Layering Living Room Decor
This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through links on my site, I may earn a commission at no cost to you. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.
There’s something about cold weather in the wintertime that has me layering living room decor. Maybe it’s similar to putting on layers to keep warm.
Layering decor is the art of thoughtfully combining furniture, textiles, lighting, and accessories to add depth and personality to a room. This style uses basics, adding complementary textures, shapes, and patterns until the space feels complete.
I have not found alternative ways to rearrange furniture in my apartment living room. So I resist the urge to do that and instead rearrange things on surfaces.
Layering My Bottle Collection:
I brought out my bottle collection the other day because I missed seeing my vintage bottles. Now they stand together like soldiers at attention.
I’ve collected those bottles over many years. I can pinpoint where I found some of them. That gives them history.
I can’t seem to decide on styles, so I just mix them all together. A large painting of a cow (farmhouse style) is next to a milk glass collection (vintage and cottage style).
But what does it matter if I mix styles as long as I like it that way?
If I miss the cow painting, then why hide it in the closet? If I like my little collections of milk glass and vintage bottles placed underneath, the cow doesn’t mind. The styles can enhance one another, or provide a needed contrast.
You won’t know until you try mixing these decor elements and styles!
Stack + Lean When Layering Decor:
If you can’t find a piece of furniture tall enough for what you need, then pile things up until you reach the level you want. Maybe one piece of decor looks somewhat abandoned in its space, so you could lean another piece against it until it overlaps, changing the look entirely.
I like to stack decor. You get more use out of things if you cannot only use them, but also stack them. I like the look of a stack of pretty plates on surfaces.
If you want to put a cutting board or a washboard on display but can’t find a good place for it, then lean it somewhere.
It doesn’t matter how you decorate or layer as long as it speaks to you. And it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. It’s your home, and your choices are what is important.
Overlapping Elements of Decor:
Place decor items in front of one another rather than spreading them out uniformly. You can even lean a smaller framed print against a larger piece of wall art to soften sharp corners.
I like to layer cutting boards and overlap them, especially ones with different shades and textures. Sometimes I layer decor to achieve a better balance and cohesiveness.
Remember to vary the heights of whatever you’re layering. That gives them movement.
Layering Living Room Decor:
If you thumb through a magazine, you’ll often see decor layered and overlapping. This is, finally, what pulls it all together.
Maybe two paintings leaning close together seem to need just a little something. Slip something unexpected between them like a wood cutting board as you’re layering living room decor.
I hate having my quilts hidden away in the closet. If I had another surface to stack them on, I’d be stacking them there.
But I don’t have a large home with many surfaces, so I have to rotate my quilts. I layer them on the couch, fold them up, and place them on tables. And I fold them over my blanket ladder too.
The patchwork colors in the quilts form a mosaic of overlapping layers. A quilt is actually made up of three different layers, which is what makes it so beautiful and comfortable to use.
If you want to put an expensive antique next to a thrift store item that cost you a dollar, then do it.
Put them side by side if you like. Layer them. No one is going to give you demerits for decorating in this fashion.
Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder:
When someone said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, never a truer phrase was ever spoken.
It was Margaret Wolfe Hungerford who is credited with coining the exact phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. It is written in her novel Molly Bawn, which was published in 1878.
She was one smart lady.
So rearrange the furniture if you so desire. Move one piece of furniture from one room into another. Do what pleases you.
Layer living room decor. Rearrange things on surfaces. Bring things that belong in the kitchen into the living room or the bedroom. Shop the house and enjoy it. Take what you love out of the closet and display it where you can see and enjoy it.
Sometimes an area might just need a little something added. That could be a cutting board behind a stack of dishes, or a wooden dough bowl leaning behind a pitcher. Let your imagination lead you.
There really is no right or wrong when it comes to layering decor. Edit until you achieve the balance you’re looking for.
I love all the layering and the coziness of your home. I’ve been following you for years and have gotten a lot of decorating ideas from you. I love your style! We’ve been iced in several days in Alabama so I’m taying indoors catching, relaxing and catching up on what I’ve missed on your blog
You have a lovely home and I admire your eye for what goes together to create your vignettes.
Having said that the clutter would drive me nuts! I tend to go towards minimalism and I enjoy cleaning and dusting, weird I know.
Have a good weekend, stay warm💗
I love how you decorate and change things, too. You sweet little home has personality! You have a great knack for creating lovely vignettes.
For some reason, it struck my funny bone to think of your milk glass being displayed with your cow. Milk cow… milk glass… cows make milk… get it? lol, I don’t know why I find that so funny. It seems a perfect pairing in my silly brain. It makes me smile. So does Eileen’s description of her living room lights and cozy candles. I can totally picture that, and I love her choice of words… the warmth of all the lights is an absolute gift to herself. I love that!
Everything looks sooooo nice ! I love the milk glass , I think I’d like to collecting some . I live in an older condo about 50 years old . All my rooms are small, so I don’t rearrange the furniture much. Either a window or heat registers seem to be in the way . So I like to switch up what’s on the flat surfaces . I love the stacking idea , I think I’ll try that .
You have such a style of decorating. I always enjoy your new posts about what you have done to this room or that room. This is such a cozy room for you and Ivy.
I love that red geranium painting with all your red items. I would love that look on my mantle for Valentine’s Day. Thanks for the inspiration. I have a read and white early 20th century quilt topper that I am going to use for a tablecloth. Here in Michigan, the snow has arrived. So I am going to decorate with red and white and ignore it.
I loved all your ideas. I got a kick out of your comment “the cow doesn’t mind” about the milk glass collection! The little chickadee print is adorable, too.
I have a hen on the nest just like yours. I have had it for at least 40 years.
What a wonderful post and I plan on having fun trying some of your advice. Wintertime is a perfect time to redecorate! Thank you so much for your continued posts. I can’t seem to start the day until I have read the current one!
We should decorate our homes to please ourselves, not cater to “trends” or what other people think is “in” or “not in” or whatever. I don’t listen to “influencers” who dictate “do this, do that.” It’s my home, I’ll do whatever I want in it, including loading my bookcases and shelves with books, framed photos and souvenirs. We’re in a snow storm at present, it started about 4 a.m. on top of 2-3 days previous slush and snow, and may not move out of here until mid-afternoon tomorrow. It’s a mess outside, 12 to 15″ predicted, and then an “Arctic blast” will hit us on Sunday for several days. Sigh.
Because you decorate with what you love is probably why most of us are drawn to your blog. Winter really has its own kind of beauty and gives us an opportunity to make our homes extra cozy.
Brenda, how cute. I love your milk glass collection. Those pieces are so easy to incorporate into decor, I have a few, they hold makeup brushes, tv remotes, so many uses..My Mom had a huge collection, I guess it’s time to go shopping at her home…….
I love all the layering and the coziness of your home. I’ve been following you for years and have gotten a lot of decorating ideas from you. I love your style! We’ve been iced in several days in Alabama so I’m staying indoors, relaxing and reading your wonderful blogs
I agree completely. I am always arranging, re-arranging. My eyes enjoying resting on a new view. I have left up up strings of clear little light that go all around the livingroom, over the curtains and across my fireplace mantle and across the bookcases….as well as my battery operated candles, my one big indulgence. The warmth of all the lights is an absolute gift to myself.