choice of the right coffee table for your sofa based on three practical examples.

The first location is right in front of your sofa. In this case, we suggest a distance of one metre with the possibility of choosing a single table or creating a veritable island with different models.

Another solution, popular in many projects, is to place the coffee table beside your sofa, at a distance of 10 or 15 cm at most. In this case, the coffee table will have a supporting function and it will be important to choose the shape and finish that best matches your sofa.

Less traditional, but certainly impressive is the so-called ‘servetto’ (cantilever table), that is, a support that can be any distance from the sofa. In fact, it actually oversails the seat with a structure that fits underneath the seat to facilitate a useful shelf for working, reading or, more simply, having everything at hand.

5. The accessories that make the difference: Desk and Bookcase

This brings us to the fifth BertO rule for a perfect living room design.

The Jim desk originated as an occasional workstation, perfect in every way, and has become a real home desk in many clients’ homes.

Because it is just as we wanted it: a super technological and technical accessory, but perfect in an elegant home.

With its light and subtle structure, Jim is very discreet; its line does not disturb the whole, but rather softens it, and with its highly customisable and precious materials such as marble, leather and wood, it creates dynamic combinations.

To be complete, the living area cannot be without an accessory such as a bookcase.

Ian is different from all the others, with its clear 1950s inspiration revisited in a modern vein, thus lighter and more rounded to lighten rather than overwhelm the space. To expand an environment instead of stifling it.

Being suspended from the ceiling, it divides and enhances it, offering various design opportunities. You can support it from the floor or the ceiling and you do not need to have a wall to fix it to.

The beauty of Ian is that it can be endlessly modulated and the materials are very original: marble or smoked glass, which can be mixed and matched.

If you think these rules could be the start to achieving your Dream Design living room project, ==> download the Catalogue and get your confidential consultation with our interior designers!