Mediterranean-Style living room design ideas

While looking at photos with Mediterranean landscapes it seems that this land is full of welfare and happiness. Local houses look like as if the nature itself participated at their building as well as in the interior decoration. However, you may be sure that such idyll outlook is a natural component of lifestyle of those famous for their love of life and hospitality. If you are interested in ways of creation the Mediterranean atmosphere at your living room and are truly in fond of this style, we would provide you with the information about its main features and demonstrate the examples of Mediterranean-style design.

There is one detail, which you should bear in mind while decorating the living room in Mediterranean style. Professionals divide it in two types: Italian and Greek. Italian implies the combination of warm tinctures of ground, wood and stone as well as the use of hammered elements at the furniture and decor in great numbers. Greek type is characterized by snow-white basic color, supplemented by radiant tinctures of blue with inclusions of yellow and terra-cotta. Furniture items are made of roughly tooled, “faded” wood.

Features of the Style

Plenty of Air and Light

Regardless of the interior type chosen for your living room, be ready for large windows, as it is the first step on the way to effective Mediterranean interior image. It is possible that you will need to widen a bit the window aperture or create new ones, because originally it isn`t appropriate for this style to deal with tightness and lack of space. You should create organic whole of your living room and the outside world. To achieve this you could try to build one big window of two. Windows typically occupy large walls space at Mediterranean houses, creating a panoramic view on the garden or the terrace.

Natural Materials

You should use natural material or, sometimes, their good imitation in everything concerning the facing and decor creation. The floor is tiled with ceramics, natural or artificial stone and wooden planks. You should definitely exclude wallpapers, panels and molding as they are unacceptable. What you need is just to ceil the walls and ceiling and cover them with light paint. You should pay attention to the fact that wooden beams are as important as large windows for Mediterranean-style decoration. The wood must be uneven, as if salsuginous, of grey-brown or of natural light-brown tincture. Most commonly the color of wooden beams is aligned with the tone of door openings and window frames, which could also be visually highlighted by aged wood. There should be hammered metal used, but only in case of Italian-type house interior, as previously mentioned.

Natural palette

Italian-type Mediterranean decor obliges to fill the premises with warm ground tinctures: terra-cotta, sandy, beige, light-brown, dark-brown, cream, Neapolitan white, using in addition green tines and black in small numbers.

The Greeks favor white color at both external and internal facing of premises for reason, as it neutralizes the hot sun effect in the best way possible, reflecting sun rays rather than absorbing them.

At the living room apart from white you should use such colors as acute turquoise, azure, light-blue, cobalt, bright yellow and citrine, light terra-cotta, flexen and sandy as well as light-green. The colors of sea and sun in accessorizes highlight the Mediterranean style on the back of neutral natural tones.

Simple finishing

In order to help you memorize the information about Mediterranean style`s features, we shall repeat that the walls are painted and covered with texturized plaster. Such “rural” walls highlight the portal of the fireplace which is extremely important for Mediterranean interior.

If you are unable to build up a real fireplace, it is possible to set gas or electric chimney or to use candles. In any case you should definitely singularize this area; masonry or tiled chimney is a good variant for that. The surrounding floor is also possible to inlay with bright tiles or cracked mosaic. Coarse aged wooden beams could be applied for portal decoration, as it was made for ceiling.

Choosing the Furniture

In order to intensely highlight the style of house interior it is necessary to choose the furniture in the right way. First of all, it should be made mainly of wood, pretty massive and squat, just as other items.

Wardrobes should be low, so it would be easier to put decorative things on their top. Italian-type Mediterranean style involves armchairs and sofas with hammered elements or even the metallic open-worked carcass. There are usually elegant chairs with high ornamental backs and soft sittings placed around the dining table at the living room.

The Greeks, in turn, tend to supplement the interior scene with only wooden furniture, frequently using wicker armchairs and chairs. Yet it is in character for Mediterranean region to use dense natural fabrics, necessary for sewing of simple coverings for sofa`s backs and pillows as well as for armchairs and pouffes.

An approximate set of furniture for Mediterranean-style living room is given below:

• A wide, pretty large low sofa, supplemented by a couple of armchairs of the same style.
• A coffee-table, located between them, at the center.
• A book case, buffet or a shelve stand along the walls.
• Instead of them it is possible to set two similar spaciousness chest-of-drawers.
• It is also possible to put high tabouret or a desk lamp for ornamental purposes.

The furniture should not be “twisted” or put in line along the walls. It is necessary to locate all furniture items at some distance one from another, so it would be easy to move between them.

Choosing the Style and Decoration

After the main repair work is done, it is possible to finally set about the most pleasant activity, namely to decorate the interior in Mediterranean style.

Simple curtains of light materials are typical for the windows. You should forget about lambrequins, drapes and other decorations, as it is possible to put only natural and fluttering curtains (of cotton, flax, net lace) on light hammered curtain track.

The decor of Mediterranean interiors is not exquisite, but it highlights the sympathetic atmosphere. Various ceramic vessels, ornamental plates as well as small earthenware pots and diotas are the examples of decor elements. It is quite appropriate to attach hammered taper sticks to the chimney`s wall as well as to put a couple of figuline baskets for firewood and tools at the floor nearby.

You might place several bright pillows at the sofa`s zone and decorate the coffee-table with capacious fruit bowl. Dense big carpets should be replaced with light woven carpets or strips, the smaller ones could become a decoration for the wall above an armchair or a chest-of-drawers.

Photo Gallery: Mediterranean-Style living room design ideas